1970 Chrysler Valiant Mexicana - todays local tempter

By: Guy Allen, Unique Car magazine

Date: 19.07.2017

Latin styling exercise is a rarity

Only a couple of hundred Mexicanas were produced.

Notice something just a little odd about this car? At first the profile kind of fits a hardtop or similar, but there's something a bit 'off'. The C-pillar, perhaps?

If that's more or less what you're thinking, you're spot-on. This is a quite a rare variant on the Valiant VG coupes, with extended rear buttresses sweeping back from the rear roof line.

Called a Mexicana, it followed something that was a trend in Latin America at the time and just 200 of this model are said to have been produced.

Underneath the paint, this series represented a pretty handy step forward for the brand. Most notable was the 245 Hemi straight six under the bonnet, in this case in two-barrel form and claiming a fairly healthy 185 horses. That's matched to a three-speed auto transmission.

Some Mexicanas were also delivered as a 770 with the 318 Fireball V8.

Overall this South Australia car seems pretty original and complete. It's priced at $27,500 and we reckon it would be a guaranteed talking point at any car run.

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