Chrysler of South Africa
South African Chryslers: Overview (by Mike Sealey)
(This paragraph compiled by Mike Sealey and Brendan Milne, edited for space)
Before Chrysler South Africa was established around 1958, its vehicles were brought in and assembled by distributors. Brendan Milne's Firesweep, for example, has a plate on the firewall stating it was assembled by Atkinson-Oates Assembly Pty.Ltd, Elsies River,C.P. (near Cape Town). Cars were built at this plant until the late 1960s or early 1970s, when production shifted to the new Chrysler Park plant in Pretoria - almost completely at the other end of the country. Mitsubishi took over the facility in the late 1970s, along with all Chrysler properties in Australia, and renamed it Sigma Park.
Big thanks to Brendan Milne of Durban, Natal Province, RSA for the extensive shipment of articles and ads sent to Mike Sealey.
Chrysler South Africa went through some fairly major changes between 1961 and 1964. In 1961, they sold Plymouths and Valiants, Dodges, Darts and Lancers, and DeSotos, Diplomats and Rebels. It also appears that they sold trucks under the Dodge, Fargo, and DeSoto names. From what I have read, it appears that Chryslers and Imperials were not officially marketed in South Africa in the early '60s but could be ordered. South Africa's Car magazine ran small blurbs on a '64 New Yorker 4 door hardtop delivered to an unnamed private owner in November '63 (their January 1964 issue), and a '64 Imperial LeBaron 4dr hardtop "imported specially for a customer in Pretoria" (their March 1964 issue).
To give an idea how the number of Chrysler makes and models were pared down, compare this blurb from a January '64 full-line ad:
"Chrysler South Africa, Cape Town. Manufacturers of Dodge, Valiant and Simca Cars and Dodge Trucks."
...with this line from a May 1964 ad for the Parts Division:
"Always insist on Mopar parts for your Dodge, Plymouth, de Soto, Valiant, Lancer, Rebel or Simca cars; and for Dodge, de Soto and Fargo trucks."
The pictures show cars that would have been familiar to any American in 1964, but for the right-hand-drive driving position and other minor details. What minor details? Well, I kept looking at the '64 Signet trying to figure out what was wrong with this picture, until I realized South Africa's '64 Signet was only offered as a 4dr sedan, a combination not offered in North America. This car used the US Valiant body, was equipped with bucket front seats, and might legitimately be called the missing link between the US Signet and Australia's AP6 Regal 4dr sedan.
(Apparently a topline 4dr compact wasn't a Chrysler exclusive in South Africa. Brendan also sent info on the Rambler Rogue 4dr sedan and station wagon. The Rogue was the sporty version of the American in the US, and was only offered as a 2drHt or a convertible here. My theory is that the South African Rogue, which was assembled in South Africa by Nissan, used that name because it was considered more appropriate for a locally-built car than "American"...)
The reason for the cutback in 1964 was simple: as part of their program to encourage local assembly and content, the South African government decreed that all automobile manufacturers would offer a smaller variety of models. Their belief seems to have been that if each manufacturer were to focus on one or two body styles in a smaller number of trim levels, it would make it profitable to assemble locally in the smaller numbers more typical of the local market. They seem to have also at least considered closing off automakers with too small a market share.
I've found a reference to Rambler having been threatened with that after only selling 315 cars in South Africa in 1964. This was an apparent factor in AMC taking manufacturing rights away from long-time local partner Stanley Motors (who also assembled Hillmans and Peugeots, and who retained Rambler dealership rights in Natal Province) and starting their own operation, American Motors South Africa (Pty) Ltd., which at least in the beginning shared Nissan/Datsun's assembly plant in Pretoria.
I still have gaps in my Chrysler information, but it appears that GM compressed its model lineup dramatically. In 1963, Chevrolet offered Impalas, Biscaynes, Novas, and Chevy IIs, plus the truck line. In '64, that had shrunk to one Chevy II line, one Chevelle line (the 300, which actually used some convenience and luxury items more readily associated with the Malibu in North America) and one full-size line (the Impala). Pontiac compressed its lineup similarly, although Acadians and Beaumonts seem to have not been available right away, this despite the big South African Pontiac also being Canadian in origin. GMSA also offered one line of Opels, one line of Vauxhalls, and one line of Holdens, all of which appear to have been powered by the Chevy II 4-cylinder! Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs appear to have stopped coming over around this time, although they could probably still be obtained on special order if the customer were to pay enough money to get one. There are gaps in my Ford knowledge, but Galaxies and midsize Fairlanes are known to have been sold in ZA in the '60s, along with various English and German Ford models. I understand German Fords built in South Africa were built with British engines. Of course, in the late '60s and early '70s, South Africa went in for the musclecar thing much as North America and Australia had, distinguishing themselves by offering the 302 V8 in the first-generation Capri...
It doesn't look as if the small number of models policy lasted very long in South Africa, which is known to have gotten Barracudas, Marlins and Javelins (and I believe Mustangs and perhaps Camaros/Firebirds) in later years, but it seems to have had a chilling effect on makes with lower sales numbers in the policy's earliest years.
Barracuda
These photos of a 1967 Valiant Barracuda are courtesy of Brendan Milne of Durban, South Africa, and made their way to us via Mike Sealey. We'd know it as a 1966, with a 1966 VIN, but the title is for 1967. Note in back the "VALIANT" lettering and the "BY CHRYSLER" emblem in the lower right. The "BY CHRYSLER" emblem appears to be the same as that used on the '63 DeSoto Rebel.
Jim Dora wrote: "The odd part is that the car has turn indicators on the fenders, the same ones that all of the US models received in 1968. You probably know that those were year-only pieces. My question is whether Chrysler knew of the upcoming government safety regulations."
The body plate would read "Chrysler South Africa Party Ltd." if the paint hadn't worn off.
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Rebels (Mike Sealey)
All Rebel information has been moved to a separate page - click here to read it.
The Valiant story (by David Hughes)
The Valiant range of cars were introduced into the RSA during the very early 60s (earliest I have any knowledge of was a'61 "R" type 2 door). Originally of USA origin until 1971. (Many of the '68-'70 were in fact rebadged Dodge Darts.) After '71, Australian-orginated vehicles were produced.
The manufacturing plant was located at a place called ELSIE'S RIVER which is in the Cape.This plant continued (to the best of my knowledge) to produce Mitsubishi vehicles after Chrysler closed its South African doors in 1980.
The Valiant (in all its RSA guises) was an extremely popular family car and right until the late 80s through early 90s a regular sight on South African roads. Most 30 somethings, such as myself can remember spending formulative years in the back of pa's or mom's val, going to school, holiday or whereever!!
The old Val also was extremely popular throughout the 60s and 70s with the police as cruisers (usually the base Rebel model) and with the taxi operators. (Still widely used and cherised in certain communities). Sad spinoff of the taxi operator scenario was a high theft rate of private cars to be used as taxis and spares for them.
Model range included:
EARLY-MID 1960s
V200 series and Barracuda (most US Plymouth and Dodge variants rebadged)
LATE 1960s-1980
Rebadged Darts to `1971 and from then to end AUS Valiants badged in order as REBEL,REGAL and VIP.This inluded the second generation Barracuda built in RSA from '67-'71. Station wagons badged as "Safaris" and pickups as "Drifters."
The very last Vals ('78-'80) were in fact Australian CM series Vals badged locally as a CHRYSLER SE (as incidently had the earlier CL series been in '75). Not a Valiant badge in sight!!!!
For what it's worth, I own a 1973 VJ Regal sedan and a rebadged 1970 Dodge Monaco 383 cu (known as alternately as a Chrysler 383 or New Yorker, depending what mood took ChryslerRSA fancy over the 4 years the car was built here. But that's another story!!).
Mike Sealey
The A-bodies for the South African market were the Valiant (which may have originally been marketed as a Plymouth, unlike most of the export market), the Dodge Lancer, and the DeSoto Rebel. Larger cars appear to have been typical of the rest of the world, except it appears that bottom-line models such as the Plymouth Plaza and Dodge Seneca may not have been sold there as Brendan is not familiar with these models.
At some point about '64, it appears as if Chrysler ZA put all its chips on Valiant, as I've seen Valiant articles from this point on but not Dart. (The Rebel name reappeared on the entry-level Valiant about '68.) The Valiant is credited today with being the car that popularized the use of the automatic transmission in South Africa, a position that started about '64 with the aggressive marketing of the Torqueflite. Valiant sales multiplied at an amazing rate through the '60s, and for most of the decade the Valiant was either the most popular car in ZA or was outsold only by the VW Beetle...
It was also about this time that South Africa tightened up its local content rules, meaning Chrysler products had to have home-built engines to qualify as locally made. Brendan sent me an article from 1971 or so showing a locally-built Valiant Charger (think either a '70 Duster with a Dart front clip or a '71 Demon with '70-'71 Duster taillights, either way works) that had had a 383 installed by an enthusiastic dealer. It appears that while the 225 and 383 (and possibly the 440) were produced in South Africa, the 273-318-340-360 family of engines were not. The dealer who did the 383 Valiant Charger found it cheaper to use a 383 than to import one of the American-sourced engines, which was possible but expensive according to the article.
South African Valiants (including pre-E-body Barracudas) appear to have followed the US mold until about '68, when the lineup became more specifically South African. (One notable exception was station wagons, which like the Australian market continued after '66 under the Valiant Safari name, although the South African model looked more like its American parent than the Australian model.) The Valiant 100 was renamed the Rebel at this point, and the Signet seems to have borrowed the Regal name from Australia at about this point.
Somewhere about the same time a rebadged Dart appeared under the name "Valiant VIP" (not to be confused with the Australian car of the same name). All were powered by the 225 Slant Six in three levels of tune; the base level "Super 225" which, like the American version, put out 145 hp, the "Formula S" which had a 2bbl carb and possibly other modifications for 165 hp, and the "Charger Power" 225, with higher compression and a 4bbl carb for 192 hp!
South African Valiants adopted the Australian bodies (known in ZA as the "fastbody" Valiant) about '72 and continued with them until the end in '78. These differ from the Australian-built Valiants in that all appear to have been powered by Slant Sixes, no Australian Hemis and it appears no V8s either. The Australian luxury "Chrysler by Chrysler" models were marketed in ZA under the name "Dodge SE", at least in the beginning. This appears to have replaced the VIP in ZA, as it did in Australia. The last CK and CL models appear identical to the Australian cars except for the Slant Six, which by that time was avaible with electronic ignition and the "lean burn" computer.
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The South African Valiant line much more closely resembled the North American models until Chrysler South Africa started using the Australian-sourced VH (and later) body shell. Between the South African Barracuda (apparently) '64-'69 US/Canada equivalent other than RHD and no V8 option) and the Australian-sourced Charger, there was an earlier Valiant Charger based on the North American Plymouth Duster/Dodge Demon 2dr coupe. The Duster and Demon, by the way, were considered parts of the Valiant and Dart lines respectively.
The original South African Charger (they appear to have used the name before Australia) could be described either as a Duster with a Demon (Valiant VIP) front clip, or as a Demon with Duster taillights...
The South African VIP was much more closely related to the Dodge Dart. The Australian VE/VF/VG were based more on the Dart than the North American Valiant as well, but the Australian cars were far more different from the parent car than the South African cars.
'68-'72 South African Valiant Rebel = '68-'72 US/CDN Valiant.
'68-'72 South African Valiant VIP = '68-'72 US/CDN Dart.
From the material I have, it appears that the Australian 215/245/265 "hemi" didn't make it to South Africa. I have a late '70s roadtest of what looks like an Australian Chrysler CL in every way except for the Slant Six (complete with Lean Burn ignition) under the hood. They don't appear to have ever used the 273/318W/340/360 "LA" family of V8s either; every South African Valiant article I have ever seen (with the exception of one involving an engine swap, about which more shortly) makes reference to Slant Sixes, which in later years were available in three states of tune. Chrysler made Slant Six and B-block (383) engines in South Africa, and probably focussed on these to fulfill local content requirements.
The engine swap article involved transplanting a 383 into a Duster-based Charger, and mentioned that the US models came from the factory with smaller V8s than that but that importing one of these engines into South Africa for this swap would be cost-prohibitive...
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One mechanical difference I do know about between Australia and South Africa is that Australia apparently did not offer a "Charger Power" 4v carbed version of the 225. Australia got the LA-block family of V8s, which South Africa appears to have never received, and which may have made the hotter 225 redundant in Australia. Of course, both Australia and South Africa offered 225s with 2v carbs starting in the late '60s, while North American versions didn't see this until the mid-'70s. (North America had the "Hyper-Pak" Slant Six in the very early '60s, which involved not only a 4v carb but special camming and exhaust system, but this was a rare and expensive dealer-installed option, and is believed to have been less streetable than the South African Charger Power 4v engine.)
Prior to 1972, South African production had a much closer physical resemblance to the North American Valiant & Dart, unlike the Australian models which started trying for a different look with the AP5 (1963). South Africa started using the new Australian VH/CH bodyshell in 1972 (called the "fastbody" in South Africa) but unlike Australian production continued using the Slant Six. There were trim and name changes on these cars for the South African market as well, most notably the Australian "Chrysler by Chrysler" being initially marketed in South Africa as a "Dodge SE."
Station wagons (Mike Sealey)
While the South African Valiant line was generally much closer to the North American models than the Australian Valiants (at least until the South Africans adopted the Australian VH platform, or as the South Africans called it the "fastbody", in the early '70s) there was one Australian body style Chrysler South Africa adopted early on, that being the station wagon or estate (known as "Safari" in both countries, probably to the dismay of Pontiac's South African unit).
Chrysler stopped making Valiant and Dart station wagons in North America after the '66 model year. Australia used this body a year or so longer in their VC Valiant, the Safari (like the AP5 and AP6 Safaris that preceded it) being closer to the American Valiant than the sedans. The picture I have of a VC Safari shows the US station wagon body with taillights from the US '64 Valiant! Not sure what the situation was in South Africa during the period between the discontinuation of the North American Valiant/Dart wagon and Australia's introduction of the VE Safari, but it was about this time that Chrysler South Africa started running a model year behind North America, and this may have bought them time until the VE could come out.
It appears from the pictures I have seen that South Africa used the VE/VF/VG Safari body with a North American front clip. The pictures show what is definitely a Dart front clip with Valiant badging, which would make this a VIP wagon. I haven't seen pics of the '68-'72 Valiant-based Rebel or Regal in a Safari, but I assume these models probably exist as well.
Mogie Pillay wrote:
I wish to add that the Dodge Lancer was also badged as a Valiant, just to complicate things. The Valiant range was introduced in 1963 there but the detailing appeared more akin to the US models than the Australian Valiants. In fact for the first few years until the early 70s there appears to be significant differences with the Australian models and the model that appears common appeared in about 1973 as the Valiant Charger which replaced the Barracuda. The VIP model introduced around 1970 appeared based on the Australian model but I do recall detail differences. The Charger was not available there with the "performance" 6 pack engines, only the standard slant 6 engines. The Valiant Rebel/Regal introduced around 1976 was also identical to the Australian model.
Chrysler 383 (by Mike Sealey)
Brendan Milne sent me this great picture of an early '70s South African Chrysler 383. Here in the US we'd know this car as a '70 Dodge Monaco. The hubcaps appear to be those used on Newports of the same time period, as does the "Chrysler" script on the C-pillar. The "CHRYSLER" block lettering on the hood appears to be that used on the hood of the domestic '66 Chryslers.
The car was spotted at "Cars in the Park" in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Brendan says it's for sale but did not include any specifics.
DeSoto Diplomat (Mike Sealey)
Longtime Chrysler stylist and historian Jeff Godshall was kind enough to send me color photocopies of a '62 Diplomat brochure printed in Afrikaans. (Interestingly enough, he didn't get this from Chrysler, but from a vendor at the recent National DeSoto Club national meet in Frankenmuth MI...)
Pics show an airbrushed '62 Dodge Dart 440/Phoenix sedan with "Diplomat" script atop the fender blade on the front door as seen on a '62 Plymouth Belvedere or Savoy. The place where the "Dart 440" script would go on a US car is blank, although there is an emblem on the front fender that looks like a DeSoto version of the '62 Dart hood crest. The dash appears to be a mirror of the LHD dash but instead of one of the B-body instrument clusters uses what looks like a '62 Lancer unit (this was Australian practice as well, and presumably what was done on all RHD B-bodies).
The hood shows block "D E S O T O" lettering, apparently on a single casting with a bar underneath connecting the letters. This looks like it may have been used on an earlier car, possibly '50-'52 Diplomat trunk lid lettering, or it may be something smaller. No views of the rear end were provided, and the only difference between this and the domestic Dodge from this view are probably DeSoto script and amber turn signals. The full wheelcovers are not a design I recognize from anything else, mostly plain in style with a Forward Look emblem in the middle. Possibly these are from the Australian Chrysler Royal (I was able to decipher a reference to 6.70x15 tires, as opposed to the 14" tires used on the domestic car).
The current state of older Chryslers in South Africa (Brendan Milne)
Most older Chrysler products are getting pretty scarce these days (except cars from late 60s through 70s: Valiants, Monacos, 383s, etc). Most American cars in general were favoured by the locals as taxis and as such were not well maintained as well as being used over very rough roads - so survival rate was low.
If you want one of these cars here you have to take what you can get.
My '58 Diplomat has the same plate as do all RHD cars I've looked at. All RHD cars seem to use the same dash panel ('57-'59) This is identical to that in the 'Australian '58 Plymouth' on the Forward Look website. [a RHD drive version of the '57-'58 Dodge dash]
The only LHD cars I've seen have been Chrysler New Yorkers, a '56 and a '59 - perhaps these were full imports?
Virtually all cars here are 4 door sedans - I've only seen one other model - a '59 DeSoto 2 door hardtop which is in extremely poor condition. This must be a Diplomat as it has the tail of a'59 Plymouth.It is also RHD.
For more information, visit Chrysler's South African Web site!
