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Harrison Marks

George Harrison Marks (6 August 1926 – 27 June 1997) was an English glamour photographer and director of nudist, and later, pornographic films.

Personal life
Born in Tottenham, Middlesex in 1926 to a Jewish family, Marks was 17 when he married his first wife, Diana Bugsgang. He worked as a stand-up comedian in variety halls towards the end of the music hall era, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, in a duo called Harrison and Stuart. Marks left the act in 1951 to develop his photographic career, taking pictures of music-hall performers and showgirls. The model and actress Pamela Green was performing as a dancer in a 1952 revue called Paris to Piccadilly, a version of the Folies Bergère in London. She became Marks' lover and began working with him as a model. Their relationship ended in 1961. During the 1960s Marks had a relationship with another of his models, June Palmer, and he married his second wife Vivienne Warren in 1964.

While he was filming The Naked World of Harrison Marks he began a relationship with Toni Burnett, an actress and model who made a brief appearance in the film. In 1967, the year the film came out, Marks and Burnett had a daughter, Josie Harrison Marks. Marks' and Green's business partnership was dissolved in the same year, and in 1970 Marks was bankrupt.

In 1971 he was tried at the Old Bailey for dealing in pornography by post. Marks and Burnett married in September 1973, but they split up around 1978. In 1979 Marks began a relationship with Louise Sinclair, a teenage glamour model.

Glamour photography
In the 1950s Marks and Pamela Green opened a photographic studio at 4 Gerrard Street, Soho. Marks provided nude photographs for photographic magazines on a freelance basis as well as selling his own stills directly. With the profits from this work, they launched Kamera magazine in 1957. Kamera featured Marks' glamour photography of nude women taken in the small studios or Marks' kitchen. June Palmer began modelling professionally for Marks in the late 1950s and became one of his most famous models. Marks' 1958 publicity materials contained one of the first uses of the word "glamour" as a euphemism for nude modelling/photography. The magazine was an immediate success and the business expanded to employ around seventeen staff by the early 1960s, selling a number of other magazine titles such as Solo, postcards and calendars, and distributing imported French books and glamour magazines. Photographic exhibitions were held at the Gerrard Street studio.

Marks was also the photographic consultant for the film Peeping Tom (1960), which featured Green in a cameo role. In the 1960s Marks moved his studio to Saffron Hill near King's Cross Station and began selling photoshoots to the American magazine Swank. His Kamera and Solo magazines ceased publication in 1968, with occasional single-issue magazines appearing subsequently.

In later years he supplied photographs to the men's magazines Men Only and Lilliput, and sold photosets to David Sullivan's magazines Ladybirds and Whitehouse.

Films
In 1958, as an offshoot of his magazines, Marks began making short films of his models undressing and posing topless, for the 8 mm film market. These were popularly known as "glamour home movies". His films were available over the counter at camera shops, and also supplied discreetly by mail order from the back pages of his Kamera magazine. One Marks 8mm glamour film was The Window Dresser (1961), in which Pamela Green starred as a cat burglar who hides from the law by posing as a display mannequin in a lingerie shop. Marks appears in the film as the shop's owner; Green performs a striptease in the store's display window. Clips from The Window Dresser were used in a 1964 piece on the glamour film scene in the Rediffusion programme This Week. These clips showed Pamela Green fully unclothed; the ensuing controversy resulted in Green having to defend the film on the BBC Light Programme's Woman's Hour. After a judge threw out an obscenity charge against The Window Dresser, Marks continued to make 8 mm glamour films throughout the 1960s.

One such film, Witches Brew (1960) features Pamela Green as a witch casting spells; Marks makes a brief appearance as her hunchback assistant. In another, Model Entry (1965), a cat burglar breaks into Marks' studio, strips and leaves him her address. In Danger Girl, a stripping secret agent is put into bondage by a Russian spy; the agent breaks free, ultimately throwing her captor onto a circular saw. Even more macabre is Marks' Perchance to Scream (1967) in which a model is transported to a medieval torture chamber. In this film, Stuart Samuels plays an evil inquisitor who sentences topless women to be whipped and beheaded by a masked executioner.

His feature films as a director were Naked - As Nature Intended (1961), The Chimney Sweeps (his only non-sex feature, 1963), The Naked World of Harrison Marks (1967), Pattern of Evil (1967), The Nine Ages of Nakedness (1969) and Come Play With Me (1977), which featured Mary Millington. Pattern of Evil a.k.a. Fornicon, a heavy S&M film which features scenes of murder and whipping in a torture chamber, was never shown in the UK. Marks implied in several interviews over the years that the film was financed by organised crime.

After directing The Nine Ages of Nakedness, Marks endured a particularly turbulent time in the early seventies including bankruptcy (1970), an obscenity trial at the Old Bailey in 1971, and alcoholism. Ironically, a segment of The Nine Ages of Nakedness had ended with Marks' alter-ego "The Great Marko" being brought up before a crooked Judge (Cardew Robinson) on obscenity charges. Marks made ends meet during this period by continuing to shoot short films for the 8mm market and releasing them via his Maximus Films company.

Based at Marks' Farringdon studio, Maximus was run on a "film club" basis, meaning that clients would have to sign up for membership before purchasing the films, mirroring the way membership-only sex cinemas were run at the time. While his earlier 8mm films largely consisted of nothing more explicit than the models posing topless, late-sixties titles like Apartment 69 and The Amorous Masseur were generally softcore pornography. Marks had been eager to shoot soft porn material ever since the Window Dresser case, much to the disdain of Pamela Green, who dissolved their business partnership in 1967. "He was fond of good living and a drink or two, and he wanted to go on to soft porn," Green told Tit-Bits magazine in 1995, adding "there was this one film where he was dressed as a dirty old man and he's creeping round Piccadilly Circus, then you see him in bed with this girl". One Maximus short The Ecstasy of Oral Love adopts a pseudo-documentary format, showing a couple frantically licking each other, ending with some relatively graphic oral sex scenes which are inter-cut with ostensibly socially redeeming title cards issuing advice to "young married couples".

In the mid seventies Marks had begun selling explicit photo sets to adult magazine publisher David Sullivan's top-shelf magazines. Evidently Marks had also sold Sullivan the rights to some of his 8mm sex films, as adverts by Kelerfern (a Sullivan mail order company) carried Marks-directed sex shorts like Hole in One, Nymphomania, King Muff and Doctor Sex for sale around this period.

While the Marks films offered in UK porn magazines throughout the 1970s appear to have been softcore, and their pornographic nature greatly exaggerated by the advertisements (a familiar trait of David Sullivan), from the early 1970s onwards Marks had begun experimenting with hardcore production. He made short films for a British hardcore pornographer known only as "Charlie Brown", and began making hardcore versions of his own Maximus short films which were released overseas on the Color Climax and Tabu labels. In later years Marks was reluctant to discuss these hardcore short films and claimed "not to remember" their names. Arabian Knights (also filmed for Color Climax in 1979) was shot at the Hotel Julius Caesar in Queens Gardens in Bayswater and features mainstream actor Milton Reid in a non-sex role.

Other works
A lover of animals, in particular felines, in the early stages of his career Marks had a sideline photographing cats, and provided the photographs for Compton Mackenzie's book Cats's Company (1960).

"He was an excellent photographer of nudes," producer Tony Tenser remarked to John Hamilton in a 1998 interview, "but he also excelled in photographs of cats, that were much more beautiful than some of his nudes". Marks' cats remained a fixture of his studio and can be spotted scurrying about in several of the 8mm glamour films of the period, occasionally even appearing in prominent roles.

In the wake of the success of his early "glamour" films Harrison Marks also produced a series of slapstick comedies also sold via the photographic shops and magazines that were the outlet for his adult work. As well as directing these films he also appeared as one of the main actors. Titles like Uncle's Tea Party, Defective Detectives, High Diddle Fiddle, Dizzy Decorators and Musical Maniacs were founded in the music hall and classic silent comedy traditions. Needless to say, they were less successful than his girlie films and the competition from the real thing (i.e., the Chaplin, Keaton, and Harrold Lloyd classics that he paid homage to), which provided most of the package film releases of the day.

Janus and Kane
In the late 1970s Marks was hired as a photographer for Janus, a fetish magazine specialising in spanking and caning imagery. He also produced and directed short erotic corporal punishment films for Janus for the then-emerging home video market. One of these, Warden's End (1981), starring glamour model and pornographic actress Linzi Drew, shows the exterior and interior of Janus's London storefront office at 40 Old Compton Street.

In 1982 Marks left the Janus stable to set up his own fetish magazine Kane which also featured caning and spanking photos. Kane described itself as "The CP Journal of Fantasy, Fact and Fiction for Adults."

Corporal punishment would now become Marks' big theme for the final act of his career. According to his official website, Marks' corporal punishment material "kept him in booze and cigarettes and an acceptable degree of comfort for the rest of his life". He created the Kane International Videos division and went on to direct (and sometimes also performed in) a number of full-length corporal punishment videos in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of his videos include: The Cane and Mr Abel (1984), also with Linzi Drew, Bad Girls Don’t Cry (1989), The Spanking Academy of Dr. Blunt, Stinging Tales (both 1992), Naughty Schoolgirls Revenge (1994), and Spanker's Paradise (parts 1 & 2) in 1992 in which he also acted opposite English porn star Vida Garman.

After his death in 1997, his daughter Josie Harrison Marks took over the editing of Kane.

Biography
In 1967 Franklyn Wood, a former art editor of The Times and the first editor in Fleet Street to run a diary (in the Daily Sketch) under his own name, published a biography of Harrison Marks called The Naked Truth About Harrison Marks. It was reprinted in 2017.

title: Harrison Marks


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Chrysler Valiant

The Chrysler Valiant was a full-size car which was sold by Chrysler Australia between 1962 and 1981. Initially a rebadged locally assembled Plymouth Valiant from the United States, from the second generation launched in 1963, the Valiant was fully manufactured in Australia. It was sold locally but also in New Zealand and South Africa, with smaller numbers also exported to South-East Asia and the United Kingdom.

Parent company Chrysler made a substantial investment in Australian manufacturing facilities by establishing operations in South Australia with an assembly plant at Tonsley Park in 1964 and an engine foundry at Lonsdale in 1968. The Valiant thus established its position as the third of the "Big 3" Australian-made vehicles behind the Holden Kingswood and Ford Falcon.

The Australian Valiant was built on the North American A-body platform but with many parts and components from Australian suppliers. Apart from a sedan and wagon body style, 1965 saw the introduction of a commercial utility that was badged the Wayfarer and later exported to South Africa as the Rustler.

Greater differentiation from the donor car creeped in over time, particularly since the VE series, which was embraced by the Australian motoring press and won the 1967 Wheels magazine Car of the Year award. The VF series of 1969 and the VG of 1970 departed even further from its North American donor both in terms of styling and performance—with the latter series introducing the Hemi-6 engine that replaced the Slant-6. Moreover, Australia continued to produce a station wagon model, called the Safari, even after this body style being discontinued for North America.

Beginning in 1971, the VH series saw Chrysler Australia develop the entire lineup locally including the Charger. Local design and production continued until the CM series of 1979, which marked the end of local production in 1981, after the takeover of operations by Mitsubishi Motors Australia.

RV1 (R Series)
After the Plymouth Valiant turned out to be a success in the United States (starting with its 1959 introduction), Chrysler released Australia's first locally assembled Valiant, the RV1 (R-series). It was officially unveiled by South Australia's Premier, Sir Thomas Playford, in January 1962 and was assembled at Chrysler's Mile End facility.

The RV1 (or R Series) Valiant was an instant success. Not everyone was taken instantly by the car's styling, but the general consensus was that the car had a modern, almost space age quality about it.

Also notable was the Valiant's performance with 145 bhp from the 225 Slant-6 engine. This was a lot of power compared to the competing Holdens and Fords, which offered only 75 bhp and 90 bhp SAE respectively.

Standard transmission in the RV1 was a floor-shifted three-speed manual with a non-synchro first gear. A button-operated three-speed TorqueFlite automatic was optional. Other options included a heater-demister unit, as well as a "Moparmatic" deluxe pushbutton transistor radio.

The RV1 Valiant was the first Australian car to come with an alternator instead of a generator, and instead of coil springs, the Valiant came with torsion bar suspension. Brakes were hydraulic 9" drums front and rear. The RV1 had a simulated spare wheel outline on the bootlid, but the spare wheel was actually under the floor of the boot.

The base model sold for £1299.

SV1 (S Series)
In March 1962, Chrysler replaced the American 1961-model R Valiant with the American 1962 SV1 (S Series) Valiant. The SV1 used the same body shell as the RV1, with cosmetic changes including the deletion of the simulated spare wheel on the bootlid, and round tail lamps replacing the R-model's cat-eye shaped ones. There was a revised radiator grille and new exterior trim.

Mechanical changes included relocation of the manual transmission shifter to the steering column, new ball joints, and a new gear-reduction starter motor.

10,009 SV1 Valiants were sold, of which 5,496 were automatics and 4,513 were manuals.

AP5 Series
On 30 May 1963, Chrysler Australia produced the first fully Australian manufactured Valiant, the AP5. In February of that year, Chrysler Australia had begun work on its new $36 million Tonsley Park facility in South Australia, where it could boost annual production to 50 thousand cars. The new plant produced its first Valiants on 31 March 1964.

The AP5 ("AP" for Australian Production ) was an entirely new design with only the four doors, windscreen, and front guards shared with its North American counterpart. Initial cars retained the left-hand-drive wiper pattern but this was soon changed to a RHD layout. The Slant-6 driveline was retained, but the AP5 was considerably more straightforward in styling than its R- and S-model antecedents. With high local content and specifications optimised for local conditions, this new Valiant strengthened the brand's position in the marketplace. A new upmarket Regal version was included in the range. In November 1963 an AP5 Safari station wagon was released. Total production of the AP5 range amounted to 49,440 vehicles.

AP6 Series
In March 1965, the AP5 was supplanted by the AP6. The body shell was the same, but there was a new grille on the theme of the 1964 North American Plymouth Barracuda, and there was new trim inside and out. The automatic transmission was no longer controlled by pushbuttons, but instead by a conventional shift lever. The AP6 also included other new features such as self-adjusting brakes and acrylic enamel paint, at the time the most advanced auto finish available. The AP6 model range included the Valiant Wayfarer, the first Valiant-based coupe utility to be built by Chrysler Australia.

The AP6 was the first Australian-built Valiant to be offered with a V8 engine – the 273 cuin LA V8, introduced in American Valiants in 1964, and released in Australia in August 1965. The engine developed 180 bhp and pushed the Valiant to a top speed of 109 mph.

The V8 was only available as a model in its own right, the V8 Valiant, which had a vinyl-covered roof, individual bucket seats, floor console mounted automatic shift lever and two-tone steering wheel.

The Slant-6's camshaft was also slightly upgraded for improved torque by dint of increased duration and lift.

Chrysler Australia had difficulty meeting demand, with the Valiant being built at Tonsley Park at a maximum rate of 200 cars per eight-hour shift. Customers had to wait up to four months for delivery of a new AP6. Prices ran from $2,500 to $3,650.

VC Series

The VC Valiant was introduced in March 1966 and, although underneath it was basically the same car as the preceding AP6 Series, the body was extensively restyled giving the illusion of being longer and lower.

The modern new design was highlighted by sharp, squared-off edges and corners clearly influenced by Chrysler in the United States. The front now had a full-width horizontal grille while the rear was also much squarer with vertical taillights.

The range of models again consisted of the Valiant standard or Regal sedan, standard or Safari Regal wagon and Wayfarer utility. They featured higher standard equipment levels as well as new safety features, such as optional disc brakes on V8 models, which were named 'Valiant V8/Safari V8' and were essentially Regal models.

The VC Series was built both for its major market, Australia, but also for export to the United Kingdom, as announced at the October 1966 London Motor Show, based on the following range of uniquely named models (brackets indicate the equivalent Australian nameplate):

 * Medium Saloon (Valiant equivalent)
 * Medium Safari Estate Car (Valiant Safari wagon equivalent)
 * Regal Highline Saloon Automatic (Valiant Regal equivalent)
 * Regal Highline Safari (Valiant Safari Regal wagon equivalent)
 * Premium V8 Saloon (Valiant V8 equivalent)
 * Premium Safari Estate Car (Valiant Safari V8 wagon equivalent)

In total, Chrysler Australia built 65,634 VC Series models.

VE Series

This Valiant was an all-new design introduced in October 1967, based on the North American platform, which had a 108 in wheelbase. The bonnet and guards were shared with the also-new 1967 North American Dodge Dart, with other styling cues otherwise inherited from the North American Valiant. The car featured slightly larger body dimensions and greater interior space than the preceding VC Series. The roofline was also flattened out and the rear window was given a concave profile.

Higher levels of standard equipment were featured and two engine options became available. The basic Slant-6 was retained with its 145 bhp rating, but a new 2-barrel carbureted version was released with output of 160 bhp. The 273 V8 was also improved and made available across the entire Valiant range.

Other upgrades included the introduction of a larger 64 L fuel tank, shorter gear lever throw on the manual gearbox, relocation of the dipswitch from under the brake pedal to the high left of the firewall, and the windscreen wiper motor was relocated to the engine side of the firewall – greatly reducing wiper noise. All models benefited from additional safety features (some compulsory under new Australian Design Rules, or ADRs) such as dual circuit brakes with a tandem master cylinder, double sided safety rims, front seat belts and front power disc brakes on V8 models.

The VE range consisted of Valiant & Valiant Regal sedans, Valiant Safari & Valiant Regal Safari station wagons and Valiant, Valiant Wayfarer & Dodge utilities, the latter being a lower-priced version of the Valiant utility. The flagship model followed on from the AP6 and VC V8 theme, being similarly equipped with bucket seats, floor shift automatic, and vinyl roof all standard, but was given the new name "VIP" to distinguish it from other models, since the V8 engine option was made available across the range. It also shared the 3 'sergeant stripes' of the VC V8 on the rear quarter panel.

The biggest accolade for the VE Valiant was Wheels "Car of the Year" in 1967 – the first for Chrysler Australia.

68,688 VE Valiants were built.

VF Series

In March 1969, the VE was replaced by the VF model. The new car shared its middle section with the previous VE Valiant, but there was new front and rear styling. The new front end featured a horizontally convex grille, replacing the VE's concave design. The front indicators were placed at the top leading edge of the front guards rather than in a more conventional location in the grille or front bumper. This allowed the VF's front bumper to be thinner and less prominent, which made the single round headlights look larger, and the front end appeared more aggressive as a result.

Valiant and Valiant Regal models were once again available, and the VF range also saw the introduction of the Valiant Regal 770 and an upgraded VIP model. The VF VIP was introduced two months after the Valiant range and was no longer a Valiant V.I.P. but was now marketed as a Chrysler VIP, in sedan form only. It offered a stretched (112 in) wheelbase, with longer rear doors than the Valiant. As with previous model changes, the VF boasted even more safety features including a padded instrument panel and energy absorbing steering column.

A larger 318 cuin version of the LA V8 replaced the 273, taking the V8's top speed to 109 mph. Transmission options remained the same: three-speed manual or three-speed TorqueFlite automatic.

The most significant introduction to the VF range was the all new two-door Valiant Hardtop – essentially, a North American Dodge Dart coupé with the Australian Valiant front sheetmetal and interior trim. At over 5000 mm, it is the longest coupe ever built in Australia. Released six months after the other VF Valiants in September 1969, it was available in Valiant, Valiant Regal and Valiant Regal 770 models.

In mid 1969, Chrysler released a fast four-door named Valiant Pacer. A low-cost, high-power version of the bread-and-butter Valiant sedan, the Pacer featured a high-performance six-cylinder engine and three-speed manual gearbox with floor shifter. Despite a lack of exterior chrome, the VF Pacer stood out with its red and black grille, simulated-mag wheel hub caps, special body striping, 'Pacer 225' decals, and choice of "Wild Blue", "Wild Red", or "Wild Yellow" exterior colours. The sparsely trimmed interior featured high back bucket seats, and distinctive black on white instrument dials with a dash-top-mounted tachometer. Although lacking the V8 of its rivals, the Pacer could reach almost 180 km/h and, at $2798, was $400 cheaper than the base GTS Monaro. The Pacer was powered by a special version of the trusty 225 Slant-6. With two-barrel carburettor, high-flow exhaust system, and 9.3:1 compression ratio, it produced 175 bhp. Standard brakes were finned, servo-assisted drum brakes all round, although most buyers opted for the optional front discs. Underneath was Valiant's basic torsion bar suspension, lowered by 125 mm to improve handling and with a front anti-sway bar fitted. A 'Sure-Grip' limited-slip differential with either 3.23:1 or 2.92:1 ratios was optional.

Contemporary road testers were mostly full of praise for the Pacer, noting there were few cars that could match it on a performance for price basis. Modern Motor (May, 1969) took a VF Pacer sedan to 60 mph in a respectable 10.5 seconds, the 1/4 mi in 17.5 seconds and topped out at 111 mph.

In 1969, Chrysler's market share reached 13.7%. In total, 52,944 VF Valiants were built.

VG Series
August 1970 saw the introduction of another facelifted version of the VE/VF bodystyle in the VG Valiant. The VG's most noticeable difference was the use of rectangular headlamps instead of the traditional round ones (except on VIP models, which used quad round headlamps). The guard-top indicator location was carried over from the VF. The grille was a horizontal, single-plane item, and the taillamps were revised and wrapped around to the body side. Sedan, Wagon, Ute and Hardtop body styles were offered once again as well as the same luxury levels as before.

The biggest announcement to come with the VG Valiant was of the all new Hemi-6 engine, replacing the Slant-6. The new engine was introduced as a 245 cuin unit with quasi-hemispherical combustion chambers. The "Hemi" name was already legendary in America with Chrysler's use of the Hemi V8, hence Chrysler Australia's marketing leverage for its 6-cylinder offering. The 1-barrel version of the 245 produced 165 bhp and 235 lbfft.

The sporty Pacer sedan was available again, but whereas the VF Pacer was only offered with the one power output, the new VG Pacer offered 3 different versions of the new 245 Hemi-6 engine, though Chrysler Australia didn't publish any power output figures for the Pacers. The standard Pacer had a 2-barrel carburettor and produced 185 bhp. Option E31 produced 195 bhp and included a two-barrel carburettor, higher-performance camshaft, smaller fan, and windage tray. Option E34 produced 235 bhp and included a 4-barrel carburettor, high-performance camshaft, dual-plate clutch, manual choke, modified instrument cluster, torque-limiting engine mount strut, larger radiator, smaller fan, windage tray, premium engine bearings, shot-peened crankshaft and connecting rods, and high-capacity oil pump. Option E35 included a 4-barrel carburettor, high-performance camshaft, heavy-duty engine bearings, a dual-plate clutch, torque-limiting engine mount strut, and the ordinary Pacer-spec transmission.

The VG series Pacers were also the first and last to be offered in the Hardtop body style, of which three were optioned with the E31 package and three were optioned with E35 package. No VG Pacer Hardtops were available with the E34 option. Due to Chrysler Australia's policy (local content law/government law) of using only locally produced components, and the unavailability of a local four-speed gearbox, the Pacer was offered with only a three-speed floor shift manual transmission.

A total of 46,374 VG Valiants were built.

VH Series

Chrysler released the VH Valiant range in June 1971. The VH was the first fully Australian-designed Valiant and was a major change from the preceding VG range – these were larger cars, styled to look even larger than they were. The grille treatment on the new VH range was a direct design descendant from the US Mopars with the central recessed area for grille and headlamps, surrounded by uninterrupted trim on the outer leading edge of the whole assembly. The rectangular headlamps were carried over from the VG model.

The model range of the VH Valiant was quite extensive, starting with the new entry-level Valiant Ranger, and progressing to Valiant Ranger XL, Valiant Pacer, Valiant Regal, and Valiant Regal 770.

Carried over from the VG range, the basic Hemi-6 245ci engine was standard equipment for Ranger XL and Regal, but a new 265 cuin version offered 203 bhp and was standard equipment for the Regal 770. The Fireball 318 V8 engine was still an option, but only available on the Regal 770 sedan. The basic Ranger sedan featured a new low compression Hemi-6 215ci engine that operated on Standard grade petrol. This engine was not available on the other sedan cars in the VH range.

Unlike the VG range, Valiant Pacer was now only available in 4-door sedan form. Apart from vivid paint colours, optional bonnet blackouts and striping, the new Pacer featured a higher performance version of the 265ci engine, with 218 bhp at 4,800 rpm and 273 lbfft at 3,000 rpm. The Pacer could run the quarter-mile in 15.9 seconds, get to 100 km/h in 7.6 seconds and reach a top speed of 185 km/h.

In fact, at its release, the VH Valiant Pacer set the record for being the fastest mass-produced four-door sedan with a six-cylinder engine manufactured in Australia, a record which stood for 17 years.

The Pacer's days as the VH performance model were numbered, because that same year saw the announcement and introduction of what was to become Chrysler Australia's most recognised new car – the Valiant Charger. In total, only 1,647 VH Valiant Pacer sedans were produced.

The new Valiant Charger was unlike anything that had come before and it had the Australian motoring press calling it, "...the most handsome car Chrysler has ever produced, and probably the best looking car ever produced by an Australian manufacturer". A short-wheelbase, fastback coupe with an aggressive wedge-like stance, the Charger's design gave the effect of speed, even when it was standing still.

Chrysler's TV campaign for the Charger featured the young adults at whom it was targeted, waving at one as it swept by them and shouting "Hey, Charger!" One of the more memorable TV ads of the time, it created a cliché that haunts today's owners. Charger won Wheels magazine's Car of the Year award for 1971 and was widely acclaimed by others in the motoring press, as well as the public.

The Valiant Charger came in four model guises, closely mirroring the existing sedan range – Charger, Charger XL, Charger 770, and Charger R/T. The first of the serious "track pack" R/T Chargers had option E38. Despite being hampered by a three-speed gearbox, it still drew favourable comments from Wheels: "We achieved a time of 14.8 seconds for the quarter-mile – on smoother surfaces the Charger galloped away so easily that a best of 14.5 seconds is within reach". Being a three-speed gearbox, these quarter-mile runs took only one gear change.

The most recognised performance Chargers were the Six Pack cars. The term six pack denoted the triple side-draught Weber 2BBL carburettors with which the 265 Hemi-6 engine – in option E37, option E38, and later option E49 – produced levels of power unheard of on a naturally aspirated six-cylinder at the time. The triple carburettors also made for a distinctive throaty note when under acceleration.

E38 versions of the Charger R/T featured a 265 Hemi-6 which produced 280 bhp while the E37 was the street tune option made available on Charger 770 and Charger R/T. E38 was a race-ready Charger R/T with the additional A84 Track Pack option, which included a 35 impgal fuel tank. There was also an A87 Track Pack option that included all the race track goodies, but for the larger fuel tank.

In mid-1972, the E38 option was superseded by the more powerful and greatly refined four-speed transmission E49 option. This drew comments from Wheels such as, "The raw quivering power is instantaneously on tap and with a ratio for every conceivable situation the Charger just storms through. It would take a Ferrari Daytona with racing driver Jackie Ickx at the wheel to stay with one". All E49s came with a Track Pack, 21 of which featured the huge fuel tank with dual fillers. The E49 six pack engine came with a baffled sump, tuned length headers, special shot-peened crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, rings, cam, valve springs, a twin plate clutch and of course the triple 45 mm dual throat Weber carburetors. Chrysler quoted this engine as producing 302 bhp which, in a 1372 kg car, made for rapid acceleration.

The R/T E49 was the ultimate Valiant Charger, and with only 149 built the E49s are still widely considered today as one of the greatest Australian "muscle" cars ever produced. Road tests of the era recorded quarter-mile times of between 14.1 and 14.5 seconds. 0 to 100 mph in 14.1 seconds was the norm. This compares to times of 14.6 for the next quickest accelerating Australian muscle car, the Ford XY Falcon GT-HO (Phase III).

Although the Six Pack Chargers were the dominant performance players in the VH range, there was another Charger, the 275 bhp, 340 cuin V8 powered E55, that came close. Option E55 was applied to the new Charger 770 SE in August 1972, and this car could reach 60 mph in 7.2 seconds and complete the quarter-mile in 15.5 seconds – all topped off by a top speed of 122 mph.

A batch of several hundred VH Charger 770 318 V8s were exported to Japan along with CH sedans. The Chargers had a CH-like nose with VH sheet metal surrounding the CH four headlights and grille, a combination that NZ assembler Todd Motors would later use to create its unique VJ Valiant Regal 770 sedan. The Japanese cars also had air conditioning, side marker lights and separate white reversing lights as well as mirrors conforming to Japanese market regulations.

Overall, Chrysler Australia manufactured 67,800 VH Valiant cars.

New Zealand distributor Todd Motors had assembled the Valiant sedan from CKD kits since the AP5, mostly following the Australian range though with fewer variants and engine choices plus local upholstery. For the VH, it was a little more adventurous, launching a unique-to-NZ Ranger XL sedan as the base model with a two-barrel carburetor version of the 245ci Hemi-6 engine, no tail lamp trim surrounds or door window brightwork, unique seats and upholstery, and manual or automatic, column-shift transmission. The Regal 770 had the 265ci Hemi-6, floor-console automatic shifter, round dials with wood trim in place of the strip speedo and its own unique front bucket seats and trim. The 318ci V8 was optional and a vinyl roof was standard but could be deleted to order. Todd's sole locally built Charger model was also to '770' trim with the 265ci Hemi-6 six and three-speed floor shift auto and did not have the bumper overriders standard in Australia. Early runs had one-piece front door glass and hinged opening rear side windows but, due to problems with water leaks and excessive wind noise, this was soon changed to opening front quarterlights and fixed rear side glass. Wagons were imported from Australia, to Australian specification.

CH Series
The VH model range also saw the introduction of the new luxury class vehicles, the CH range. The CH was a further 4 in longer in the wheelbase than the VH Valiant – 115 in – with a total length of 197 in. It featured quad round headlamps and a different rear end treatment, and had quieter suspension and higher equipment levels.

The CH (or "Chrysler by Chrysler", as it is commonly referred to) was a four-door luxury model intended to compete with the Ford Fairlane and Holden's Statesman models in the luxury car market in Australia.

Also released in October 1971 was a two-door version of the CH which was called the Chrysler Hardtop, and shared the same wheelbase as the four-door Chrysler, along with the front and rear end treatment.

VJ Series
May 1973 saw the introduction of the next model in the new All-Australian designed Valiant – The VJ. Although essentially a facelifted version of the VH Valiant before it, the VJ's subtle changes made enough of an impact on the buying public to make it the biggest selling Chrysler Valiant model of all, with 90,865 units being sold.

Externally the VJ Valiant continued on with the VH series body styles, though the VJ reverted to single 7" round headlamps and a new 8-segment grille. VJ sedans also received new horizontal taillights. Although the physical changes were few, many other new features were introduced in the VJ Valiant range, such as electronic ignition, rustproofing and floor-mounted shifters as standard features. Chrysler upgraded equipment levels in July 1974 with front disc brakes, door reflectors, lockable glovebox and retractable seatbelts all as standard features.

While the VJ range still offered sedan, wagon, ute, hardtop and coupe variants, the performance-oriented Pacer sedans and Charger R/T coupes were deleted from the new range. However, a variation of the E37 Six Pack engine (now with four-speed manual transmission) was made available, in the form of option E48, with most of the cars bearing this option ending up being base model VJ Charger coupes. Four VJ Charger coupes were built by special order featuring the VH series option E49 engine. The other carry-over performance variant was option E55, with the 340ci V8 engine option officially remaining as restricted to Charger 770 coupe application only.

In August 1974, a special run of 500 Sportsman coupes were released, based upon the Charger XL model. They were only available in Vintage Red with white body accents. These cars also had a unique white interior with plaid cloth seats and featured a standard 265 engine with a choice of either manual or automatic transmissions.

In New Zealand, Todd Motors was even more adventurous with the VJ. The base Ranger XL and Charger were updated, as in Australia, with similar NZ-only variations as the VH but the VJ Regal 770 was something of a 'parts bin special' and essentially a merger of a VJ Regal with a CH Chrysler. The nose – also used for several hundred VH Chargers built for the Japanese market – combined the CH's four headlamps and grille with VH Valiant sheetmetal (retaining the older, larger, clear park/indicator lamps) while the rest of the body was as per Australian VJ. Inside, new front seats were CH style, with individual chairs forming a bench shape, and a column automatic shifter was now used. Earlier cars had all-vinyl upholstery but cloth was fitted as standard later. New Zealand VJ Regals also had a vinyl roof in black or beige and the panel between the tail lights was also trimmed in vinyl to match – the vinyl trim could be deleted to order.

CJ Series
The Chrysler was given a facelift in May 1973 to become the CJ Series. The two-door hardtop was dropped leaving only the four-door sedan to carry on the fight against its Ford and Statesman luxury competitors. The related Valiant hardtop's production continued.

VK Series
In October 1975 the VK Valiant was released with few external changes from the previous VJ model. The Ranger now had an argent version of the VJ Charger grille, the Charger XL had a white version and the Charger 770 also had the argent grille. The VK Valiant Regal featured a "grille within a grille". The Ranger sedan, Regal sedan, and Charger all now shared the same tail-light treatment, using a horizontal layout with four chrome contours to keep air flow away and keep the lenses clean. The Chargers were not called Chrysler Valiant Chargers any longer; with the 'Valiant' name being dropped.

The VK Regal also had blinker repeaters housed in small chrome boxes which sat on top of both front guards. Another unusual option was the Fuel Pacer option from the Chrysler US parts bin which detected low engine vacuum – as under hard acceleration – and illuminated the driver side guardtop blinker repeater to indicate wasteful driving. Inertia-reel seatbelts and slightly different heater controls were introduced on the VK, as well as a combination control stalk for the lights and wipers from the Mitsubishi Galant. The Ranger also got full-length door trims, and carpet was now standard.

VK six-cylinder series engines were the same as the VJ's, and the 245 Hemi-6 now featured a two-barrel carburettor like the 265 variant. The V8s were mainly 318 cuin units, though the 360 cuin remained an option across the entire range. It was not very popular as the mid-1970s saw the trend towards smaller cars with smaller motors. While the "three on the tree" column shift manual gearbox was still available, it was rarely specified (although still popular on Utes) and the three-speed floor change was now gone too. Buyers seeking floor-shift manual could choose the four-speed, which was available on all models but could only be had with a Hemi-6, not with a V8.

Late in the VK model run a limited edition Charger called the White Knight Special (option A50) was offered with a factory-fitted front air dam. The changes were mainly cosmetic with running gear being largely stock. There were 200 White Knight Specials made – 100 Arctic White and 100 Amarante Red. 120 were automatics and 80 were four-speeds.

20,555 VK Valiants were produced and production ceased in June 1976. This was because ADR 27A for exhaust emission control became effective on 1 July 1976, and all the car manufacturers used that date as the introduction of a new model to comply with the new standard.

VK assembly did not begin in New Zealand until nearly a year after Australian launch because a 60% sales tax levied on large engine cars, introduced during the 1973-4 oil crisis, drastically slowed VJ sales. The model range in New Zealand was pared down to Regal and Regal 770 editions.

A version of the Regal was manufactured for the South African Police as the SPP package in the late 1970s which featured triple carburetors, an uprated gearbox, uprated differential, and larger disc brakes. Approximately 2000 of this version were built and supplied

CK Series
The Chrysler was given a slight a facelift in October 1975 to become the CK series. Production ceased just one year later in October 1976 when the Chrysler was replaced by the Chrysler Regal SE, a prestige version of the CL Series Valiant.

CL Series
The CL Series Valiant was introduced in November 1976. Although it used the same bodyshell as the previous VK range, the front and rear ends were restyled. The front end used horizontally arrayed quad round headlamps flanking a central grille. The front guards and bonnet were also reworked accordingly. The new bootlid's curved leading edge flowed down to new taillights that sandwiched a simple centre garnish panel. The bumpers, however, were the same units as had been used on the 1969 VF series Valiants.

The Ranger name was dropped; the base model CL was simply called Valiant, and the long-wheelbase "Chrysler by Chrysler" was replaced by the Regal SE. The CL series Regal was marketed as the Chrysler Regal, in contrast to the Valiant Regal name used from the AP5 series through to the recently superseded VK Series. The CL series was the last to include a Charger model, which – like the previous VK model – was badged and sold as a Chrysler, not as a Valiant submodel. The CL Charger was generally available in only one trim level, the Charger 770, though a Charger XL was made available to police departments. The CL series also saw the arrival of the panel van variant to compete with similar offerings from rival makers.

Interiors carried over largely unchanged from the VK range, though the Regal SE offered luxurious buttoned-leather seating as an option. Base Valiants continued with the previous Ranger style strip speedometer, while the Regal dash featured recessed circular gauges and clock with a woodgrain finish. The Charger 770 dash was similar to that of the Regal, except it was finished in black and had a tachometer instead of a clock.

The 215 cuin Hemi-6 and 360 cuin V8 were dropped, and the only engine options were low- and high-compression versions of the 245 cuin Hemi-6 and the 318 cuin V8. The CL's introduction had closely coincided with that of the strict exhaust emission regulations contained in ADR 27A. With the 318 engine, a new emissions control system was introduced: Electronic Lean Burn.

Transmission options were 3-speed manual with floor or column shift, four-speed manual with floor shift, and three-speed Torqueflite automatic with floor or column shift. The automatic was standard equipment with the 318 V8, and optional with a 6-cylinder. The 4-speed was optional for six- and eight-cylinder models. The floor-shift auto option was fitted to most Regals and all Regal SE's.

In 1978 Chrysler released a limited edition run of 400 special Regal Le Baron models (option A17). The Le Baron was available only in Silver, with red or blue interiors. The 265 Hemi-6 was standard, and the 318 V8 was optional.

Valiant and Regal sedans also benefited from the 1978 introduction of Radial Tuned Suspension in response to Holden's having marketed their suspension as particularly suited to radial tyres. RTS improved the car's handling and roadholding significantly, and "Modern Motor" magazine proclaimed that the Valiant offered a better drive than the Holden.

The last special option in the CL range was the $816 Drifter package, available on the Charger. The Drifter package included Impact Orange, Sundance Yellow, Spinnaker White or Harvest Gold body paint, and large side and rear stripes. Drifters in white had additional "strobe stripes" on the bootlid. Engine options were again the 265 six or 318 V8, but the 4-speed manual was the only transmission option. A Drifter Pack was also offered on the Valiant Panel Van and on the Utility.

36,672 CL Valiants – including the last-ever Chargers – were built.

The CL was the last Valiant series assembled in New Zealand – by now the Chargers and Ranger were gone and the Regal and the Regal SE, replacing the 770, were the only models. The Regal SE was the first car to be assembled in the country with standard air conditioning.

CM series
The CM was released in November 1978, and was little changed bodywise from the CL model. Only sedan and wagon models were produced.

A sports sedan called the GLX (option A16) was released as a replacement for the discontinued Charger and earlier the Pacer. Its features included a Charger grill and dashboard, special cloth trim, Cheviot Hotwire mag wheels and black door frames. It was advertised as the car "For People Who Like Their Cars Rare", as it was the last of the sports models and the jewel in the CM series. The GLX could be optioned with a 265 cuin Hemi-6 or 318 cuin V8.

The computer-controlled Electronic Lean Burn system continued giving favourable fuel economy; when Wheels performed an economy test in 1979, they found the ELB-equipped Valiant 245 cuin used less fuel than a 2.0 L Ford Cortina. A Valiant achieved better than 30 mpgimp in the Total Oil Economy Run.

Production of this car continued after Mitsubishi's takeover of Chrysler's Australian operations. Mitsubishi could build the car profitably even in small numbers due to its high 97% level of local Australian content and amortised tooling. However, the car was still badged as the Chrysler Valiant, not as a Mitsubishi. The profit from the sale of one Valiant was equal to the profit from 3 Mitsubishi Sigmas- by this time the company's main seller.

Valiant production ended in August 1981 with production of the CM reaching 16,005 units out of 565,338 units of all models. Full-sized Chryslers were not marketed again in Australia until the 2005 release of the Chrysler 300C.

Motorsport
Although the Charger is arguably the best remembered Valiant in Australian motorsport, earlier models achieved class wins at the annual "Bathurst 500" production car race, something that the Charger never did. A Valiant AP5 won Class D at the 1963 Armstrong 500, a VC Valiant V8 won Class D at the 1966 Gallaher 500 and a VG Valiant Pacer won Class D at the 1970 Hardie-Ferodo 500. Chargers were raced in the Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Bathurst in 1971 and 1972 with factory support. They gained a best placing of third outright and second in class in 1972. Chrysler's policy was to race "Australian made" product, which meant the race cars ran 265 cuin six-cylinder engines equipped with triple Weber carburettors and 3-speed gearboxes. Even skilled driving and good engineering could not defeat Ford's legendary Falcon GTHO Phase III with its 351 cuin V8. In New Zealand, however, the Chryslers proved to be virtually unbeatable from 1971 to 1979 at the famous B&H 500-mile (later 1000 km) series at Pukekohe Park Raceway. The most successful drivers were Leo Leonard and Jim Little, who still races his Valiants (mostly pre-65 class).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Chrysler Valiant


text:
Diponegoro

Prince Diponegoro (ꦢꦶꦥꦤꦼꦒꦫ, Dipånegårå; born Bendara Raden Mas Mustahar, ꦧꦼꦤ꧀ꦢꦫꦫꦢꦺꦤ꧀ꦩꦱ꧀ꦩꦸꦱ꧀ꦠꦲꦂ; later Bendara Raden Mas Antawirya ꦧꦼꦤ꧀ꦢꦫꦫꦢꦺꦤ꧀ꦩꦱ꧀ꦲꦤ꧀ꦠꦮꦶꦂꦪ; 11 November 1785 – 8 January 1855), also known as Dipanegara, was a Javanese prince who opposed the Dutch colonial rule. The eldest son of the Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono III, he played an important role in the Java War between 1825 and 1830. After his defeat and capture, he was exiled to Makassar, where he died at 69 years old.

His five-year struggle against the Dutch control of Java has become celebrated by Indonesians throughout the years, acting as a source of inspiration for the fighters in the Indonesian National Revolution and nationalism in modern-day Indonesia among others. He is a national hero in Indonesia.

Early life
Diponegoro was born on 11 November 1785 in Yogyakarta, and was the eldest son of Sultan Hamengkubuwono III of Yogyakarta. During his youth at the Yogyakarta court, major occurrences such as the dissolution of the VOC, the British invasion of Java, and the subsequent return to Dutch rule took place. During the invasion, Sultan Hamengkubuwono III pushed aside his power in 1810 in favor of Diponegoro's father and used the general disruption to regain control. In 1812 however, he was once more removed from the throne and exiled off-Java by the British forces. In this process, Diponegoro acted as an adviser to his father and provided aid to the British forces to the point where Raffles offered him the Sultan title which he declined, perhaps because his father was still reigning.

When the sultan died in 1814, Diponegoro was passed over for the succession to the throne in favor of his younger half-brother, Hamengkubuwono IV (r. 1814–1821), who was supported by the Dutch despite the late Sultan's urging for Diponegoro to be the next Sultan. Being a devout Muslim, Diponegoro was alarmed by the relaxing of religious observance at his half-brother's court in contrast with his own life of seclusion, as well as by the court's pro-Dutch policy.

In 1821, famine and plague spread in Java. Hamengkubuwono IV died in 1822 under mysterious circumstances, leaving only an infant son as his heir. When the year-old boy was appointed as Sultan Hamengkubuwono V, there was a dispute over his guardianship. Diponegoro was again passed over, though he believed he had been promised the right to succeed his half-brother – even though such a succession was illegal under Islamic rules. This series of natural disasters and political upheavals finally erupted into full-scale rebellion.

Fighting against the Dutch

Dutch colonial rule was becoming unpopular among local farmers because of tax rises and crop failures, and among Javanese nobles because the Dutch colonial authorities deprived them of their right to lease land. Diponegoro was widely believed to be the Ratu Adil, the just ruler predicted in the Pralembang Jayabaya. Mount Merapi's eruption in 1822 and a cholera epidemic in 1824 furthered the view that a cataclysm was imminent, eliciting widespread support for Diponegoro.

In the days leading up to the war's outbreak, no action was taken by local Dutch officials although rumors of his upcoming insurrection had been floating about. Prophesies and stories, ranging from visions at the tomb of Banten's former Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa alleged to be the ghost of Sultan Agung (the first Sultan of Mataram, predecessor of the Yogyakarta and Surakarta sultanates) to Diponegoro's contact with Nyai Roro Kidul, spread across the populace.

The beginning of the war saw large losses on the side of the Dutch, due to their lack of coherent strategy and commitment in fighting Diponegoro's guerrilla warfare. Ambushes were set up, and food supplies were denied to the Dutch troops. The Dutch finally committed themselves to control the spreading rebellion by increasing the number of troops and sending General De Kock to stop the insurgency. De Kock developed a strategy of fortified camps (benteng) and mobile forces. Heavily fortified and well-defended soldiers occupied key landmarks to limit the movement of Diponegoro's troops while mobile forces tried to find and fight the rebels. From 1829, Diponegoro definitively lost the initiative and he was put in a defensive position; first in Ungaran, then in the palace of the Resident in Semarang, before finally retreating to Batavia. Many troops and leaders were defeated or deserted.

Capture and exile
In 1830 Diponegoro's military was as good as beaten and negotiations were started. Diponegoro demanded to have a free state under a sultan and wanted to become the Muslim leader (caliph) for the whole of Java. In March 1830 he was invited to negotiate under a flag of truce. He accepted and met at the town of Magelang but was taken prisoner on 28 March despite the flag of truce. De Kock claims that he had warned several Javanese nobles to tell Diponegoro he had to lessen his previous demands or that he would be forced to take other measures.

Circumstances of Diponegoro's arrest were seen differently by himself and the Dutch. The former saw the arrest as a betrayal due to the flag of truce, while the latter declared that he had surrendered. The imagery of the event, by Javanese Raden Saleh and Dutch Nicolaas Pieneman, depicted Diponegoro differently – the former visualizing him as a defiant victim, the latter as a subjugated man. Immediately after his arrest, he was taken to Semarang and later to Batavia, where he was detained at the basement of what is today the Jakarta History Museum. In 1830, he was taken to Manado, Sulawesi by ship.

After several years in Manado, he was moved to Makassar in July 1833 where he was kept within Fort Rotterdam due to the Dutch believing that the prison was not strong enough to contain him. Despite his prisoner status, his wife Ratnaningsih and some of his followers accompanied him into exile, and he received high-profile visitors, including 16-year-old Dutch Prince Henry in 1837. Diponegoro also composed manuscripts on Javanese history and wrote his autobiography, Babad Diponegoro, during his exile. His physical health deteriorated due to old age, and he died on 8 January 1855, at 69 years old.

Before he died, Diponegoro had mandated that he wanted to be buried in Kampung Melayu, a neighborhood then inhabited by the Chinese and the Dutch. This was followed with the Dutch donating 1.5 ha of land for his graveyard which today has shrunk to just 550 m2. ft.). Later, his wife and followers were also buried in the same complex. His tomb is today visited by pilgrims – often military officers and politicians.

Legacy
Diponegoro's dynasty would survive to the present day, with their sultans holding secular powers as the governors of the Special Region of Yogyakarta. In 1969, a large monument Sasana Wiratama was erected in Tegalrejo, in Yogyakarta city's perimeter, with sponsorship from the military where Diponegoro's palace was believed to have stood, although at that time there was little to show for such a building. In 1973, under the presidency of Suharto, Diponegoro was made a National Hero of Indonesia.

Kodam IV/Diponegoro, Indonesian Army regional command for the Central Java Military Region, is named after him. The Indonesian Navy has two ships named after him. The first of these was KRI Diponegoro (306), a Skoryy-class destroyer commissioned in 1964 and retired in 1973. The second ship is KRI Diponegoro, the lead ship of Diponegoro-class corvette purchased from the Netherlands. Diponegoro University in Semarang was also named after him, along with many major roads in Indonesian cities. Diponegoro is also depicted in Javanese stanzas, wayang, and performing arts, including self-authored Babad Diponegoro.

The militancy of people's resistance in Java would rise again during the Indonesian Revolution, which saw the country gain independence from the Netherlands. Early Islamist political parties in Indonesia, such as the Masyumi, portrayed Diponegoro's jihad as a part of the Indonesian national struggle and by extension Islam as a prominent player in the formation of the country.

During the Royal Netherlands state visit to Indonesia in March 2020, King Willem-Alexander offered the kris of Prince Diponegoro to Indonesia, received by President Joko Widodo. His kris was long considered lost but has now been found, after being identified by the Dutch National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. The kris of Prince Diponegoro represents a historic importance, as a symbol of Indonesian heroic resilience and the nation's struggle for independence. The extraordinary gold-inlaid Javanese dagger previously was held as the Dutch state collectionin and is now part of the collection of the Indonesian National Museum. There is great doubt whether the Kris is the original Kris of Dipenegoro. Experts think not.

title: Diponegoro


text:
Eagle Summit

The Eagle Summit is a line of subcompact cars produced for two generations by Mitsubishi and sold by Eagle from 1989 until 1996. It was marketed as a captive import by the Jeep-Eagle sales division that was established after Chrysler Corporation purchased American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1987.

Overview
Use of the Eagle model name originated with the innovative all-wheel-drive AMC Eagle that was introduced for the 1980 model year. Production continued even after Chrysler's purchase of AMC, but both the AMC brand and the original Eagle line were discontinued after 1988. The replacements were "badge-engineered products designed, Chrysler said, to compete with hot-selling import cars."

The Eagle Summit joined the Dodge Colt and Plymouth Colt starting in 1989 as Chrysler wound down the production of the subcompact Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni twins. The introduction of the Summit coincided with the release of the Mitsubishi Mirage's third generation.

The Eagle Summit was positioned as a subcompact automobile model in the product mix for Jeep-Eagle dealers. Previously this position was held by the Renault Alliance until it was discontinued following Chrysler's acquisition of AMC from Renault in 1987.

The Eagle Summit line continued through the extent of the Mirage's fourth generation, which ended in 1996. The somewhat related Eagle Summit Wagon (which was a compact MPV) ran from 1992–1996 and was based on the Mitsubishi RVR.

The Chrysler Neon was introduced in January 1994 and was marketed by Dodge and Plymouth dealers. Chrysler officials declared that no Eagle version of the Neon was planned. This meant that Eagle dealers had no competitor to the Neon, and combined with the Summit's Mitsubishi heritage, made the line expendable.

First generation (1989–1992)
The Summit was just a badge engineered version of the Mitsubishi Mirage. In a pairing of the Japanese-built Mitsubishi Mirage and the identical Eagle Summit to test if Lee Iacocca's theory was true regarding the preference of a Japanese to an American brand on similar cars, Popular Mechanics found that American consumers were "not sold on Japanese cars. Quite the opposite. They want to "Buy American," but the Japanese manufacturers seem to offer more of the type of cars Americans need and at a better price, and from more cooperative dealers." The Summit was originally manufactured in Japan. Starting with the 1991 model year, the Eagle Summits were also built by Diamond-Star Motors (DSM), a joint-venture between Chrysler and Mitsubishi, in Normal, Illinois.

 * 1989: Summit was introduced as a sedan in DL and LX trim, both powered by a 1.5-liter 8-valve four-cylinder engine with 81 hp. The LX could have a 1.6-liter 16-valve DOHC engine with 123 hp. The 100.7 cuft of interior volume classified the Summit into the compact car class, while most of its competitors were still subcompacts. The Summit was also noted for its generous rear legroom. Sales started in August 1988.

 * 1990: A low-cost base model was added to the bottom of the Summit line. Added to the top was a new ES, which paired the 1.6-liter engine with a sport suspension, 4-wheel-disc brakes, and 14 in alloy wheels with P195/60R14 tires. All models received all-capital lettering on the back.

 * 1991: The 1.5-liter engine output increased to 92 hp due to 4 additional valves (for 12 total). The ES models returned to 13 in wheels and disc brakes on only the front. New was the 2-door Summit hatchback; both it and the sedan was available in base and ES trims. The manual transmission was a 4-speed on the base hatchback and a 5-speed on all others; the automatic was a 3-speed on hatchbacks and a 4-speed on sedans. All models featured a new front grille.

 * 1992: The Summit Wagon joined the line, and it was a completely different vehicle featuring a high roofline and sliding rear side door. This "crossover" design was actually a rebadged Mitsubishi RVR, thus not related to the Mirage-based Summits. The Wagon was available in DL and LX trims, as well as in a four-wheel drive (AWD) version. The new Summit Wagon was marketed as blending the maneuverability of a small car with the roominess of a minivan with its interior offering high seating positions and removable rear seats. It was designed to attract young families with seating for five.

 * Production Figures:

Second generation (1993–1996)
The 1993 model year Summits were completely new and featured more room on the inside as well as weighing less than before. The Summit was now based the fourth generation Mitsubishi Mirage 'CC' chassis platform featuring a mutlilink rear suspension and the body was given a rounder shape.

The hatchback body design was dropped in favor of a 2-door coupe version, while a 4-door sedan joined the Summit lineup.

The Summit Wagon, a rebadged Mitsubishi RVR was classified as a compact minivan, or a compact MPV.

 * 1993: As with the Mirage and both Colts, the base 1.5-liter engine remained, paired to a 5-speed manual or 3-speed automatic. New was a 113 hp 1.8-liter SOHC engine, whose optional automatic was a 4-speed. The Summit was offered in sedan and coupe body styles, in both DL and ES trim lines. The RVR-based minivan version, marketed as the Summit Wagon, replaced the Canada-only Eagle Vista wagon.

 * 1994: All Summits featured a driver's side airbag, replacing one of the motorized seatbelts. The lower-end DL sedan was rebadged LX and inherited the 1.8-liter engine, which was now an option for the ES coupe as well. The ES sedan upgraded to larger 14 in wheels.

 * 1995: A passenger's side airbag on all Summits replaced the other motorized seatbelt, and ES models were renamed ESi. More significantly, the 1994 demise of both Colts left the Summit as the only remaining Mirage clone, and the cancellation of the Mirage sedan at the end of 1994 left the Summit as the only four-door offering.

 * 1996: Summit models entered its last model year with new paint colors and seat fabrics.

Trim levels overview

 * 4-door sedan (1989-1996)
 * DL - 1989-1990; 1993
 * LX - 1989-1990; 1994–1996
 * base - 1990-1992
 * ES - 1990-1994
 * ESi - 1994-1996

 * 2-door coupe/hatchback (1991-1996)
 * base - 1991-1992
 * ES - 1991-1994
 * DL - 1993-1996
 * ESi - 1994-1996

title: Eagle Summit


text:
Argostoli

Argostoli (Αργοστόλι, Katharevousa: Ἀργοστόλιον) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island. It has been the capital and administrative centre of Kefalonia since 1757, following a population shift down from the old capital of Agios Georgios, also known as Kastro, to take advantage of the trading opportunities provided by the sheltered bay upon which Argostoli sits.

Argostoli developed into one of the busiest ports in Greece, leading to prosperity and growth. The municipality has an area of 377.0 km2 and the municipal unit (the pre-2010 municipality) has an area of 157.670 km2. The 2021 census recorded a population of 13,666 in the Argostoli municipal unit, and 23,574 in the municipality in its post-2019 extension.

Urban landscape
To the east of Argostoli, at the end of the bay, beneath the aforementioned Castle of St. George, sits the Koutavos Lagoon, a feeding ground for the Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta). Now a nature reserve, the Koutavos Lagoon was once an almost impassable swamp where mosquitoes and malaria were rife.

During the period of British occupation of the Ionian Islands, Kefalonia's governor, General Sir Charles James Napier, constructed a wooden bridge across the lagoon. This was done in 1813 by Colonel Charles Philip de Bosset, a Swiss engineer in the employ of the British army. Four years later stone arches were added and, after some 26 years, the entire bridge was rebuilt in stone. In continuous use until 2005, this narrow bridge is now closed to traffic, currently undergoing renovation by the Greek Ministry of Culture. Almost halfway along the De-Bosset Bridge stands a stone column built by the British to celebrate their presence.

The coastal road out of Argostoli to the west was known during the Venetian period as the ‘Piccolo Gyro’. Along the Piccolo Gyro, in the Vlikha area facing Lixouri, lie the ‘Swallow Holes’ of Katovothres, a geological phenomenon. Sea water disappears underground and travels under the island, re-emerging around fourteen days later in the Karavomylos area of Sami, having passed through the nearby, underground Melissani lake. The power of this sea water was harnessed, in 1835, to power a water mill. Further along the Piccolo Gyro is the Agion Theodoron lighthouse, named after the small adjacent church. More commonly known as the Fanari lighthouse, this too was built during the British occupation, in 1829. The original building was destroyed in the earthquake of 1953, the recently restored present structure was rebuilt, complete with Doric-style columns, from the original plans.

Buildings that weren't shattered by German bombing in 1943 were destroyed in 1953 by the earthquake that razed virtually all of Kefalonia, apart from the Fiskardo area, to the ground.

Opposite the Archaeological Museum of Argostoli are the law courts, originally constructed by the British with stone from the Cyclopean site at nearby Krani. Along Lithostroto, next to the Catholic Church, is a tiny museum (open some mornings and most evenings) dedicated to the soldiers of the Acqui Division. A little further along is the Bell Tower, rebuilt in 1985 to house the original clock mechanism.

On the Ionian Sea coast southwest of the town centre is the holiday resort town Lassi, which has several small beaches.

Subdivisions
Following the Kapodistrias reform of 1997, communities around the town united to form a larger municipality of Argostoli, which included the settlements of Spilia, Helmata, Kompothekrata, Lassi, Minies and ten former communities: Agona, Davgata, Dilinata, Zola, Thinia, Kourouklata, Nifi, Troyiannata, Faraklata and Farsa. As a result of the 2010 Kallikratis Programme, this municipality became a municipal unit of the municipality of Kefalonia, which covered the whole island. In 2019 three new municipalities were formed on the island, including Argostoli.

The municipality of Argostoli consists of the following municipal units (former municipalities):
 * Argostoli
 * Eleios-Pronnoi
 * Leivatho
 * Omala

The municipal unit of Argostoli is subdivided into the following communities. Constituent villages are given in brackets:
 * Agkonas
 * Argostoli (Argostoli, Kokolata, Kompothekrata, Minia)
 * Davgata
 * Dilinata
 * Faraklata (Faraklata, Drapano, Prokopata, Razata)
 * Farsa
 * Thinaia (Kardakata)
 * Kourouklata
 * Nyfi
 * Troianata (Troianata, Demoutsantata, Mitakata)
 * Zola

Transportation

Between the Koutavos Lagoon and the De-Bosset Bridge is the new bus station which connects Argostoli with the other towns and some of the villages on the island, as well as with Athens and Patras. The main ferry port, connecting Argostoli with the mainland (via Kyllini) and Zakynthos (also known as Zante) is next to this building with the Lixouri ferry (once an hour in winter, twice an hour in summer) docking a little further along.

 * Car ferry service to Kyllini (mainland) and Zakynthos (Zante)
 * Car ferry to Lixouri
 * KTEL Bus service to Athens, via Kyllini, Patras and the Corinth Canal bridge
 * Infrequent bus service to Poros, Sami, Skala, Fiskardo and various villages en route
 * Frequent summer service to Lassi, Airport & Ai Chelis, Lourdas, Ammes, Myrtos & Antisamos.
 * Transit bus service is provided between the Airport and the city of Argostoli (only during summer season). There is a public bus stop in front of the terminal building. Tickets can be purchased by the bus driver.
 * Scheduled flights to Zakynthos and Athens, charter flight in summer, via Kefalonia Airport
 * Taxis from Plateia Valianos and seafront, car and motorcycle/scooter hire

Climate
Argostoli has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.

People

 * Gerasimos Arsenis (1931–2016), politician
 * Renée Toole Kahane (1907-2002), philologist
 * Aris Maliagros (1895–1984), actor
 * Andreas Metaxas (1786–1860), politician
 * Ioannis Metaxas (1871–1941), general, politician and dictator
 * Constantine Phaulkon (1647–1688), merchant and adventurer
 * Antonis Tritsis (1937–1992), mayor of Athens
 * Christian Zervos (1889–1970), art collector, writer and publisher
 * Gerasimos Pitzamanos (1787–1825), painter and architect
 * Ioannis Karantinos (1784 -1834), Greek mathematician
 * Athanassios S. Fokas (born 1952), Greek mathematician

International relations
Argostoli is twinned with:

 * 🇷🇸 Šabac in Serbia.
 * 🇷🇴 Brăila in Romania.

title: Argostoli