CHRYSLER CENTURA
Chr ysler’s Centura was a bit of an oddball locally and, like its closest competitor – Ford’s Cortina – had its roots in a European design. The engineering was conventional enough, and the pricing was competitive, but the parent company once again found itself battling much stronger brand loyalty for Ford and Holden equivalents.
It was brief ly available with a 2.0lt four-cylinder engine, but it’s by far best remembered for the Australia-only sixes.
Launched at a time when the market was looking for something smaller than a Falcon or Kingswood that seemed to be growing, the sixes were launched as a 215ci (3.5lt) or the big 245ci (4.0lt) in XL or GL trim levels. Move on a couple of years and the 245 GLX became the sole sur vivor.
The vast majority of this model were delivered as three-speed automatics. However a three-speed manual was available, and there was even a handful that escaped with the four-speed Borg-Warner.
Braking was pretty up-spec for the day, with disc front and drum rear, fitted with a proportioning valve to minimise lock-up. That gave it a useful safety edge.
Typical of the period, the big sixes tended to give these cars a ‘lead-tipped arrow’ nose-heav y feel, which could be alleviated with a better choice of springs and a general freshen up of the front end.
The engines are robust and parts can be found, while trim can be a real challenge. Anything other than a dr y and whole body is going to be big job to revive.
A combination of rust and disinterest got most of them, partly because they were worth literally next to nothing up until quite recently. However the odd one still pops up on the market. Something solid will cost you around the $10k mark, while an exceptional – and it would have to be the 245 – just might climb to the $15k-plus mark.
“RUST AND DISINTEREST GOT MOST OF THEM”