Mike Brady's Station Wagon

Here is the wagon from the 1973 season ... note the 73 Caprice Classic convertible in the garage...

 

Does it look like they took out the back door and quarter side glass in that shot?

 

Maybe the 1/4 side glass, but I see the door glass there. Sometimes they used that "fog" stuff over the windows.

 

What would the Plymouth have had, a 383 or 400 V8?

 

That one may have had a 318.

 

Oh yes, of course. The 318 also saw service in the Australian Chrysler Regals (similar to the Plymouth) of the time.

 

Mopar 318 was a good engine. It was used for many years... even up until recently I think. ??

 

It was well loved in NZ too.
That said, most Chrysler Regals had a 'Hemi 265' 4.3 litre straight-six. That was a stonking engine, and almost as powerful as the 318, which was reserved as a smoother engine on the top-line luxury models. All engines had the TF 727 if they were automatic.

 

Did that 'Hemi' 265 have anything in common with the old slant six?

 

No.
Up until 1970, the Australian Chrysler Valiant had the 225 slant-six, which was identical to the US engine. With the introduction of the 1970 VG Series, the six-cyliner option was the Hemi 245 (4.0 litre), a larger variant of which was added for the 1972 VH Series, the aforementioned 265.
As far as I am aware, these engines were unique to Chrysler Australia. I haven't seen any reference to them in any US Chrysler cars of the time.
As I said, the 265 was known as a very powerful and tractable engine. I think it put out around 200 bhp in basic form when the 318 offered only 220 (Australian engines were not throttled by anti-pollution equipment until 1976 so where rather more powerful than the early seventies US engines).
The Hemi 265 engine's ultimate form was as the triple-carb 'Six-Pack' which produced 265 bhp in the Australian E49 Charger R/T and was, with the 1970 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III, Australia's fastest-ever road car for a very long time.

 

Just to confirm, the six-cylinder Hemi engines I mentioned were designed and built purely by Chrysler Australia for the domestic Valiant/Regal and Regal 770 cars.
I remember the slightly burbly sound they made overlaid with the TF's soft first-gear whine. I'd love to drive one today.

 

I get razzed about my Monaco being either the brady bunch wagon or the Family Truckster wagon, so much so you wouldnt believe it

 

Speaking of Hemi's, all engines with spark plugs mounted over the center of the piston are hemi's. This includes the 4 cylinder Toyotas and Ford Escort ZX2 2.0 liter engines.

Hemi refers to the hemispherical shaped combustion chambers.

 

I know, but the word 'Hemi' conjures up more than just the shape of the combustion chambers. It's what the Chrysler engines are, what they sound like and what they have been marketed as over the years that matters. To me, 'Hemi' refers to a thundering great V8 rather than a Toyota combustion chamber.

 

Funny about the Hemi thing and what it invokes in car nuts. My wife's late brother built a 'cuda convertible and installed a 440 six pack. The car ended up being the one Don Johnson sold off at B-J. In the TV series it was passed off as a Hee Haw and we'd laugh knowing Al, the late B-I-L, would have really gotten a kick out of that. He'd of been distressed though at what it sold for versus what he got for it.