Jason Turner reckons his first car, a TC Cortina, was “the worst, shittiest car ever”, so he took a leaf out of his Chrysler-loving parents’ book and bought a good condition 1973 VJ Charger KL Sportsman. Things were sweet for a couple of cruisy years until he snapped two rockers and spit a conrod through the block pulling a “bloody awesome burnout”, prompting a rebuild. However, while the Charger was sitting in the home garage with the motor and box removed, some low-life scumbag broke in and flogged the front number plate (18th birthday present – BLU-265), the original stereo, and bits of the interior.

First published in the December 2002 issue of Street Machine

It’d be enough to say stuff it and buy another car, but Jason wasn’t about to be beaten and stripped the car completely in what was to be the beginning of a marathon eight-year project. Over the two years until 1996, the Charger was completely dismantled and the shell and major panels were sandblasted. Jason’s brother Craig is a panel beater with a reputation for high-quality work. The West Australian Governor thought as much and gave him the resto job on his Daimler, so it was only natural that Jason should enlist his services on the Charger.

The Charger’s rusty boot floor, scuff plate area and part of the right hand door frame were chopped out and replaced, and all minor imperfections were lead wiped. Jason worked hard as well, doing stuff like wire brushing the undercarriage to alleviate some of the fiscal woes he was experiencing while completing his upholstery apprenticeship. Craig then organised to have an associate spray the car in factory two-pack Coral Blue.

After the panel and paint were completed, Jason decided to give the VJ front end the flick in favour of a VH R/T item. The swap caused some dramas as the VH indicators did not fit into the openings of the VJ fenders. So out came the superfluous metal and after some tidy-up panel and paint work, in went the sexy R/T front end. The exterior trim was either rechromed or purchased new and Jason painted all the non-chrome sections in two-pack.

Meanwhile, Jason’s oldest brother’s father-in-law, Peter Gobetti, got stuck into a new motor. Peter isn’t the sort of bloke to bask in the limelight and instead lets his hi-po Chryslers do the talking, especially the angry heart he screwed together for Jason’s Charger. It’s a bored-60-thou 265 running oversize forgies in a fully-balanced bottom end, with a ‘performance’ 245 head stuffed with 265 valves and double valve springs. An E48-spec cam and solid lifters work with custom rockers that were made, along with the rest of the motor, by Peter in his backyard workshop.

However, Jason reckons it ran shithouse with the asthmatic two-barrel Holley so triple Webers were enlisted, and not just ordinary old triple Webers, either. These hot jobbies have proportioning valves that allow them to be individually tuned for maximum collective efficiency. However, the swap to the Webers meant that the Sportman’s stock heater motor fouled the third air cleaner, the problem fixed by swapping to an R/T unit.

The end result is a donk that’s good for 15 per cent more neddies than the factory E49, which meant upgrading to a stock four-speed Borgie, heavy duty single plate clutch, and 3.23 ratio’d diff.

Things were pretty sweet until 1996 when a 16-year-old nightmare joy riding in his father’s Mazda 929 lost it doing 120 kays around a 90-degree bend and slammed into Jason’s work van, ramming into the garage which housed the Charger. His machine was knocked off the axle stands it rested on and smashed into the back wall of the garage. The icing on the cake was that Jason had been due to move out of the rented house three days later. He wasn’t going to trust his Charger to some big insurance institution, so mate Peter Cleasby sprayed it in the Spies Hecker Coral Blue that it currently wears.

As you would expect, the interior trimming received some special attention. Jason made the carpets from scratch, actually gluing the carpet to plate metal to ensure a smooth floor and incorporating an oil-pressure gauge on top of the gearbox hump. The stock rear seat was stripped to the frame and reupholstered with extra foam padding to ensure passengers a snug seat when the Hemi comes on song. A pair of shapely Celica seats were given the same treatment as the rear with middle-grey detail and True-Blue velour, while the light-grey velour headlining was also hand made. He commissioned an engraver to make the Hemi Performance badges for the door trims, but he wasn’t happy with the finish of the computer-etched result so he got out a file and spent hours getting them perfect.

All new glass was fitted and Jason ordered sections of the original-style wiring harness from over east. He spent many hours secreting away the wiring while moving the battery and windscreen-washer bottle to the boot, which also housed an electric fuel pump. After the wiring was sorted, Jason fired the Charger into life after seven long years. It didn’t have an exhaust at this stage and the workshop shook so much that anything not bolted to terra firma came crashing down!

The VJ was finally ready to charge in December 2001, after Jason had waited on the self-imported super slick 17×7 and 17×8 Thrust 2 America Racing Wheels to arrive from the States. He says when the Charger went over the pits to be licensed, “the licenser’s jaw just fell open when he saw the work under the bonnet”.

The level of detail and finish has been dropping jaws ever since. Although the boot was not completely finished until soon afterwards he still managed to collect the People’s Choice Award at Motorvation 2002. At the 2002 All Chrysler Day Jason scored six awards including Top of Show, and at Big Al’s Poker Run, with several hundred of WA’s best rods, customs and street machines, the Charger knocked off the coveted Best Street Machine award. Definite proof that Jason has built a highly sound streeter of the most exacting detail.

Quiet Approach

Notice how Jason didn’t replace the stereo after it was shonked? That’s ’cos he was born deaf, which Jason’s father, Larry, believes is why he has such amazing attention to detail. As far as we know, he’s the first person suffering deafness who has graced the pages of Street Machine, and we reckon his achievement is marvellous.

However, it does have its advantages. He was pulled over for excessive noise in another Val he was driving during the Charger’s build. The copper didn’t know what to do and let him go when Jason reacted with absolute innocence and an obviously plausible excuse. Jason laughs, “I didn’t know what he was talking about.”

Jason Turner
1973 VJ Charger