Chrysler Racing Manager John Ellis stated at the time that a ute fitted with the 340ci V8 (and the same wheelbase as the R/T Charger) was track tested at the Mallala circuit in South Australia by racing driver Leo Geoghegan (and on local roads by Leo and his brother Ian), but was found to be 2–3 seconds slower around Mallala than the E49 (the heavier V8 at the front caused severe understeer and required earlier braking than the Hemi six).

Despite the slower lap times at Mallala, it was expected that the extra power of the 340ci V8 would have worked better on the long straights and uphill runs at Bathurst where there were few heavy braking or tight corners.

Chrysler General Manager David Brown and Walt McPherson had discussed the short comings of the E49 265ci and decided the 340ci was to be the next R/T Touring Car.

[3] Due to bad press coverage at the time the 340ci program was aborted and Chrysler did the only thing it could do which was to recoup the cost outlay by selling the stocks of the imported 340ci engines.

Apart from its unique engine, the Charger 770 SE featured other signature details such as combination black and white vinyl trim and one with single colour Maroon vinyl trim, turned metal dash facia, and it was only available in three body colours, namely Vintage Red (Bright Red), Limelight (green), and Sunfire (yellow metallic).

Production records indicate that Chrysler manufactured a total of 125 VH Valiant Charger 770 SE cars, two of which varied from standard specification in being painted White and one Deep Maroon.

This greatly improved the car for normal use making cold starts easier, and no longer requiring the ignition to be tuned every 10,000 km or so.

Inside, wiper and windscreen washer controls were now integrated into the indicator stalk and there were also some trim revisions that included bold Boca-Raton cloth seat inserts for the Charger 770.

These cars featured the 4.3 L (262.4 cu in) six-cylinder engine, with a choice of manual or automatic transmission, and interiors were trimmed to a specific combination of white vinyl with red accents.

The CL series Charger was introduced in late October 1976 and was the last Charger model made in Australia, it featured new front bodywork and was expected to be designated as the VL series, but Chrysler decided to rename it CL to reflect the corporate Chrysler name which was now being applied over the whole range of cars sold in Australia.

The Valiant Charger was raced in Australia in an official capacity during 1971 and 1972, with most effort concentrated upon the series and the annual Bathurst 500 mile touring car event.

Chrysler Australia employed the services of racing driver Leo Geoghegan to assist in the development of the Charger as a touring car racer.

In the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Bathurst, a VH Charger R/T E49 driven by Doug Chivas placed third outright behind a Ford XY Falcon GTHO and a Holden Torana GTR XU-1.

This has been substantiated by a Ford team member at the track.and Bib Stilwell, told the same story many years later, regardless Chrysler were unable to capitalise on the previous success,the car under developed at the time In New Zealand, where the touring car rules were less open, the Charger proved to be unbeatable from 1971 through to 1979 at the famous B&H 500 mile (later 1000 km) series held at Pukekohe Park Raceway.