NOBODY LIKES VALIANTS ANYMORE?

[Guest Rob McDonald]

Today I took a stroll through the AACA Plymouth Gallery and was surprised, shocked even, to find only one Valiant featured, an American-type '66. We late Boomers grew up with these sturdy, smallish cars. As youngsters, few of us thought much about them, other than they were a step up from riding the bus and they generally came with a parent-chauffeur. A Valiant was very low on the coolness scale but it absolutely beat a Rambler!

Looking back now, four or five decades later, I think Valiants (and their southern sister Lancers and Darts) are good simple cars, worthy of consideration by a beginning restorer - or a nostalgic Baby Boomer. The second generation was admittedly homely, although a hardtop '65 or '66 Canadian Valiant Signet (same as a US Dart GT) is darned attractive, with its trim bucket seat interior and optional half vinyl roof. A small V8 was available by then but the famous Slant Six is part of this car's unique appeal, particularly when backed by a responsive Torqueflite automatic.

Although relegated to 2- and 4-door sedans only, the third generation Valiant was handsome initially but was then overcome by big dumb Federal bumpers. Hardtops and convertibles remained in the Dart line until about '72 and are terrific lookers, I think.

The ones I really like are the first issue, 1960 to 1962. They have all the basic mechanical goodness of the later Valiants, topped with outlandish styling that, to me, far surpasses the compact competition from Chevrolet and Ford. The nicest thing one can say about Falcons is that they spawned the supremely popular Mustang. Corvairs have always had a solid enthusiast following, due to their undeniable fun-to-drive factor. The tail-finned, toilet-seated Valiants, however, have all but vanished from the hobby.

That's good, I guess, for those of us who'd like to own one someday. We may be banished to the far side of a show field but we'll have good company there, with the Rambler folks.

[JACK M]

These should be easy to find in running condition as the slant six is about the most dependable engine ever made.

[hchris]

For what its worth, they still have a great following down under

[Guest Rob McDonald]

HCHRIS, I've noticed that and South Africans seem pretty fond of their Valiants, too. Greatness (well, pretty goodness) is too often overlooked at home. That keeps these cars cheap, the few that have survived the crusher's jaws, but makes it hard to find a good one.

[NTX5467]

When the cars were new, they didn't look to "swooft" to me. Kind of an uncoordinated mis-mash of Chrysler styling of the time. The similar Dodge Lancer was much nicer, though! In the right color and option level, the earlier Valiants could be nice looking cars, but few seemed to achieve that status due to their "low price" and "economy" orientaitons.

A good while back, the Plymouth Valiant was a featured article in one copy of the Walter P. Chrysler Club's monthly magazine. It was quite interesting! The front torsion bar suspension was a smaller version of the 1957 version, whose development was going on in the same timeframe, so it had all of the good traits of that design. The floorpan was also the same from 1960 onward, which surprised me, so all of the chassis mechanicals had broad useage.

A later issue featured the 1966 Dodge Dart, dubbed "Dodge's Little Limosine" due to its Imperial-like interior style and materials, rather than something "other" economy cars usually had. More great information!

But the ONE Plymouth Valiant which caused much gnashing of teeth by drivers of more expensive "sports cars" was "Mopar Action" magazine's "Green Brick". A 1969-era Valiant 2-dr sedan (originally a phone company's car) with a strong small block Chrysler 360 V-8, along with many other upgrades, that has been in use for many years. You can probably search their archives to find some articles?

End result, after the initial foray at getting it ready, plus the written "tech inspection" at a Sears Auto Center, they went to Road Atlanta and put the hurt on some very expensive "sports cars", driving around them in the corners and all of that. Quite a "Little Car That Could!" story! And then, in later years, it got better than that! In all due respect, it might be debated as to whether the expensive sports car drivers got out of the Valiant's way (before it might run into them) or because they didn't know a Valiant could be driven like that in the first place. Still, though, it proved the basic strengths of Chrysler's designs in suspension and powertrains to people who surely snickered at the car on the starting grid.

In high school, I had a friend who ran several large paper routes. All he drove were mid-'60s Valiants. He did his route in the wee hours of the morning and went from one side of the road to the other to throw the papers rather than driving down-and-back on the same street. The only thing he ever had any problems with were the 7.5" rear axles. Everything else, including the slant sixes, did just fine under this unusual, harsh environment.

I really suspect you need to, in all due respect to the AACA, do some Google searches in the MOPAR realm of things. I believe you'll find some "A-Body ONLY" websites where the lowly Chrysler A-body platforms get MORE respect than you might expect . . . even very strong followings! They might be more of the performance variations, but A-bodies nonetheless. Once you get into the MOPAR part of the car hobby, there are usually NO vehicles which are lost in the shuffle, by observation. The annual Mopar Nationals is one place to see this in action!

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[ply33]

...I really suspect you need to, in all due respect to the AACA, do some Google searches in the MOPAR realm of things. I believe you'll find some "A-Body ONLY" websites where the lowly Chrysler A-body platforms get MORE respect than you might expect . . . even very strong followings! They might be more of the performance variations, but A-bodies nonetheless. Once you get into the MOPAR part of the car hobby, there are usually NO vehicles which are lost in the shuffle, by observation. The annual Mopar Nationals is one place to see this in action!

Enjoy!

NTX5467

Not sure about the V8 side of things but for slant 6 and A body there is Slant Six Forum

[Guest DodgeKCL]

I had a 1963 Canadian Plymouth Valiant V-100 four door when I was married in '66. It had a 101 hp slant six push button automatic that couldn't get out of it's own way let alone anybody elses. I was a firefighter then and I used to get up at all hours of the freezing cold Canadian winter nights and blast off down to the firehall in the Valiant. Through stop streets and never did look at the speedometer. It lasted to 50,000 miles before it became dangerous to drive. It had become what my wife calls a 'James Bond car' as it put out a smoke screen behind it of great proportions. I traded it in on a brand new 1968 Chev Nova which cost me $2750 all in. The Chev was a Blue Flame six but was a MUCH faster more powerful car,110 mph wide open, and 6 years later when I traded it in it was still going strong and I had never touched the engine except for maintence. It had 146,000 miles on it.

Edited August 8, 2012 by DodgeKCL (see edit history)

[Guest]

Back in 1971 my soon to be father-in-law bought my soon to be wife a red on red, white conv. top, 63 Signet convertible, 225, three speed stick. Aside from being a ugly car ( at least it wasn't as ugly as the first generation ), I had to teach my future wife how to drive a stick and once she mastered, or I thought mastered the art of shifting she used it for going to college. A distress phone call from her got me out to find she had broke the counter gear in the three speed right in half. Even as a drag racer and being around lots of race cars I had never seen a counter gear break in two..Even in cars with 500+ horsepower. Anyroad, after getting the parts the car was back on the road in about twenty five minutes. Even though this Plymouth was a low mileage car the con rods made the engine sound like a diesel, so I made a mental note that as soon as we were married we would unload the car which we did. It took three quarts of 90W gear oil and two quarts of 40w engine oil to quiet down the engine to get rid of it.

BTW, those cars did get better looks in the third and fourth generations and especially their cousins Barracuda and Duster when Plymouth started putting Pontiac split grills and coke bottle sides on them.

D.

[huptoy]

Got a 62 Valiant in 1965 with 22,000 miles on gravel roads in Iowa. It was a 2 door, small 6 cyl and a manual shift, just a basic car. After 83,000 miles and 7 years, the body had rust holes due to winter weather. I sold it to my then 21 year old brother and he added another 25,000 miles in 12 months. He put Buick coil springs under the back and raised the front to stop dragging the gas tank when he went to river to fish. He even put a trailer hitch on it and towed a 1,600 pound fold down camper 300 miles from Minneapolis to Des Moines. After all this, he sold the engine & transmission installing them in a 140,000 mile 63 Valiant Convertible Automatic. The guy then drove the convertible another 40,000 miles. The 63 suspension and interior were shot but the engine was still running strong. The uni-body could have used better steel but the motor couldn't be killed. It served my brother & I well but the styling could have been better.

[JACK M]

Not a Valiant but a Slant story.

In early 1969 my mother was in need of a new car. We found a new non current 68 Dart. This was a nice car, light yellow with a black vinyl top. It had black buckets and a consol with a consol shift. It looked just like a GT but not.

She put 250,000 miles on it by 1986. The radiator let go at a not so convient time and place and spooked her into a new car. I sold tthe Dart for more than I paid new and got an old VW van out of the deal to sweeten it up even more.

Just wish the Aries that replaced it had the same story. Although the Aries lasted my middle daughter thru college and we sold it still running a few years ago. With only 20 miles on it she had a vinyl interior and top installed (she doesnt like cloth seats). It also came with buckets and consol shift.

Now mom is 93 and she thinks that she still drives as she has a Ford SHO (go figure, it was a rich boyfriend that didnt like the Aries) but my sister hides the keys to the Tarus.

Mom likes the cars that younger men want to buy !! HA HA

Edited August 8, 2012 by JACK M (see edit history)

[Guest Rob McDonald]

Well guys, these are the kind of stories one expects to hear about basic transportation appliances, like a Valiant. Some were good, some were bad. The common theme, though, is that nobody here owns one now and, generally, no one ever wants to. Fair enough.

NITTIX, PLY33, I'll take your advice and go roaming around in the more specialized Chryco virtual world.

[keiser31]

My grandmother left her 1969 Valiant two door sedan to me when she "cantered up the golden stairs" as she put it. It was a GREAT car! I really didn't treat it right as I drove the San Diego freeways with it, but the old slant six did well. The only problem I ever had with it was the carburetor needed to be rebuilt and I just never got to it. Hence the part about not treating it well. I loved it and I wish I had it back today. It was a solid, decent handling all around great car. Oh yeah....one time I spun it around and hit a light post coming off of the freeway and some nut in a Datsun 240Z cut me off. Went so fast sideways that the weeds got caught between the tire bead and rim...