"Siggy Stardust" - '65 Valiant Signet Convertible

[Shishaldin]

Hi Guys (and Gals!)-

"Siggy Stardust?" Yeah yeah, Bowie/Valiant fan in a hippie town. What do ya expect? :happy10:
So, I'm starting my project thread here at FABO. The shots of it from Welcome Wagon are how I bought it, and that's how it's stayed for the past couple of weeks. I've reluctantly chosen to NOT do anything on Siggy yet due to CA DMV "complications" left over from the previous owner. He says that he'll sort out the paperwork or get me a new title for it, but I'm still *waiting*:shaking:
We'll see...

Anyway, in the meantime, I fired up the ol' Photoshop, found a few decent photos of a '65 Sig 'vert online, and then went to work. Now, it's ALL DONE (see pics below), at least conceptually anyway . After looking at hkeller's '65 Barracuda with it's killer stance on those Coy's rims, I knew Siggy will need a set, too. The green color is something I played with till it "felt right", and the top is a cream color. Matching 2 tone interior to go with it. Additional touches are the Shelby mirrors (yah, a Ferd part, but the ONLY one), body spears from a '65 V200, and rear fender spears from a '64.

Right now, there's a 273 (checked the manifold #'s) w/o a 2 bbl carb. Prolly be picking one up this week, along with some linkage and a battery to see if the ol' beast will fire up. If it does and the bottom end is holding up, I'll run it. Otherwise, I need a hi-compression, fuel injected Slant Six LTOP (milled Clifford Performance head?) in there. I plan to run straight ethanol in it (see why and how HERE) and take it (and a cool ol' trailer TBD) to car and alt. energy shows when it's completed. Music will come from the split header/dual Flowmaster combo.
Other "nice to haves when $$$ appear" are a MagnumForce or AlterKtion front end (anybody have an opinion/experience with them?) on airbags w/11.25" discs, a 904 tranny w/Gear Vendors OD, and a Dana 60 out back w/highway gears, airbags & discs, too. Just cruisin' into O V E R D R I V E :happy6:

I think subframe connectors and other frame stiffening would be in order due to its being a old 'vert and all, but I don't want to go with a roll cage. Just an aesthetic thing for me. Any ideas on the proper location(s) for add'l bracing? I'll be cutting out the floor pan and welding in a replacement, so it would be a good time to do that then, too.

So, this is my idea of cruisin' cool (and green, too):thumblef:. What do you think? You dig it?

PS There is no "Plymouth Valiant" building in existence, just more Photoshop noodling on my part...

 

[Dodgenut64]

Cool project. Im with you on the rollbar, they just make convertibles look bad. Cool stuff on the e85, but are you wanting it green, cause youre "going green" or because you like the color? Also what photo shop are you using to get change colors like that?

 

[memike]

I am old school, but that valiant looks vert cool.:thumblef:
I need to learn about this photo shop thing:book:

 

[Shishaldin]

Cool project. Im with you on the rollbar, they just make convertibles look bad. Cool stuff on the e85, but are you wanting it green, cause youre "going green" or because you like the color? Also what photo shop are you using to get change colors like that?

Actually, I plan to run e99 (ethanol/little bit of water), made from my own still (yet to be built). Weird thing is, finding e85 in California is harder than finding a decently priced E-body 'Cuda these days. No corn crops like throughout the MidWest. So, since I live near a bunch of strawberry crops (check for Watsonville, Ca on your next bunch of strawberries), I'll try to use farm waste products as my feedstock. Still at the initial stages of learning how to do it.

My wife and I both love the color green. I asked her if she thought my concept was cool, and she REALLY liked it. Always helps to have your honey on board with the project. "Going green" really didn't play a part in my color choice, although it is nicely coincidental.

I used Adobe Photoshop 7.0 on my laptop to change colors/wheels/etc. It's still going for ~$200 on eBay, even though they've gone through 3 revisions (CS, CS2, CS3) since then. I've had cool ideas for cars in the past, and always wanted a way to visualize them. I found an indispensable FREE resource here to do just that: THE PHOTOSHOP BIBLE
If you've got a copy of Photoshop (7.0+), this tutorial, and a decently hi-resolution car picture, you can do just about anything to it you like. The http://www.digimods.co.uk/ site that has the tutorial also has a bunch of Euro rides that have been tweaked every which way. Maybe not for Mopar or No Car crowd, but still pretty cool.

 

[crvtec90]

i dig it man! 4 me, even with photoshop i can never make up my mind on how i want it all to end up, but im still in luv with the oddball early-a's.

 

[zhandfull]

I had a blue valiant white top. Got more thumbs up than any other car I have owned.

I like it:thumblef:

 

[daves66valiant]

I like the look of that color combo. I remember when that Valiant was on sale on ebay. It was originally DD1 or light blue metallic. Very nice looking car. It will be nice to see it when finished.

 

[Shishaldin]

I like the look of that color combo. I remember when that Valiant was on sale on ebay. It was originally DD1 or light blue metallic. Very nice looking car. It will be nice to see it when finished.

Yep, it's still up on eBay, too. I just don't have the extra $15k lying around to pick it up. I guess I'll have to do it in "installments" on my car.
I decoded the fender tag of my car which showed Barracuda silver paint with blue interior and a white top. That would be cool, too, but a little too bland of a combo for me...

BTW, Dave, love your '66! Can't wait to see that cruising

Oh yeah, if any of you want to see how your ride would look tweaked a certain way in Photoshop, and you don't have your own copy to do it, I'd be willing to do it for you in my "spare time" (give me a week or two). There's so much information and great stuff that's shared freely on this board, that I'd like to give something back. Hit me up via email and let me know what you'd like to see on your virtual ride.

 

[Shishaldin]

i dig it man! 4 me, even with photoshop i can never make up my mind on how i want it all to end up, but im still in luv with the oddball early-a's.

Me too! E-body 'Cudas are all the rage (at high 5 and 6 figures!), and they're nice and all, but a 1st or 2nd gen A-body is what gets me all weak in the knees. Go figure. I guess it's growing up around a '62 Lancer that my uncle gave my folks as a wedding present, and the '63 V200 4-door that my grandmother had, that put me in the early A-body groove. I still remember the exhaust manifold of the lil' 170 in the '63 *glowing brightly* red after a trip up the Grapevine on I-5 when me and a couple buddies took it on a road trip. We just pulled over and let 'er cool down for a while, and then proceeded on our way. It NEVER stranded us.

 

[Dodgenut64]

this is about as far as ive gotten with my fun with paint pro shop 8, i havent figured out how to color the whole car like you have. I did lower this one, take out the occupants, and make it night while using the lights though. the first pic is the original 64 dart brochure.

 

[Shishaldin]

this is about as far as ive gotten with my fun with paint pro shop 8, i havent figured out how to color the whole car like you have. I did lower this one, take out the occupants, and make it night while using the lights though. the first pic is the original 64 dart brochure.

Hey, that's cool! You might try looking at the PHOTOSHOP BIBLE link I posted above, and see if PSP 8.0 has similar functions.

 

[65s]

Personally I'm not a green lover, but if I had to go green then I'd go that dark almost army green. Your green looks too Christmas to me. You asked for our opinions, right!?

I do like the Barracuda grill and all the trim and spears. I generally don't like the large wheels with little skinny tires, but I must say on your concept they look really cool!

 

[Shishaldin]

Man, it's amazing what will stoke you sometimes...After 3 weeks OUTDOORS, my baby is finally in the garage where she belongs. It took me the better part of a weekend just to move/get rid of the crap around the 2 car garage I have to fit ol' Siggy in. There's still too much crap surrounding her, though. Goodwill and Grey Bears will be seeing a lot of me this next week, but I won't be buying anything. Reminder to all (if you don't know this already): Owning too much crap will GREATLY hinder your Mopar hobby! DON'T accumulate a bunch of crap! Sell the crap instead and buy Mo'Parts!

Well, after Shop-Vac'ing her, I saw that the entire floor pan is swiss cheese, but I knew that already. Upholstery is toast, too.The glove compartment had two tapes in it, tho': Van Halen's 1984, and G N' R's Appetite for Destruction. Since I'd burned out on G N' R a long time ago, I popped in VH, and rocked out while cleaning her out. Good vibes to start out the project :toothy7:.

 

[Shishaldin]

Personally I'm not a green lover, but if I had to go green then I'd go that dark almost army green. Your green looks too Christmas to me. You asked for our opinions, right!?

I do like the Barracuda grill and all the trim and spears. I generally don't like the large wheels with little skinny tires, but I must say on your concept they look really cool!

Ya know, you're right about the Christmas-y look to it. The more I looked at it, the more the green was "a little too much". I saw the green color that looks like the "real deal" the other day, though, on a Nissan minivan of all things. They call it Jade Green Metallic. The picture doesn't show the deep green highlights that kinda pop out at you in person. I think that this might be the new color...