Oyster60V200
Member
Hi,
I’m Charlie Melonic and I’ve been a 1960 Valiant V-200 owner since 1997, but I’ve never driven this car!
When I got it, the 170 was sitting since 1983 and was frozen solid from storage. NOTHING would free it up. A friend from high school parted out his ‘71 Dart Swinger in 2000 and I bought the 225 engine (cylinder head decked 0.050, bottom end rebuilt, and super six manifold with new Holley 2 barrel installed with “fly eye” air cleaner) I also bought the 8 3/4” rear axle with Super Sport springs with the intention of installing the axle and engine. I stripped the Valiant’s mouse pee stinky interior, removed the glass and the seized 170 engine and 7 1/4 axle and then, as they say, life got in the way (girlfriends, etc...). The car sat out behind the shop resting on blocks. Years passed. I got married and bought a house. The shop (on my father’s property) was removed and the car was moved to an adjacent swamp. (Not by me!) The wheels of the loose 8.75” rear axle sank in the mud. Yes. A-body frame rails which are thin to begin with were sitting in corrosive saturated mud. Summer 2015 I decided to clear out everything and take it to my house. Then I discovered the intense rot in the trunk well and rear frame upkicks. This was very depressing since this V-200 had never seen winter salt and was in pretty good shape originally. The upper body and front end are fine since they were not sunk in the mud. Perfect K frame and torsion bar mounts (thank God!) I really didn’t know where to start on the restoration. Fortunately, my wife loves the Valiant, and wants to travel across country in it so she’s very supportive. But the car just sat at our house, stored high on blocks with a big metaphorical question mark on it regarding its fate. Then, late at night during this period of forced idleness, I perused Craigslist and found a 1960 V-100 parts car only 20 miles away from me! I looked at it and bought it. It is very rusty, unibody frame rails and torsion bars completely shot, but has a new gas tank and original bench seats that have NOT been recovered (original silver vinyl bolsters and backs and funky patterned insert). My seats were recovered in the late 70s with awful synthetic fabric. And I stripped them down to the frames, hoping to find suitable covers. But that became another stalled project for a different sub forum!
Upon getting the V-100 home, I attempted to start the 170 (which turned freely) and discovered arcing points. After filing the points and properly grounding the condenser, I cranked the engine (fed by a bottle of gas from the broken fuel line) and it roared to life! I pushed the buttons and it reverses and drives, except for the broken frame of course... So I am very excited that this 23 year project has gotten some new life. As I mentioned in my bio, I am not new to restorations or unibody repair, owning two vintage Saabs and two Jeep XJ Cherokees (four wheel drive Valiants, basically!) which I have done extensive frame fabrication on. The intention is to rebuild the rear frame rails on the V-200 and install the good 7.25” axle and Torqueflight “B” from the V-100 and get the brakes rebuilt and functioning with all new lines and parts. Yes, retaining the single circuit non assisted drums. The idea is to get it running and driving and solid and upgrade after I work the bugs out. I may power it with either the 170 from the V-100 or the 225 super six from my friend’s Dart. Sourcing interior parts looks like it’ll be a challenge. It seems that the only thing offered in seat covers is for ‘63 and later with buckets. I’ll be asking about interior options as I get closer to that need. But I’ll have a lot of weld burns from rebuilding the frame before those questions arise! And I read a lot on this forum about upgrading the wiring since this car has NO fusible link and I don’t want it to catch fire. I want to build it to be a stock looking driver. Might even keep the 13” dog dish hubcap wheels (with radials of course). If I install the Swinger 225, I will likely clad it in 1960 170 red painted tin and keep it looking as stock as possible (no fly eye air cleaner or Flex-fan) and maybe even keep the breather pipe. I want it to be a dead reliable simple to work on fun car. I’ve built wild and crazy modified cars and they lose something during all the performance gains. Plus, I just don’t see this early A body platform as being one for a big block V8 swap (when I was younger I was thinking sleeper with 440, but I’d have to lose the push buttons, cool dotted rubber pedals and I just love slant sixes too much anyway.) When I finally can afford a 413 wedge with dual quad ram induction, I’ll buy a Dart B-body and shut down fuel injected Stingrays all day long. Stay tuned! It should be a fun summer!
I’m Charlie Melonic and I’ve been a 1960 Valiant V-200 owner since 1997, but I’ve never driven this car!
When I got it, the 170 was sitting since 1983 and was frozen solid from storage. NOTHING would free it up. A friend from high school parted out his ‘71 Dart Swinger in 2000 and I bought the 225 engine (cylinder head decked 0.050, bottom end rebuilt, and super six manifold with new Holley 2 barrel installed with “fly eye” air cleaner) I also bought the 8 3/4” rear axle with Super Sport springs with the intention of installing the axle and engine. I stripped the Valiant’s mouse pee stinky interior, removed the glass and the seized 170 engine and 7 1/4 axle and then, as they say, life got in the way (girlfriends, etc...). The car sat out behind the shop resting on blocks. Years passed. I got married and bought a house. The shop (on my father’s property) was removed and the car was moved to an adjacent swamp. (Not by me!) The wheels of the loose 8.75” rear axle sank in the mud. Yes. A-body frame rails which are thin to begin with were sitting in corrosive saturated mud. Summer 2015 I decided to clear out everything and take it to my house. Then I discovered the intense rot in the trunk well and rear frame upkicks. This was very depressing since this V-200 had never seen winter salt and was in pretty good shape originally. The upper body and front end are fine since they were not sunk in the mud. Perfect K frame and torsion bar mounts (thank God!) I really didn’t know where to start on the restoration. Fortunately, my wife loves the Valiant, and wants to travel across country in it so she’s very supportive. But the car just sat at our house, stored high on blocks with a big metaphorical question mark on it regarding its fate. Then, late at night during this period of forced idleness, I perused Craigslist and found a 1960 V-100 parts car only 20 miles away from me! I looked at it and bought it. It is very rusty, unibody frame rails and torsion bars completely shot, but has a new gas tank and original bench seats that have NOT been recovered (original silver vinyl bolsters and backs and funky patterned insert). My seats were recovered in the late 70s with awful synthetic fabric. And I stripped them down to the frames, hoping to find suitable covers. But that became another stalled project for a different sub forum!
Upon getting the V-100 home, I attempted to start the 170 (which turned freely) and discovered arcing points. After filing the points and properly grounding the condenser, I cranked the engine (fed by a bottle of gas from the broken fuel line) and it roared to life! I pushed the buttons and it reverses and drives, except for the broken frame of course... So I am very excited that this 23 year project has gotten some new life. As I mentioned in my bio, I am not new to restorations or unibody repair, owning two vintage Saabs and two Jeep XJ Cherokees (four wheel drive Valiants, basically!) which I have done extensive frame fabrication on. The intention is to rebuild the rear frame rails on the V-200 and install the good 7.25” axle and Torqueflight “B” from the V-100 and get the brakes rebuilt and functioning with all new lines and parts. Yes, retaining the single circuit non assisted drums. The idea is to get it running and driving and solid and upgrade after I work the bugs out. I may power it with either the 170 from the V-100 or the 225 super six from my friend’s Dart. Sourcing interior parts looks like it’ll be a challenge. It seems that the only thing offered in seat covers is for ‘63 and later with buckets. I’ll be asking about interior options as I get closer to that need. But I’ll have a lot of weld burns from rebuilding the frame before those questions arise! And I read a lot on this forum about upgrading the wiring since this car has NO fusible link and I don’t want it to catch fire. I want to build it to be a stock looking driver. Might even keep the 13” dog dish hubcap wheels (with radials of course). If I install the Swinger 225, I will likely clad it in 1960 170 red painted tin and keep it looking as stock as possible (no fly eye air cleaner or Flex-fan) and maybe even keep the breather pipe. I want it to be a dead reliable simple to work on fun car. I’ve built wild and crazy modified cars and they lose something during all the performance gains. Plus, I just don’t see this early A body platform as being one for a big block V8 swap (when I was younger I was thinking sleeper with 440, but I’d have to lose the push buttons, cool dotted rubber pedals and I just love slant sixes too much anyway.) When I finally can afford a 413 wedge with dual quad ram induction, I’ll buy a Dart B-body and shut down fuel injected Stingrays all day long. Stay tuned! It should be a fun summer!
aboard!
