TylerW
Well-Known Member
Hey folks:
I haven't seen many back in the day stories about the more mainstream A-bodies, so I thought I would share one.
In late 1972/early '73, my maternal grandparents James O. and Ruth Hughes were living in Estill Springs, TN..about 50 miles west of Chattanooga. At the time they had a 1970 AMC Hornet sedan and a 1970 GMC pickup.
My grandfather was close to retirement age as a union electrician, so my best guess is they bought two new vehicles assuming they would last a long time.
Well somewhere around this time the Hornet was involved in an accident that mangled the front-end. The details are lost to history but I'll assume insurance paid off on it and they needed a new car.
They ended up purchasing a new 1973 Plymouth Valiant sedan. True to form, it was as bare bones as they could find. No options other than an AM radio and the full hubcaps. It was K6 Autumn Bronze with black interior.
I remember that it had the rubber floor mat and that high back bench seat with no center armrest. The upholstery was vertically ribbed.
The Valiant served them well. Nothing about it stands out other than sometime during the mid-'70s someone lightly t-boned them, denting the door, hubcap and 1/4 panel, all of which was soon repaired.
My grandfather was a good driver, but he drove fast even at his age. He would drive sitting perfectly straight with hands at 10 and 2, but take curves so fast he would sometimes end up in the opposing lane. I distinctly recall my grandmother saying "daddy slow DOWN!"
He also had a bad habit of waiting until the last instant to throw on the brakes in that Valiant(manual drums no less) and my grandmother's other thing was to alternately stomp the floor with her own brake foot or grab the dash on her side while saying "OOP!" or "daddy you get too CLOSE".
She didn't backseat drive for no reason, he really would scare you sometimes.They always had a small dog and all of them liked to poke their nose out the vent window.
During this time my Grandparents would pick me up for a summer vacation, and we would meet them in Huntsville at a certain restaurant they liked. I always looked forward to getting there to see if that Plymouth was in the parking lot, and it always was.
My home life was somewhat chaotic, so getting to climb in the back of that Plymouth and head out of town back to Tennessee was the best summer vacation I could have. My grandparents were fine, down to earth people, and I'll never forget those days.
My grandfather passed away Dec. 30 1982, at 73yo, while watching a ball game on TV.
My grandmother continued to drive the Valiant afterward, around local and on occasional trips up to Kentucky to visit family.
It was on one of these trips late in 1983 that the Valiant finally began to show it's age. It had 140,000 miles on it and the radiator began to leak. My grandmother was a tough person and filled that radiator repeatedly the entire trip, keeping the cap loose to relieve the strain.
She said that she promised the good Lord that if He let her make it back home in that Plymouth, she would buy a new car.
Well, she did make it home, and she did buy a new car soon after, selling the Plymouth to a local resident. She stuck to her roots though. The new car was a plain-jane 1984 Dodge Aries sedan with no power options. It came with a radio which my grandmother had removed by the dealer. She later bought an old style AM radio from a junkyard and had that installed!
She liked the Aries well enough but often lamented that it didn't have the "take up" from a stop that the Valiant had.
My grandmother drove until 2001, at which point I received the Aries with 101,000 miles on it. Ruth Hughes passed away in early March of 2009 at nearly 95 years of age.
The fate of the '73 Valiant is unknown. The Aries was sold about 7 years ago and was seen as late as last year still running around.
Well I hope you enjoyed the story....the next one will be about my friend's 1971 Dodge Demon.
I haven't seen many back in the day stories about the more mainstream A-bodies, so I thought I would share one.
In late 1972/early '73, my maternal grandparents James O. and Ruth Hughes were living in Estill Springs, TN..about 50 miles west of Chattanooga. At the time they had a 1970 AMC Hornet sedan and a 1970 GMC pickup.
My grandfather was close to retirement age as a union electrician, so my best guess is they bought two new vehicles assuming they would last a long time.
Well somewhere around this time the Hornet was involved in an accident that mangled the front-end. The details are lost to history but I'll assume insurance paid off on it and they needed a new car.
They ended up purchasing a new 1973 Plymouth Valiant sedan. True to form, it was as bare bones as they could find. No options other than an AM radio and the full hubcaps. It was K6 Autumn Bronze with black interior.
I remember that it had the rubber floor mat and that high back bench seat with no center armrest. The upholstery was vertically ribbed.
The Valiant served them well. Nothing about it stands out other than sometime during the mid-'70s someone lightly t-boned them, denting the door, hubcap and 1/4 panel, all of which was soon repaired.
My grandfather was a good driver, but he drove fast even at his age. He would drive sitting perfectly straight with hands at 10 and 2, but take curves so fast he would sometimes end up in the opposing lane. I distinctly recall my grandmother saying "daddy slow DOWN!"
He also had a bad habit of waiting until the last instant to throw on the brakes in that Valiant(manual drums no less) and my grandmother's other thing was to alternately stomp the floor with her own brake foot or grab the dash on her side while saying "OOP!" or "daddy you get too CLOSE".
She didn't backseat drive for no reason, he really would scare you sometimes.They always had a small dog and all of them liked to poke their nose out the vent window.
During this time my Grandparents would pick me up for a summer vacation, and we would meet them in Huntsville at a certain restaurant they liked. I always looked forward to getting there to see if that Plymouth was in the parking lot, and it always was.
My home life was somewhat chaotic, so getting to climb in the back of that Plymouth and head out of town back to Tennessee was the best summer vacation I could have. My grandparents were fine, down to earth people, and I'll never forget those days.
My grandfather passed away Dec. 30 1982, at 73yo, while watching a ball game on TV.
My grandmother continued to drive the Valiant afterward, around local and on occasional trips up to Kentucky to visit family.
It was on one of these trips late in 1983 that the Valiant finally began to show it's age. It had 140,000 miles on it and the radiator began to leak. My grandmother was a tough person and filled that radiator repeatedly the entire trip, keeping the cap loose to relieve the strain.
She said that she promised the good Lord that if He let her make it back home in that Plymouth, she would buy a new car.
Well, she did make it home, and she did buy a new car soon after, selling the Plymouth to a local resident. She stuck to her roots though. The new car was a plain-jane 1984 Dodge Aries sedan with no power options. It came with a radio which my grandmother had removed by the dealer. She later bought an old style AM radio from a junkyard and had that installed!
She liked the Aries well enough but often lamented that it didn't have the "take up" from a stop that the Valiant had.
My grandmother drove until 2001, at which point I received the Aries with 101,000 miles on it. Ruth Hughes passed away in early March of 2009 at nearly 95 years of age.
The fate of the '73 Valiant is unknown. The Aries was sold about 7 years ago and was seen as late as last year still running around.
Well I hope you enjoyed the story....the next one will be about my friend's 1971 Dodge Demon.
