SlotCarWon
Well-Known Member
Here's my '66 Valiant Signet Convertible. I found this on CraigsList locally last fall, it was only about 20 miles from my house. They didn't want a lot for it but the small picture in the ad showed that it might have some corrosion issues but I couldn't really tell. I contacted the owner and found out that it was parked on a major boulavard, he wasn't available but he invited me to inspect it. When I first saw it I almost didn't even stop to check it out as the fenders and quarter panels looked really rusty, but I did stop and I noticed that it had a current license plate and new tires; this was an inexpensive runner droptop- cool! I looked underneath and the undercarriage looked really solid, surprisingly almost as good as a car from the dessert. It has a good looking top with a foggy rear window and I couldn't really tell how the interior was although the one thing I did notice was that both door arm rests weren't mounted on the doors. I was sorta borderline on it and my wife said that it wasn't very much money and I if I want it should get it (I should insert a comment about how lucky I am, how she needs to be cloned, etc... let's just say I'm glad I brought her along).
Here's some pics I took while it was on a hoist
notice the leak on the tank which is why it was replaced
I came back the next day when I could talk to the owner and drive it. This car was only owned by one family until I bought it last year. It was parked inside a garage since the early 80s. The previous owner had gotten it from his aunt, it had to be dragged out of her garage as the brakes were froze. But since then he had driven it about 3000 miles. The owner just had too many car projects and his wife said he had to downsize some of his car stuff (he has a Ford Falcon of all things, I think he kept the wrong car as the Valiant is a much better car). It actually drove & rode well especially considering it still had original shocks that squeeked but the engine ran bad, the engine was fixed with a new set of spark plugs but only after we had negotiated a new much lower price. I came back the next day to drive it home and I almost made it to my driveway, the alternator wasn't charging the battery and if I hadn't turned on the headlights I probably would have made it home.
With a 225 slant six and automatic trans it isn't fast but it does run good. After replacing the alternator it was good enough to be my daily driver for a couple of weeks in November, I even drove it home from work in a snow storm (luckily before they put any salted down on the roads). A number of updates have been performed on this car, it now has new tires, a dual reservoir master cylinder, larger 10" drum front brakes, some new brake lines and Mopar electronic ignition. There were a few items that needed to get addressed, the original shocks were replaced with Monroes, the fuel tank had a slight leak at the seam so I've had a new tank installed along with a new sending unit, a major benefit is that now the gas gauge seems to be working and one of the power top cylinders had a leak so it was replaced too.
I've been working on re-doing the interior this winter, with around 85,000 miles it did need some attention; the arm rests were both broken, the seat covers had some tears, the carpet was faded and there were a few things on the dash that I wanted to change. Once you start on something like this it's hard to do just half even when it's not too bad to begin with, so pretty soon most of the interior will have been replaced or repaired. I had a new cover on the front seat installed (the rear seat is being recovered and should be done soon) and since the seats were out I figured I'd might as well replace the carpet. The carpet hold-downs were corroded along the inside edge, I got some used ones but they were dis-colored so I painted them with "alumium" paint and they look pretty decent now. I'm also replacing the door panels with some from my Barracuda parts car and I'm also installing the matching rear panels. The rear panels from the Barracuda are a bit different so they need a little modification, the convertibles are a bit shorter length wise so they needed to be cut down, the window crank is about 3/4" higher in the drop-top and the holes for the panels clips are in different locations, these modifications were pretty straightforward with an exacto knife and last night in installed them. I used the SEM Landau Black vinyl paint and it looks really good on the door and rear side panels, it's almost the exact same color and gloss as the origianl parts. I had to find replacements for both right and left arm rest bases and pads. I did the arm rest pads with Dupli-Color, this is very glossy and I like the contrast against the door panels. Of course I've had to fix one of the rear fiberglass side panels, typically the bottom was broken off but luckily only on one side, these had pretty nice arm rest pads on them, they weren't even hard. With the seats, carpet, doors, arm rests and rear side panels looking good I figured I'd to re-do the dash too, so right now I've got the dash taken apart to be painted, since it's removed installing a better dash speaker should be easier too. I think I'm goingto finish the interior resto with installing a tinted windshield.
I hope to finish up in about two or three weeks and hopefully the snow will be melted and I can start using this as a daily driver. I've located a right fender and also some quarter panles, my plan is to drive and enjoy some top down cruizing and after the summer get the rusty fenders replaced and have Maaco do a $200 winter special (one of the local Maacos is very good they do a lot of show cars and also body repair for area dealers).
Here's some pics I took while it was on a hoist
notice the leak on the tank which is why it was replaced
I came back the next day when I could talk to the owner and drive it. This car was only owned by one family until I bought it last year. It was parked inside a garage since the early 80s. The previous owner had gotten it from his aunt, it had to be dragged out of her garage as the brakes were froze. But since then he had driven it about 3000 miles. The owner just had too many car projects and his wife said he had to downsize some of his car stuff (he has a Ford Falcon of all things, I think he kept the wrong car as the Valiant is a much better car). It actually drove & rode well especially considering it still had original shocks that squeeked but the engine ran bad, the engine was fixed with a new set of spark plugs but only after we had negotiated a new much lower price. I came back the next day to drive it home and I almost made it to my driveway, the alternator wasn't charging the battery and if I hadn't turned on the headlights I probably would have made it home.
With a 225 slant six and automatic trans it isn't fast but it does run good. After replacing the alternator it was good enough to be my daily driver for a couple of weeks in November, I even drove it home from work in a snow storm (luckily before they put any salted down on the roads). A number of updates have been performed on this car, it now has new tires, a dual reservoir master cylinder, larger 10" drum front brakes, some new brake lines and Mopar electronic ignition. There were a few items that needed to get addressed, the original shocks were replaced with Monroes, the fuel tank had a slight leak at the seam so I've had a new tank installed along with a new sending unit, a major benefit is that now the gas gauge seems to be working and one of the power top cylinders had a leak so it was replaced too.
I've been working on re-doing the interior this winter, with around 85,000 miles it did need some attention; the arm rests were both broken, the seat covers had some tears, the carpet was faded and there were a few things on the dash that I wanted to change. Once you start on something like this it's hard to do just half even when it's not too bad to begin with, so pretty soon most of the interior will have been replaced or repaired. I had a new cover on the front seat installed (the rear seat is being recovered and should be done soon) and since the seats were out I figured I'd might as well replace the carpet. The carpet hold-downs were corroded along the inside edge, I got some used ones but they were dis-colored so I painted them with "alumium" paint and they look pretty decent now. I'm also replacing the door panels with some from my Barracuda parts car and I'm also installing the matching rear panels. The rear panels from the Barracuda are a bit different so they need a little modification, the convertibles are a bit shorter length wise so they needed to be cut down, the window crank is about 3/4" higher in the drop-top and the holes for the panels clips are in different locations, these modifications were pretty straightforward with an exacto knife and last night in installed them. I used the SEM Landau Black vinyl paint and it looks really good on the door and rear side panels, it's almost the exact same color and gloss as the origianl parts. I had to find replacements for both right and left arm rest bases and pads. I did the arm rest pads with Dupli-Color, this is very glossy and I like the contrast against the door panels. Of course I've had to fix one of the rear fiberglass side panels, typically the bottom was broken off but luckily only on one side, these had pretty nice arm rest pads on them, they weren't even hard. With the seats, carpet, doors, arm rests and rear side panels looking good I figured I'd to re-do the dash too, so right now I've got the dash taken apart to be painted, since it's removed installing a better dash speaker should be easier too. I think I'm goingto finish the interior resto with installing a tinted windshield.
I hope to finish up in about two or three weeks and hopefully the snow will be melted and I can start using this as a daily driver. I've located a right fender and also some quarter panles, my plan is to drive and enjoy some top down cruizing and after the summer get the rusty fenders replaced and have Maaco do a $200 winter special (one of the local Maacos is very good they do a lot of show cars and also body repair for area dealers).
