I guess I should start a rebuild thread on this car like I did on the other 2 rebuilds. A couple of you guys asked me if I was going to. Before I get in this too far I want to spend a little time talking about why I am doing this car. At first I didn't like the car but it is growing on me.
I met my wife about 30 years ago. matter of fact this New Years Eve we are celebrating our anniversary. When I met her she was 18 and had just graduated high school and had started her first year in college. I was 29 years old. She was born and raised in southern Mississippi. Long Beach, Ms. During her last 2 years of high school, she was in the band. She always told me about her first car that she owned and called it the brown turd. Talked about how she could put $5 in gas in it and run 2 weeks. Talked about how many people she could haul and how many instruments she could take on band trips. I had been a long distance trucker for awhile at that time. We eventually talked about marriage and I told her I would not live down there so I packed her up and moved her to No. Ky. where we are now.
Years later I bought my Duster and built it to run on the 1/4 mile track but after I started working on it decided to restore it and show it. I decided because it was in such good shape not to beat it to death. She mentioned she would like to have another 69 Valiant 4 door car. I though I would never buy a 4 door car. after my Duster was done and I saw the gratification in what we done with it, I bought the 73 Dart Sport and it became pretty much Tylers car then. Its still in my name but I guess it is his car. I have kinda been looking for a 69 valiant for about 10 years for her because I had promised her I would buy her one but with both the Duster and Dart Sport being kinda newly done, I wasn't in too big of a hurry. Last year at some of the car shows we attended it was mentioned again that she would like to have a car of her own to show.
So, I started looking a little harder. A couple of months ago, this car pretty much fell in my lap. Something told me to look on Craigslist in Detroit area and I did. I found this car and could not believe how good of shape it was in . I called the guy and drilled him on this car and he just was above board on every step of the way. So I made arrangements one weekend and we all went up and picked it up.
Here is the story on the car. I have all documentation pertaining to this car from day one. Title numbers and names. It was purchased by an older man new down in Georgia. He kept the car until his death a couple years ago. The car went to his son. Shortly after that the son passed away. Car was tied up in an estate sale and a man from Michigan bought this car for his girlfriend. He spent $450.00 to have the car shipped up from Georgia to Michigan. I have a copy of the delivery receipt. Apparently his girlfriend learned how to drive in one of these so he bought the car for her and spent over $2500.00 fixing up this car for her. I also have receipts of the parts he put on the car. After he had finished the car, the girlfriend left him. Now he is stuck with a car he doesn't want or want to look at so he sells this car to a young man in Port Huron, Mi. The guy I bought it from. He is in the Coast Guard in Port Huron and he bought the car in August 2014. He was going to fix it up and drive it. He also has a 53 Chrysler in his garage. Nice car but needed restoration too. Him and his wife just had a baby about 2 weeks before I picked up the car and he told me that one of the Mopars had to go and he was keeping the 53 so that is how I got the car.
My wife wanted to drive the car back and forth to work for awhile but I had a problem with the title. It seems like when the car was transferred from Georgia to Michigan they left off the letter 'B' denoting the location in Hamtramck that the car was built. I had to get the title corrected before I licensed it and the fact that I was about to tear it down didn't make sense to let her drive it.This car has 69000 miles on it. The A/C blows ice. It runs like a top. It started right up back when it was 17 degrees outside. It basically has no rust, just a little surface rust in the trunk where the trunk weatherstrip leaked. The underside is great.
Right now, the car is in the garage and the tranny has been pulled. Tomorrow, I am going to pull the engine and get it on the engine stand. We are going to take this car down to metal and get all the enamel paint off and fix any imperfections in the body. The only problems on the inside is a tear in the front seat on the river side and a crack in the dash cap. I have a friend who does interior work so I am going to take the seat to him sometime after Christmas and let him cover it. I have already gotten a new dash cap. The front and rear bumpers are coming off and going to Tri- City plating in Tennessee and being re-chromed after the first of the year. The engine is going to be tore down and freshened up and then repainted and detailed as it came out of the factory.
While the engine is out, the engine bay will be completely taken down to metal and painted. The tape that goes on the fender from the factory is still there showing that the fenders have not been removed. A lot of the markings from the factory are still there. I am going to try and keep them on there. Everything I can see on this car is factory and it is going back all factory. Momma's orders. The color is Spanish Gold. Y4 I believe. I already obtained all the factory decals and engine paint. So here are the beginning pics of the car I took when it came home.
I met my wife about 30 years ago. matter of fact this New Years Eve we are celebrating our anniversary. When I met her she was 18 and had just graduated high school and had started her first year in college. I was 29 years old. She was born and raised in southern Mississippi. Long Beach, Ms. During her last 2 years of high school, she was in the band. She always told me about her first car that she owned and called it the brown turd. Talked about how she could put $5 in gas in it and run 2 weeks. Talked about how many people she could haul and how many instruments she could take on band trips. I had been a long distance trucker for awhile at that time. We eventually talked about marriage and I told her I would not live down there so I packed her up and moved her to No. Ky. where we are now.
Years later I bought my Duster and built it to run on the 1/4 mile track but after I started working on it decided to restore it and show it. I decided because it was in such good shape not to beat it to death. She mentioned she would like to have another 69 Valiant 4 door car. I though I would never buy a 4 door car. after my Duster was done and I saw the gratification in what we done with it, I bought the 73 Dart Sport and it became pretty much Tylers car then. Its still in my name but I guess it is his car. I have kinda been looking for a 69 valiant for about 10 years for her because I had promised her I would buy her one but with both the Duster and Dart Sport being kinda newly done, I wasn't in too big of a hurry. Last year at some of the car shows we attended it was mentioned again that she would like to have a car of her own to show.
So, I started looking a little harder. A couple of months ago, this car pretty much fell in my lap. Something told me to look on Craigslist in Detroit area and I did. I found this car and could not believe how good of shape it was in . I called the guy and drilled him on this car and he just was above board on every step of the way. So I made arrangements one weekend and we all went up and picked it up.
Here is the story on the car. I have all documentation pertaining to this car from day one. Title numbers and names. It was purchased by an older man new down in Georgia. He kept the car until his death a couple years ago. The car went to his son. Shortly after that the son passed away. Car was tied up in an estate sale and a man from Michigan bought this car for his girlfriend. He spent $450.00 to have the car shipped up from Georgia to Michigan. I have a copy of the delivery receipt. Apparently his girlfriend learned how to drive in one of these so he bought the car for her and spent over $2500.00 fixing up this car for her. I also have receipts of the parts he put on the car. After he had finished the car, the girlfriend left him. Now he is stuck with a car he doesn't want or want to look at so he sells this car to a young man in Port Huron, Mi. The guy I bought it from. He is in the Coast Guard in Port Huron and he bought the car in August 2014. He was going to fix it up and drive it. He also has a 53 Chrysler in his garage. Nice car but needed restoration too. Him and his wife just had a baby about 2 weeks before I picked up the car and he told me that one of the Mopars had to go and he was keeping the 53 so that is how I got the car.
My wife wanted to drive the car back and forth to work for awhile but I had a problem with the title. It seems like when the car was transferred from Georgia to Michigan they left off the letter 'B' denoting the location in Hamtramck that the car was built. I had to get the title corrected before I licensed it and the fact that I was about to tear it down didn't make sense to let her drive it.This car has 69000 miles on it. The A/C blows ice. It runs like a top. It started right up back when it was 17 degrees outside. It basically has no rust, just a little surface rust in the trunk where the trunk weatherstrip leaked. The underside is great.
Right now, the car is in the garage and the tranny has been pulled. Tomorrow, I am going to pull the engine and get it on the engine stand. We are going to take this car down to metal and get all the enamel paint off and fix any imperfections in the body. The only problems on the inside is a tear in the front seat on the river side and a crack in the dash cap. I have a friend who does interior work so I am going to take the seat to him sometime after Christmas and let him cover it. I have already gotten a new dash cap. The front and rear bumpers are coming off and going to Tri- City plating in Tennessee and being re-chromed after the first of the year. The engine is going to be tore down and freshened up and then repainted and detailed as it came out of the factory.
While the engine is out, the engine bay will be completely taken down to metal and painted. The tape that goes on the fender from the factory is still there showing that the fenders have not been removed. A lot of the markings from the factory are still there. I am going to try and keep them on there. Everything I can see on this car is factory and it is going back all factory. Momma's orders. The color is Spanish Gold. Y4 I believe. I already obtained all the factory decals and engine paint. So here are the beginning pics of the car I took when it came home.
