New project driver joins the herd

[70DartMike]

Scanning Craigslist, I found a 65 Valiant 4 door, rebuilt 273 auto, in Vancouver. Drove over to check it out, drove it around town a bit, purchased it, drove it home. The only bad thing was the muffler blew up with a loud bang, and we had a loud trip back.

It's a 65 Plymouth Valiant V200, 273 2 bbl, column shift auto, 7 1/4 with 2.94 gears or something, original running gear. Engine has 1000 miles into the rebuild, 77000 original mile car.

After getting it home, I swapped the rims from the Dart onto it, eliminating the scary 13" rims.

The body is solid minus the passenger quarter which is all bondo.. , has some dings in the doors, but it came with a complete set of rust free, ding free doors. Also came with a straight rear bumper, another column, and another rear bottom seat. Oh, and all the gauges work! The plan is to slowly fix its problems, replace broken parts, body work and paint, and daily drive at the same time when I'm home, since the Dart is out of commission for a while.

After the wheel change..

From the pictures, you can see I need a:

drivers arm rest, preferrably in blue,
2 headlight rings,
possibly a straight grill if I can find one, but I may be able to straighten this one enough,
1 reverse light lense,
drivers side sun visor in light blue,
the Valiant horn button,
another V8 emblem for the front fender,
and two light blue kick panels.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

 

[65Val]

Mike...if you didn't know, that's a US built car. The Canadian V200 would be the other body style, ie, US Dart body style. Your car, built in Canada, would be a "100" series model, just like my 'vert.

 

[bayyum]

its good to know that there are still some savable a-bodies in BC

 

[70DartMike]

Mike...if you didn't know, that's a US built car. The Canadian V200 would be the other body style, ie, US Dart body style. Your car, built in Canada, would be a "100" series model, just like my 'vert.

I did know it was a US built car, but I didn't know the other information. Thanks!

Do you know anyone on the island who has any Valiant parts? I remember Horne Lake had probably 10 of them, before they crushed everything. But at the time I wasn't ever looking for Valiant parts.

 

[70DartMike]

its good to know that there are still some savable a-bodies in BC

Yep, for under a grand!

 

[goldfish65]

Makes me happy to see these little workhorses still performing. Kudos to you Mike for saving this early-a. I'm thinking it will be a comfy highway driver with the rear end ratio it has.

 

[homecloned]

Those look like the hi-po exhaust manifolds. Nice find.

 

[70DartMike]

Those look like the hi-po exhaust manifolds. Nice find.

That's what I thought too, and I asked a friend who knows more about them than me, and he said they definatly are.

 

[Burntorange70]

Nice find. That will be a fun daily driver.

 

[SirDan]

looks like it might have been sitting a while, theres a cobweb on the drivers door.

 

[70DartMike]

Mike...if you didn't know, that's a US built car. The Canadian V200 would be the other body style, ie, US Dart body style. Your car, built in Canada, would be a "100" series model, just like my 'vert.

Darwin, you wouldn't happen to have any parts would you?

 

[pettybludart]

He cool find,welcome to Early-A crowd!Looks like the 273 will make for a good daily driver!Time for another thread in Early-A bodies discussions.What parts are you looking for?

 

[70DartMike]

He cool find,welcome to Early-A crowd!Looks like the 273 will make for a good daily driver!Time for another thread in Early-A bodies discussions.What parts are you looking for?

Thanks! I figured it was about time I picked up an Early-A.

I have a small list of items needed..

drivers arm rest, preferrably in blue,
2 headlight rings,
possibly a straight grill if I can find one, but I may be able to straighten this one enough,
1 reverse light lense,
drivers side sun visor in light blue,
the Valiant horn button,
another V8 emblem for the front fender,
2 light blue kick panels,
the trim that goes around the radio,
2 front window defrost vents,
2 sockets for reverse lights,
passenger side quarter panel, the whole thing,

I'll add more later.

 

[70DartMike]

I stopped at an older guys house today, who has a few V200's and Signet 200's sitting in his yard, and managed to get some workable headlight trim rings. They aren't perfect, but much better than what I had.

Before..

After replacing the grill and straightening the bumper. Still need to take the dents out of the valence, but its a little better..

Also replaced the rear bumper with a straighter one, upgraded to some 14" rims all the way around, true dual exhaust, temporarily took care of SOME surface rust issues, and replaced a broken reverse lense.

Before..

After..

 

[ramenth]

Nice score!

You'll be able to work on it as you go if the Ford let's you....:-D

 

[69DARTS]

i would drive it

 

[70DartMike]

Just cleaned up some more surface rust. There is a hole in the rear valence, but I will get to that later.

 

[goldfish65]

I bet she is really purring with all the attention you're giving her.

 

[67GTConvert]

Nice find.It looks like it must have been a granny car for part of it's life going by the low miles and the BCAA stickers.If I see any old Valiants like that being parted out here in Victoria,I'll let you know.

 

[Darwin]

Nice find. I just caught this post, so to answer your question from back in April, nope, don't have any of the parts you listed, most of my stuff is for '66.

 

[memike]

This sight is so big and I am so slow :toothy10: I bet the dog dish hub caps are going on your V8 Valiant :cheers:, Nize 65 Mike :cheers:

I have V8 envy know :-D

 

[70DartMike]

They definatly are. I'll finally have the proper dog dishes on it. I did find another set on a 2 door 66 Canadian Valiant that someone has offered me for $350, but they are all smashed up.

 

[greenhornet]

They definatly are. I'll finally have the proper dog dishes on it. I did find another set on a 2 door 66 Canadian Valiant that someone has offered me for $350, but they are all smashed up.

$350??????? That's insane...

 

[65Val]

I did know it was a US built car, but I didn't know the other information. Thanks!

Do you know anyone on the island who has any Valiant parts? I remember Horne Lake had probably 10 of them, before they crushed everything. But at the time I wasn't ever looking for Valiant parts.

Well, I had a bunch, but, they went with the '65 Val'vert I just sold. Sorry.

 

[70DartMike]

$350??????? That's insane...

I meant $350 for the whole car. It's a /6 auto, but the /6 is seized. It's in decent shape. I was going to take some pics of it this weekend anyhow, along with a bunch of other old stuff the guy has, so I will post them later.