1968 Plymouth Valiant Coupe
1-Owner California Car, 44k Miles
While picking up a nearly perfect '56 Thunderbird I found this old Valiant in the yard of its original owner tucked under a tree with old, flat bias ply tires dating back to the mid 1970's. I looked inside and to my surprise, the odometer read only 44k miles. I took a look at the sticker on the original black license plate to find the last time it was registered was 38 years ago in 1980. The car had clearly been sitting in this same spot since & only had 12 years of use. This was later confirmed by a neighbor. All of a sudden this Valiant was more interesting to me than the Thunderbird! I felt an obligation to save this poor old car as I was told it would be headed to the wrecking yard as the estate was being sorted out. I made a modest offer on the car knowing full well that while there wouldn't be a profit in it for me, at least I could enjoy the satisfaction of saving this one-owner diamond in the rough from the crusher. Us car guys are like that. Some people save cats. I seem to jump at the opportunity to save a poor old car a couple of times a year and this was my calling on this summer afternoon. I had to do it.
I called my flatbed truck driver, Paul. He brought the car to my mechanic and we got to work. We replaced the gas tank, fuel sender, installed a new set of tires, replaced the brake cylinders, repacked the wheel bearings, cleaned the carburetor, soaked the cylinders for several days in Marvel Mystery Oil, changed the fluids, installed a good battery and got the old slant six to start and run. A quick cruise and it was clear the 37 years of sitting had caused the rings to go as evidenced by the smoke emitted. But it starts runs smoothly and drives down the road, shifts well and brakes just fine now.
The body is in remarkably good shape. The only downfall is rust that is only the front floor sections and a very small rust spot in the trunk. (See photos). The patch panels for the floors are readily available and the small hole in the trunk would be easy to fix. The interior will need to be completely replaced and of course, somebody will want to repaint the car as well. This could be a fun project for its next owner.
This is a great candidate for a V8 conversion, especially since it has a manual transmission. Of course, it would also be a fantastic first car for a young car enthusiast or someone handy with a limited budget. And because it runs and drives, loading onto a transport truck will be easy.
The car is located here in the Sonoma Wine Country about 45 minutes north of San Francisco. The title is clear. It still has it's originally issued black and gold California license plates.
See the video at https://youtu.be/V0ONH0lhHJY
Call Donn at 707-332-8331.
