I was just leaving the pharmacy with my MoviPrep for a night of pleasure, when this ’68 Valiant pulled up. I’ve seen this car around forever, with a quite-elderly couple in it, and have been trying to get a good set of shots for ages. So here it is, and what do I do? I take three quick shots from a distance and drive off, instead of approaching them and asking them how long they’ve owned the Signet (I’ll bet since it was new). Blame it on not having eaten anything all day.
And I have a particular obsession with this car too, right down to the optional wheel covers…when’s the last time anyone saw those, on a DD Valiant? I remember a few hours spent with a 1967 Valiant brochure, mentally speccing a very similar one with those optional “mag style” wheel covers, the four-barrel 273 V8, four speed stick and disc brakes.
No V8 burble here; just the familiar slightly-metallic idle of a slant six. Oh well. But they obviously made a good choice in 1968 for a long-term keeper. Next time I see them, with some food in my stomach, I’ll ask them to confirm that.
Such a sharp little car. It wouldn’t be too hard to swap in a 2.4 Turbo from an SRT or GT Cruiser and have some fun.
Why ruin a perfectly good unmolested survivor by hacking it up and modding it? There’s no shortage of cars of similar vintage with no collectible or historic value.
I always liked these cars, the greenhouse shape and proportions remind me of a MKII Ford Cortina.
Please this is not the Signet, which was the most upscale hardtop model in those years. My first new car was a ’62 Valiant….excellent vehicle, btw. pic is a 62 Acapulco, Mexican version of the Signet.
Actually, there was no Valiant hardtop in the US from 1967-70. The Dart had the Swinger hardtop, but Plymouth did not get a version until the 1971 Scamp (and Dodge got the Demon version of the Duster).
It is my understanding that the Signet name remained as the top trim level for Valiant in the 67-69 era, but there was no body style other than the 2 or 4 door sedan. This one appears to have the bright metal trim around the door uppers, so I think that it is a Signet.
Edit – I just checked the brochure. The 68 Valiant came as a 100, a 200 and a Signet. The Signet is the only one with the bright metal door-uppers.
The reason there was no Signet hardtop (or convertible, for that matter) from ’67-’69 is because those duties were relegated to the all-new (with no more Valiant sheetmetal) Barracuda hardtop and convertible. I’m sure some Plymouth marketing maven thought the Barracuda coupe/convertible would sell better (and at higher profit) than a ‘sporty’ Valiant hardtop. Don’t know if it actually panned out like that, but the logic is there.
Prior to 1967, there was no non-fastback Barracuda so the Signet hardtop and convertible could co-exist with the solitary (with a Valiant front-end) Barracuda fastback.
As stated, by 1971, the situation had essentially returned to what it was prior to 1967, except the E-body Barracuda had moved up to the intermediate chassis. Theoretically, as before, there shouldn’t have been any cross-shopping between the A-body Valiants (Scamp and Duster) and now larger, E-body Barracuda.
Unfortunately, it didn’t really work out that way, as the much cheaper (and just as fast) fastback Duster 340 definitely ate into E-body sales.
Looks like you may have answered a question I’ve always meant to ask. Specifically, why there were no equivalent Valiant models when there were performance/muscle variants of the Dart available with the 340 and (correct me if I’m wrong) the 383. I guess Chrysler thought it would cannibalize the Barracuda sales?
Yeah, that’s it, exactly. In the sixties, Dodge had no A-body based ‘sporty’ car (they had gotten the Charger, instead), so Dodge made do in the ponycar market by making the same Barracuda performance options available on the Dart.
The most well-known of this process was the Dodge version of the 1968 Hemi-Cuda, the Hemi-Dart, a purpose-built, low-production, strip-only racecar that, to this day, rules its NHRA class.
Ford pretty much did the same thing with the Falcon after the Mustang’s appearance.
GM, OTOH, had no problem selling high-performance versions of the Nova alongside the Camaro with the same drivetrains, up to and including COPO 427 Novas.
GrangeRover, I believe you are correct about the 383 being available in the Dart in 1968. In 1969, there was a limited run of Hemi Darts as well as 440 Darts, IIRC. In the case of all 3 non-standard engines, I believe I’ve learned that they were not done in-house at the factory, but sent out to be fitted with a special engine. The vendor might have been Cars and Concepts. Back in the day when they were new, I was familiar with a 2-door, B-5 blue, 1969 440 Dart. There was someone who had one who often drove to a house in my neighborhood. I was the paperboy and saw it frequently. It not only had 440 on the hood on the chrome trim piece that would have had 340 on it on a 340 car, but the car had a totally different stance than any normal Dart. As a result of the weight of much heavier engines than the Dart was designed for, the shocks and suspension were part of the modifications for the high performance engines, I believe.
The 383 became available from the factory in the Dart late in the 1967 model year (not many were built). It’s easy to see why since neither power steering or power brakes would fit in the engine bay with the big-block.
The Hemi-Dart was a very limited run in 1968 done by Hurst Performance but sold through Dodge dealers. Most went to racers, which is for whom they were intended. They were quite high-priced with only the most basic of creature comforts (zero sound deadening, two A100 van seats, and seatbelt straps for window regulators to save weight). Chrysler even included a warning notice stating that the 1968 Hemi-Dart (and Hemi-Cuda of the same year) was not intended to be licensed for street use.
1968 also saw the 440 installed in the Dart but it wasn’t from the factory. A few dealers replaced the factory 383 with a 440 (the most famous and well-known being Mr. Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago).
In 1969, the 440 became an RPO from the factory in the Dart (as well as what was known as the ‘Cuda 440). But, like the 383, it was a beast as a daily driver without power steering or brakes.
So, although it was technically possible to get either a Hemi or 440 in a Dart in 1968 from a Dodge dealer, neither were factory cars built on an assembly line.
It’s also worth noting that neither the 383 or 440 Dart saw much of an advantage on the street, either, due to the same problem as all small cars with big performance engines, i.e., getting those big engines in smaller car engine bays necessitated smaller, more restrictive exhaust plumbing. The lowered horsepower caused by the smaller exhaust systems offset any weight advantage over the same engines in larger intermediate cars.
The Hemi-Dart, OTOH, came with a couple of cheap mufflers put on by Hurst to make them technically legal for resale. Those mufflers and exhaust manifolds were intended to be immediately replaced by the headers that were included in the trunk by the customer. No restrictive exhaust problem there.
As to how this relates to the Valiant, well, all A-body engine bays were the same. So, if some enterprising individual wanted to put a big-block (including the Hemi) into their late sixties Valiant 4-door, it wouldn’t be too difficult since all the parts were already available…
Chrysler wanted Dodge to be the performance division. They tried for 40 years to drop Plymouth, actually starting in the 50’s. As for performance Valiants, Mopar figured that the Barracuda was enough, plus they also thought that if you wanted a performance small A body, there was the Dart, even though it was a bigger car. Longer, and heavier.
As of right now, I have a 69 Plymouth 100 Valiant, with a 408 stroker in it.
Here’s a close-up of the Signet badge on the front fender.
Well, that would be another way to tell. 🙂
I should have been a lawyer 🙂
This reminds me very much of my first new car. Is this one sunfire yellow? Mine had 318, 4 speed vinyl buckets. I miss it a lot
I spotted some pictures of a 1967-69 Mexican Valiant hardtop at http://www.autoclasico.com.mx/site/?p=15&id_fol_auto=4787
Also, there one picture of an Aussie VG Valiant Regal hardtop, who got a interesting front end with squared headlights. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chrysler_VG_Valiant_Regal_770_Hardtop.jpg
I have never seen one of these in my life. It makes you wonder why Chrysler would spend all that money on the hardtop body and never offer it in the home market.
Chrysler’s Mexico ops was famous for stuff like this. Realistically, they just modified the two-door sedan; not all that difficult. And it makes you wonder whether their mods would have been up to Chrysler’s high (?) US standards.
It looks to me exactly like a Dart 2-door hardtop with a different front clip.
The Aussie one yes; but take a closer look at the Mexican one; it’s the sedan roofline for sure.
I spent many hours behind the wheel of a 69 Valiant 100 2 door sedan that belonged to a friend of my mom. I was about 12 and the car was always parked, but that didn’t stop me. I got a lot of practice with a 3 on the tree, and probably wore 6 months’ wear out of the front tires from all of the stationary steering and parking that I did.
I don’t see many of the 67-69 vintage at all, for some reason. 1970 and up are still seen occasionally, particularly the 73 and up. There is a 73 sedan for sale locally that has had me thinking lately. But if I am going to get a fun car, maybe a Valiant sedan is not setting my sights high enough. 🙂
There’s still plenty around here (as there of all things) but the 1971-75 seem like they were all Brougham’d out, and are more tattered in appearance than the few frills 1967-69 models running the streets.
I’d come close to saying they’re close to the “Falcons are for hipsters” statement I made a few months ago, but there’s a genuine snobbery that at least you can use a Slant Six Valiant in modern traffic and not get ran off the road by agro BMW/Audi drivers from the far out suburbs.
My 1969 Signet 2-door had a fairly close resemblance to that car, except being a V8 it had larger tires. Iirc I ran small hubcaps on it. It definitely was a fun car to drive, and easy to suck guys into street drags since no one expected a little square Valiant to be a 318 4-speed car.
I’ve been reading Pauls’ columns for a couple of years now, and I still can’t get my head around the fact that folk in Oregon can use 60s cars as daily drivers.
Must be our rains: the fountains of youth!
California too! Still a fair number of these in Hawaii as well.
I always thought these a nice redesign, if a bit boxy. Sean, why would anyone want to replace the leaning tower of power, that’s such a fun motor??
My friend’s mother had a Dart Swinger Coupe, maybe a 1974. It had the 318 auto, a cute little car. It had A/C, but I think an aftermarket unit. Medium blue with a white vinyl roof. Seems that she was always blowing ballust resistors on the car. Everytime a service call or a tow. That family had absolutely no mechanical aptitude. The joke how many WASPs does it take to change a light bulb fit them to a tee.
I don’t think the Dart was washed in the 20 years she owned the car. The ash trays probably were not emptied in 20 years also. But they did have service done regularly, and the car was kept in good operating condition. When she died, my friend gave the car away to a co-worker. When I asked him about it, he acted like only a crazy person would take the car.
I always thought that all the car needed was a good cleaning, inside and out, and a buff job. That car probably made an excellent cruiser for a “crazy person.”
You must live out of the salt belt. That was what killed the Valiants and Darts around here. The 69 Valiant 100 I spoke of earlier made it to maybe 15 years old, and had all of about 50k miles on it when the rust got to one of the torsion bar anchors. The bar twisted out of its mount and the front corner of the car came to rest on the rubber suspension stop. The sheetmetal on the front fenders was rusting to pieces over the headlight and along the rear ofthe panel, top and bottom. Keep the things out of the salt and they will run forever.
It’s true that most Valiants and Darts rotted away in rust belt Pittsburgh. A guy I worked with had a 71 Valiant. The car rotted terribly in a few years, having been driven in the winter snow and salt.
But Mrs. C’s car sat in the garage most of the time, never driven in snow. When driven, it was always to the grocery store, bank, or church. I doubt it ever was out of a 10 mile radius of their house. Mileage couldn’t have reached 50K. Even that, they had some rust repair done on the car. The front fenders, originally, had the fender turn signal lights. At some point, they disappeared.
But when my buddy gave the car away, it still looked decent. It even had mag style wheels with white letter tires. The dusty interior had high back bench seats with some rips on the drivers side, but repairable. Paint was very oxidized and dull. The roof had no rips. Most other makes of that vintage would have looked like new with such limited usage, so the wear the Dart exhibited showed its poor quality.
However, I hope someone gave it a good home.
The Hawaii cars were usually double-Ziebarted. Quite a few Valiants/Darts have survived in the islands.
A somewhat cool car, no doubt. However, it is the MoviPrep that is really the S**T, verdad?
That, and opting to have my colonoscopy without any sedation (I like to participate in my medical procedures; make sure they’re doing it right). There were a few moments when I wish I hadn’t made that choice; turns out I have a “convoluted” colon. Lucky me.
I would post a picture of a white latex glove, but what does that have to do with Valiants….
You’re valiant to go in and get that done. Even though anyone over 50 who doesn’t is a damned fool. I like to be drugged out, thanks, but it’s the day before that’s miserable.
You like to participate in your medical procedures? Like the guy in this story:
Especially since my Dad just died from colon cancer. Although at his age, it doesn’t indicate a familial propensity to it.
Paul, I’m very sorry to hear about what took your Dad. Even at his age that’s a bugger.
So you’re next article will be on a Probe?
Yes, titled Voyage to the Center of the Gut.
Or Voyage to the Bottom of the C?
I did mine a couple of years ago. With drugs, please. It was the most relaxing day I have had in years. I look forward to another. The day before, not so much.
OK, I’m 49. My MD has this planned for me in the not too distant future. What’s up with the day before?
Think of it as a day of Ex-Lax.
Looks like a hardtop Mustang with the rear kick-up turned upside down.
Since A-bodies aren’t THAT rare, let me put in a request for a “Gold Duster” from ’73-’74. With original wheelcovers, per Paul’s comment. I know someone has seen one somewhere.
Good timing…just found one, but sadly, minus the wheel covers. And the owner swears there’s a Feather Duster in town; now that will be one of my greater finds. When’s the last time you saw a FD?
If you have a true Feather Duster rolling around as a DD I will quit my job and move to the PNW.
I always wanted to be a Hippie..
“I always wanted to be a Hippie..”
Nail him for that, Paul!
We’ll see; the Gold Duster owner claims it’s so. But you might want to get a head start and skip the barber shop.
Nail him? We all need a little bit of hippieness in our life. It’s just a matter of degrees.
I remember entering a contest in 1976 to win a “Dart Lite”. This while visiting Granny in Missouri as Feather Duster and Dart Lite were one of the many parade of models “N/A in California” during the Malaise Era. FD and DL were lightweight models with Slant Sixes and O/D sticks !
My grandma had a 75 Gold Duster. That’s rare.. I still remember when Grandpa put new tires on it as a Mother’s Day gift around 1982.
“Grandma, why are the lines on your car tires blue?”
I blew Grandad’s surprise.
That’s funny, Sean – the Gold Duster in my life was a grandma car too. Never seen another, or a Feather Duster, Convertriple, Hang Ten edition…was Chrysler owned by Ronco in the 70s? 🙂
I remember quite a few Gold Dusters in northern Indiana in the 70s. IIRC, the early ones (72?) were all painted gold, but in the later ones, the “Gold Duster” nameplate was the top trim version and could be had in lots of colors besides gold.
But lately? It has been quite awhile since I have seen one. I think that they have all been made into Duster 340s. If you had to judge from the number of Duster 340s seen at all of the car shows, it must have made up 75% of Duster production. 🙁
Ahhh…a “stripper” never looked so good…
@ Doug
I really have no issue with the /6. It can be built to be pretty respectable with the right amount of funds too.
It is a bit piggy though and if I were to tackle one of these I’d have to go light weight and turbo.
I had a ’72 in law school (in the mid-80’s), a four door, but otherwise pretty much the same as this one, although it was the base model. It still had the vertical taillights. Slant six, Torqueflite, power steering, and that was about it. 150,000 miles and still ran like a champ, although it hated to start when hot. I kept an extra key in my pocket and just left it running and locked for short errands. It was the perfect Boston city car–several large dents, rust (of course), and duct tape holding the seats together. Nobody touched it.
Paul: Mea culpa re the Signet…. I forgot that the designation carried on beyond the hardtop years. Old age I guess !
I can’t imagine very many Signet sedans being sold. It just looks like a trim package that could have taken the price of a Valiant close to that of a base Belvedere or a Dart hardtop.
Not a Signet but the Plymouth Valiant including the Duster, Scamp and the Brougham versions, finished #2 in the sales charts of 1974 from what I read at http://bestsellingcarsblog.com/1975/01/29/usa-1974-ford-pinto-and-plymouth-valiant-dominate/ just behind the Ford Pinto! It was the last time then Plymouth was #3. 🙁
As I browsing through images on the web trying to find pics of a “clean” car like ours, which has been difficult to say the least, I discovered your pics! Thats my in-laws driving our 68 Valiant! We bought it from a guy down in Martinez, CA that collected Mopars. He had nine and his wife was making him get rid of one because they had no parking left in front of their house. This was the one he liked the least, which really only meant he could just barely bring himself to part with it! It was pristine! He even had the original factory upholstery in a roll in the trunk… for the day it needed new upholstery! I’m sorry to say its seen better days, but our dream is to get it fully restored soon. It has a 225 slant 6 with disc brakes. When she’s cleaned up, she’s a real eye catcher!
That’s really cool. I had a ’71 Scamp with the 225 and 4-wheel drums. I learned to drive in a manner that didn’t rely heavily on braking. I still have some fond memories though, hope you complete your restoration.
I own the same car. Nice pic
I have a 68 valiant 2dr. 225 with a 3speed w/O.D grandpa was original owner left it to me when he passed away I seen the odometer flip over when I was 8 yrs old on a fishing trip and after having it 5-6 years I watched it flip to zeros again? it’s my every day car and shows no sign of quitting now!!! Honestly I might just take it to the grave with me so in the afterlife I can cruise in style knowing I had the only car that truly could last longer than a lifetime? lapine Oregon is where you can see it anytime you want me to prove it’s still running better than what you have for your every day car lol
This is my baby
I have Her bumper is in my garage. to put it back on.