Recently, on a warm Saturday in October, I took the family for an afternoon jaunt in the ‘ol Valiant Wagon. We took a ~ 250-mile trip up into the mountains and high country of PA (which is not hard to do from my location if you travel anywhere to the east.) So we aimed the Torsion Bar-equipped front end vaguely northeast. Read on to find out how this family road trip panned out in a 62-year-old MoPar.
Many of the views from the day’s drive looked like this; US Route 22 heading East and upward in elevation:
PA State Route 53 North just north of Cresson, PA:
Our first stop was for dinner at Black Moshannon State Park, not too far from Beaver Stadium (A geographical reference for those of you who pay attention to college football.):
We packed a grille and some provisions for dinner:
While there, I took the opportunity to gather some Glamour shots…
After our dinner, the sun was hanging low in the sky for another hour or so. This was the view out of the Park on PA State Route 504 South, back toward Phillipsburg, PA. (Please excuse the bugs on the ‘shield.)
One of the best reasons for taking the off-interstate routes is to find new curbside items to document along the way like this rusty but still functioning Chevy C70 Dump truck. Hopefully, more on those in a future write-up if I can find the time:
We arrived at our next State Park, Prince Gallitzin, at the request of my daughter who wanted some ice cream at the Pirates Cove Restaurant.
The Pirates Cove Restaurant in Patton PA, is a summertime favorite and we incorrectly assumed that they would be open until 9 PM like they are in May-August. That assumption was wrong, but we had some time for some fantastic “Golden Hour” pictures and glamour shots:
My daughter wanted to pose with the State Park Sign and the Valiant:
In all, we had a great family outing, covered some ground in the 62-year-old machine, and found some Ice Cream before the end of the nite.
As we frequently road trip in my vintage MoPars, I hope to have some more adventures to write about, but that is all for this one, as it was a quick day trip out and back. As the days keep getting shorter and shorter, I really appreciate the beautiful local and regional scenery before all of the brown settles in for November through March. Fortunately, we have had a spectacular stretch of October weather around these parts in 2024, so as long as it is nice, and dry I will have the vintage MoPars out for drives and road trips!
Gorgeous scenery. Gorgeous car.
Thank you, I am glad you appreciate it.
Great adventures & love your car! As a kid I thought the Valiants/Darts were cute in a grotesque way; my CC friends have helped enlighten me to their tremendous attributes. My Dad’s last new car was a ’75 Dart, one of the better choices for his budget back then.
Thank you for your kind words.
By ’75 as the Maliese era set in, the MoPar A bodies lost their true intention, as a scrappy lightweight go getter. As they became more throughly broughamified and heavy in ’75 and ’76 I feel they were still good cars, but just less true to their original form.
Those pictures look like they could have been used in a 1962 Plymouth Valiant sales brochure. If someone is going to take a CC-oriented road trip, using a very nice, 1st gen A-body station wagon seems like one of the better ways to do it, simply due to the slant-six/TorqueFlite combo’s anvil-tough reputation.
With that said, I’m a little torn on the taillights. I suppose the 1962 looks a bit better with the Lancer-style lights, but the original ‘cats-eye’ 1960-61 versions are way more distinctive.
Thank you. I can go for either version of the ’60-’62 valiants’s tail lights – Cat’s Eye or Round – The 4″ round ones are easily replaced by 4″ truck/trailer light LED’s in a pinch – same for ’63-64 Dart as well!
Good tip on sourcing a replacement lens. I think that, alone, makes a case for those early A-bodies that used the round lenses. Sounds like something that would be most useful on an early A-body-specific discussion forum. I wonder if the round replacement lenses would work for a 1963 Chrysler, as well.
And speaking of replacement lenses, I recall Jay Leno once mentioning that of all the parts needed for his old cars, the ones that were most frequently made of unobtainium were the taillight lenses, and recreating the lenses with his 3-D printer were the times when it came to be used the most.
So, even if someone had a cats-eye Valiant with a busted taillight lens, there’s still hope to find a replacement. It just would not be as easy as the round ones.
The styling on this generation of the Valiant and Lancer is in a word-bizarre. Mechanically they were excellent cars, but their appearance looked like they were styled by a French pastry chef.
Love these, especially the wagon. Yours is a gem. Great shots.
Max. speed: 82.8 mph. Good for you!
Is the engine stock or warmed up a bit?
Hello Paul, thanks for your kind words.
82 Mph? Yes, I think there is more in it. I was likely passing someone on US Route 22 when the GPS was blipped up to that reading.
Engine Stock? Not a chance.
With an aluminum flywheel (which this wagon does not have yet) the engine will quickly rev past 5200 in a short amount of time.
Future plans include trading the A-903 3-speed column shifted transmission for a T-5 5-speed box.
These document links below will answer your questions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQohQYHVT_k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owhKEb4NQ0o
and:
Beautiful wagon, and scenery. So nice your family is willing to accompany you on such trips.
Thank you,
The girls tolerate this car as well as my ’79 Aspen wagon and the ’73 Barracuda – Some of my other vintage vehicles not as much.
I will have to write up the ~1800-mile round trip that My Daughter and I took to Missouri and back with a ’64 Dart and a trailer to retrieve some Slant 6 Parts!
Certainly automobile styling was more adventurous then. At the time I didn’t think these looked bizarre at all as they seemed to be everywhere. The front end was similar to the big Chryslers plus Studebaker and Mercedes so that wasn’t out there either.
You had to be there. Love the color and the dog dishes. kudos
Thank you,
The previous owner had full 14″ wheel covers with spinners that were sourced from a 1962 Polara 500. I did not care for them, as they were apropos for a Dogdge but I have always loved the “UFO” Dog dishes for the ’60-’62 Valiants. I am not sure they are really appropriate for the V-200 model, as I would guess they would have had the boring Smooth full 13″ wheel covers that are shared with the lancers of the same vintage.
I dig the dog dish look so that’s what I went with.
Nothing better than family fun in an old car, thanks for the pics and write-up! Love that fabulous wagon, pretty rare these days.
Great looking car compared to today’s selection. When new I thought they were a little over top stylistically, but today I would purchase this in a heart beat.
Question: The tires strike me as being a bit wider than original. Does it handle better as a result? Looks well planted to the pavement.
Great images. Wonderful eye candy. Thank you.
Thank you Twalton,
The previous owner wisely upsized the tires to 14″ diameter rims.
Currently, they are mismatched with some rims at 14″ x~4.5″ width and others at the 14″ x 5.5″ size.
I Did some careful searching (most of the time I go straight to 225-70-14 Tires if I am keeping the Ø14″ rims on a car). I found 225-70-14’s fit fine in the rear but hit the fenders in the front.
To avoid bending or cutting in the fenders, I opted for 215-70-14’s on this car. It handles well, but can use rear spring rate, and could use much more tire, but I want it to look semi-stock so I have settled on the 215-70-14’s
The Road race Torsion Bars(Ø~1.04″), front Edelbrock Shocks, and my alignment of -0.75° of camber help to grip the road as well.
It handles way better than it would have from the factory with stockish 6.50-13’s in 1962.
What a great looking car in magnificent condition! Yours to enjoy! I estimate you got about 18 MPG which is not bad at all.
Not *quite* my cuppa tea but this beautiful A Body has tremendous presence .
Some of these pictures are, IMO calendar worthy .
You’re a *very* lucky man to have a family willing to ride in that car .
I seem to recall steeper hills in PA ,
I see that 70’s vintage Chevy dump truck is set up for plowing, did it also have a sander on the back ? .
-Nate
Hello -Nate, I did not get any good shots of the rear of the dump bed. Also to be honest I was not looking back around behind the dump gate area either. I would say that the Sander/salter mechanism would have been long gone as it was on private properly. It is possible that it exists, but I did not catch it.
Yes, there are a lot of steeper hills ’round these parts!
The scale and scope of the pictures tends to flatten things out when viewed on a phone lens.
This is surely not Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh, PA
Great looking car and great pictures!
Very interesting and fun post! I´m in Sweden were these early Valiant´s were actually used both in Police-duty and as taxi-cabs—- However, the wagons were RARE! One friend of mine, ERIK, actually kept his -60 until just a few years back…! He is 95 years old today and still going strong! /see pic/ But his car had a 170″ -guess your wagon has the 225″, correct? GREAT that you are enjoying your car, a 5 speed seems a good idea and will make the car even more versatile. With the torsion-bars these were ahead as compacts and considered more “big car” than both Falcon and Corvair. (-though I most admit the Chev. is a little fun machine after they corrected the back-end issues…!) Looking forward to seeing more on YouTube re. the progress with the nice wagon, –keep up the good work!! // Jan, member of WPC-Swedish subsection
Thank you, Jan,
I always appreciate hearing about the R and S Series valiants from other parts of the globe, They are especially popular and well known in South America, but as this is an English site, not many participants from there likely due to the language barrier. They are also revered in Australia and New Zealand.
I do like to enjoy my cars, and not just let them languish away in a shop, garage or under cover. Yes this one has the 225, bored 0.060″ over. I will be towing a trailer full of parts to a local swap meet with the wagon next weekend!
Beautiful car! Makes me want to buy one. 🙂
Very nice pics, car, and writing..
Have you ever been to Chryslers at Carlisle?
Yes. Evey year since ’91 Or so. I have not missed one yet. ( I should clarify… Just attending the Chrysler show in July for over 30 years. ) I know the drive well and have also derived a bunch of alternatate/ slower /non interstate and toll-free routes.
Was the Valiant wagon there this year? Because I was there with my Duster, and I thought I went through the entire A-body field.
I live roughly 20 minutes from Prince Gallitzin State Park and travel Route 22 regularly on my work commute.
Interesting to see a feature write up involving the area that I live in.
There are many good areas up your way that I enjoy traveling to. Horshoe curve, PA route 164 over past the ski resort, to Portage, and Down to I99 is a good drive, Del Grosso’s Park, and The Allegheny- Portage Rail Road National Historic Site among others.
I had a ‘65 Barracuda with 225 Slant 6 / Torque Flight combo for many years. I ran the cheapest bias plys I could find, but then finally sprung for radials. What a difference in ride and handling! Handsome looking wagon there. It’s nice to see it being enjoyed on the road.
Had a black one just like yours, back around 1976.
I was a /6 fan at the time.
When it was put up on a hoist, it began to split, cross-wise, in the middle.
End of that ownership.
What a fine vehicle! Love the style, color and that wheel/tire combo! Lovely to see you enjoying it as a family. I watched the videos on your channel and must say that you seem to be a perfectionist – lovely work!
Hope you all enjoy many more miles in tjhis wonderful old wagon….
Thanks! I will do my best to keep it going!
A great adventure. Definitely better than mine yesterday when I took the 72 Ambassador wagon out for a drive. On the last leg home, and getting off the freeway, apparently was a tad to fast for the right curve off the freeway. Noticed the rear of the wagon now passing me on my left to take the lead. Countering ended up leaving me spread eagle in the road right up against the cub but not on. Wouldn’t be so bad if that massive white cloud of steam from under the hood and car wasn’t there. Apparently the lower hose blew off the water pump leaving me stranded 3 miles from home waiting for AAA. I thought that clamp was pretty tight after I flushed the cooling system weeks before. It is now! Only plus was that the wagon did hit 100 mph, empty county freeway, and road very smooth.
Yikes, I am glad that you are safe and the wagon did not not encounter any major body damage whilst sliding arround I hope?
That is a beautiful area for an autumn drive, and a great car for it! I have really fallen in love with the gen1 A body wagon.
I like them too – the only real gripe I have about them is the fresh air ventilation – its always hot and never has enough flow – That was fixed in the ’63 redesign of the front end and cowl area ’63-’76 crotch blaster vents are the best! 😀
Nice shots and a gorgeous Valiant! I really love the color, and the steelies/dog dish give this car such a purposeful yet slightly sinister look. Very cool.
I went to school in Bloomsburg and have family in Northumberland and Clearfield counties.
Driving the highways and byways of rural PA during fall foliage season is one of my peak joys. Driving through all the small towns…seeing the natural beauty…Pennsylvania is such a pretty state once you get out of the cities (yuck!).
The steelies and dog-dishes certainly look purposeful and fill out the wheelwells nicely. I especially like the fact that the hubcaps are OEM and correct for that year. All too often, people will use whatever they can find and, invariably, on an old Mopar, it’s those seventies-era, plain, non-division-specific, cop-car hubcaps that have the holes drilled around the circumference.
With that said, given the upper trim nature of a V-200 Valiant (and particularly one as nice as the feature car), if they were available in the same size (and at a reasonable price), I think I might spring for period-correct whitewalls the next time.
When the ‘60 Mopars hit the Showrooms, I was so excited. 16 years old and already a gear head. My favorite was the Fury with a Sonoramic Commando, long ram tube motor. But, I was struck by the new Valiant compact. The styling was so distinctive. Unlike the Falcon and Corvair. I went to the local Plymouth Dealer and secured a brochure on the full size Plymouth and the Valiant. Fascinated with the Valiant wagon, which offered a jump seat option!! 8 passenger seating (a little cramped) in that compact car!!!
Your car is a great nod to the past. For me, all great memories, many of which were of distinctive Chrysler products.
Good Luck with your Valiant. Love it!!!
Thanks for sharing the memories, Yes ’60 and ’61 Had the 3rd seat option, With the ’62 Valiant and Lancer wagons it is my understanding that the suburban model was not offered, possibly to the redesigned one-piece stamping rear /trunk floor segment that is vastly different from the ’60-’61 rear floors. Different gas tanks and K frames, steering boxes too.
Nice story you wrote ! Sometimes its just fun to park the new SUV , and back out the old car , and travel somewhere either for a week or a weekend . You rarely see those old vintage Plymouth Variants anymore , regardless of the year as some of them simply workout or were wrecked etc. However , they were ” very reliable vehicles ” and capable of traveling over 200,000 miles ! Plus they were economical to operate ! The Variants and Darts were a low-cost car ideal for the times .
Thanks for taking us along. I really enjoyed the photos and I love the wagon!
It’s too bad you don’t have “Like” buttons for comments. Lol. The comments on your posts are some of the better ones that I read in car articles. They seem to be the icing on the cake after enjoying the photos. Keep up the good work!
Thank You Russ!
The R series in Australia. Chrysler Australia didn’t release the Wagons until the AP5 in 1964 then AP6 series was the first with 273 V8 and it a model on it’s own imported from Canada. The notable differences are the tail lights etc.