(First posted 5/28/2012) Jason Shafer recently had a post on a 1975-76 Plymouth Valiant, the sturdy, stalwart compact Ma Mopar wisely produced for most of the ’70s, then sadly replaced with a less than wonderful successor. But could Jason’s find have been an elusive Valiant Brougham? That reminded me that frequent Cohort contributor davo located an example a while back. So let’s continue today’s theme of green and white cars. A Valiant Brougham may seem like something of a contradiction in terms, but during the Great Brougham Era, anything was game.
The Valiant Brougham came out in 1974, as a mid-year addition I believe. It included a plush velour interior with upgraded carpet, additional sound proofing and other details. Brougham identification graced the C-pillars, of course. They also received the deluxe woodgrained and chrome-festooned instrument panel, and an attractive steering wheel with what has to be one of the last horn rings ever installed on a car.
The Great Brougham Epoch was clearly in swing. I mean, the Valiant? That plain-Jane, oh so practical compact, preferred by accountants, librarians and little old ladies across the country, available as a Brougham? Well, a lot of weird stuff happened in the ’70s.
Other standard features included a color-keyed vinyl roof, stand-up hood ornament, seat back pockets, and – oh, the luxury – an inside hood release and AM radio! Bucket seats were standard in both the sedan and two door hardtop, but bench seating was a no charge option. You also had a choice of the 225 Slant Six or 318 V8 with standard Torqueflite automatic. The V8 was, surprisingly, also a no cost option, so why not have a little power underhood?
Of course there was a Dodge version. The line between Dodge and Plymouth blurred quite a bit in the Seventies, and the Dart/Valiant twins became virtual twins starting in 1974, when the Valiant sedan lost its boxier sheetmetal and gained the Dart’s slightly shapelier four door body – and longer wheelbase. While I’ve never seen a Valiant Brougham in the metal, I did spot this ’75-’76 Dart Special Edition back in 1999. It was equipped in much the same fashion as the Valiant Brougham, and available in the same two body styles.
While the Volare/Aspen duo were supposed to replace the Valiant/Dart in 1976, the A-bodies continued for one more year. The Brougham was still available, though it was now an option package instead of a full-fledged model. After ’76, the Valiant, Dart and Duster, one of Mopar’s toughest little cars, would be gone.
Our featured car appears to be painted in the same colors as the brochure picture above, Frosty Green Metallic with a White vinyl roof. There has been some griping recently about Broughams, but just think – you could put factory buckets, a warmed-up 360 or 440 V8 with stock-appearing air cleaner and valve covers (don’t forget to keep the luxury wheel covers and whitewalls) and go embarrass much sportier looking vintage iron. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Thanks are in order to davo, for spotting this vintage Valiant and sharing it with us!
Love it, love it, love it. A Valiant with some sound insulation. That was one of my biggest gripes with the regular Valiants, Scamps and Dusters – the amount of road noise that came into those cars was something frightful. A thin rubber sheet covered the trunk floor, and some carpet covered the interior floor, and I think that was about it. Pull out the back seat cushion, and there was body-colored sheet metal. I sprayed a lot of that black rubberized/asphaltish undercoat under the back seat of my Scamp, and quieted it down quite a bit. Maybe Chrysler designed it to be loud so that it was easy to diagnose a failing carrier bearing in the diff.
I remember kind of shaking my head when these came out. It just didn’t seem right. They did not sell all that well. Ford buyers would pop for a Maverick with the Luxury Decor Option, but Mopar buyers were practical sorts with pocket protectors in the pockets of their white short sleeved shirts. It was a big deal to find these in Custom trim, let alone Brougham. An awfully high percentage of these were solid color (usually baby blue or that yellowish tan) with black tires and dog dish hubcaps. Slant six and Torqueflite and an AM radio. And that wonderful starter motor. 🙂
On the contrary, JP. In Northern California at the time, these Vailant Broughams and Dart SE’s were everywhere it seemed. Usually within the “City” (San Francisco). Metallic brown with the tan vinyl roof was the most common color I remember seeing.
In “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” Spencer Tracy drove a Valiant Signet – but he lived in a grand home overlooking the Golden Gate bridge.
http://autoculture.org/?p=1029
That stood out the first time I saw that movie. Meant to be very much an ‘old money’ signal, I believe. Same way that black Ford ranch wagons were popular with northeasterners with country, beach, or vacation homes.
Had an old money friend from Philadelphia in college who had his dad’s old ’75 Swinger. Same idea.
Re: that wonderful starter motor: AKA the Hyde Park Hummingbird. I believe it was a reduction gear that gave it that distinctive high pitched whine.
Gregg you’re right on the reduar giving the starter the distinctive whine
I’ve seen one as well but the owner fitted huge modern alloy wheels to it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/6088019014/
Since Mr. Saunders lives in the same town in which I grew up, I suspect the car pictured may well be the car I learned to drive in – 1974 Valiant Custom, with 318 & torqueflite.
The white roof was not vinyl, or factory original. My Grandparents bought the car new in 1974, and had the roof painted white before they took delivery – perhaps an attempt at a budget Brougham upgrade.
It was a good car, and was my parents daily driver until circa 2002. Garage kept, driven by a little old lady to church on Sunday. It was still running just fine when they got rid of it. I’m glad to see it’s still around, although I don’t think the donk rims suit it.
Re: “They also received the deluxe woodgrained and chrome-festooned instrument panel…”: That exact instrument panel was also on the “Custom” trim, at least for Canadian market cars – we didn’t get the snazzy steering wheel though…
Small world! There can’t be too many like this here so probably is the same car.
So common now a days to see “wheels” that have no relation (style/ time line wise) to the car they’re on.
Not uncommon to see something resembling ‘cantina curtains” in the rear window or windshield either.
Eeek.
> just think – you could put factory buckets, a warmed-up 360 or 440 V8 with stock-appearing air cleaner and valve covers (don’t forget to keep the luxury wheel covers and whitewalls) and go embarrass much sportier looking vintage iron. Wouldn’t that be fun?
With very rare exception, a big block (383, 440) was not offered in the A-body because it would not fit. A warmed-up 340 or 360 small-block would drop right in though, and arguably the power-to-weight advantage would make up for the smaller displacement. Of course if the budget allows, a stroker crank can be used to push a 360 block to over 400cid.
Hi BOC, doesn’t the big block fit into this with the correct K member? (For the rest of us, that’s the subframe the holds the front suspension and motor mounts, for some reason different engine families used a different K member 6cyl/smallV8/bigV8 were all different)
At any rate it would be too time consuming & expensive to shoehorn the big block into a Valiant Brougham and the resulting tire shredding understeering Broughamonstrosity would neither impress anyone or be fun to drive.
Better a 340/4speed 69 Dart, but that’s just me…
Although the big-block would go into an A-body Valiant Brougham, it wouldn’t be much fun. It would be such a tight squeeze there wouldn’t be any room for A/C, power steering or brakes. Coupled with small exhaust systems that sapped horsepower, that’s the reason original factory big-block A-body Dart and Barracudas from the late sixties didn’t find many buyers.
If someone was really determined to get the maximum performance from a Valiant Brougham, the easiest course of action would be to locate an RPO A38 Valiant police car with a 360 from the same era. Of course, if the A-body cop-car was in any kind of shape to use the heavy-duty pieces, it would be more valuable simply restoring it as opposed to cobbling it up for the Brougham since running A-body cop-cars are likely significantly more rare than the Broughams (which aren’t exactly commonplace, either).
I think they did eventually develop a special power steering pump for 1968-69 Barracudas with the 383, since driving one without power steering was not fun. (The 440 cars, very rare, were still not available with P/S.) Of course, finding one of those pumps today would probably be an adventure.
I’m not sure about the power steering availability but it sounds plausible. They also made a special drivers side exhaust manifold that had a weird and restrictive bend in it to get around the steering linkage. There was also a special oil pan with a clearance notch for the steering idler arm. That’s probably the easiest part to find to install a big block in an A-body because it’s actually a C-body oil pan. 🙂
The big block Cudas were the “rare exception” I was referring to, without going into detail. If you want a tire-melting A-body, sourcing or fabricating equivalents of the unobtanium parts for a big block conversion would probably cost as much and ultimately create a less fun to drive car than stroking a smallblock.
My 1967 383 Barracuda without power steering definitely was a handful in a parking lot. It was fine on the road though. Having owned that and a 76 Dart Pursuit, I can say with a good deal of confidence that the latter handled far better, but the older 383 car had all the torque in the world. Even with the 3.23 rear end, if I was going over about 40 and someone challenged me, I didn’t really have to downshift into third if I didn’t want to.
Ok. I’ll confess I’m probably the village idiot. I spent years wondering why someone would put vinyl on top of their car. They rust badly with the first tear. They bubble at speed when they start to come loose. When they are good, they are ok. When they are bad they are terrible.
How is it that brougham becomes deified here? Is it a joke that I don’t get? It’s a term that I see applied to normal cars to provide ostentation.
What am I missing?
The “Brougham Era” is a love/hate relationship. It’s like the tri-tone and chrome 50s. It’s not a joke to me, it was an era. It’s history. The mid 70s-early 80s cars don’t have the cache of the 50s, 60s and early 70s.
“Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it,” …….we won’t be repeating the era, but it’s fun to look back at their idea of “Luxury” at the time.
Surprising myself to come to the vinyl roof’s defense, on a sixties-seventies box-on-a-box styled car like this one, it separates the shapes nicely in my view. The beltline provides a clean break, so it matches up with the long trim streaks these cars usually had.
I like the idea of making a sensible car like the Valiant quieter and more comfortable. It can be a proper luxury car. Way more attractive than the cheap tarted-up land barges of their time.
When vinyl roofs are bad they are indeed horrible. I had one once on a beater ’74 Nova hatchback that completely matched your description. Made it even more of a beater.
Just Googled for a Prius with a vinyl top for comic relief, and am relieved to come up empty-handed.
Well, I spotted a picture of a Camry with a vinyl top. http://i40.tinypic.com/33otudf.jpg
However I didn’t found an Accord with a vinyl top. 😉
It the biz, that’s what’s called a SimCon top (simulated convertible). It a very profitable sale for the dealer. Florida retirees are the likely candidates for the sale.
The point of vinyl roofs is actually quite simple. There was a trifecta of wide-spread availability of three options that occurred during the sixties that complemented each other. They were:
1. Pillarless hardtops
2. Air-conditioning
3. Vinyl roofs
In effect, these three options gained a lot of popularity in that, when combined, they would give the upscale appearance of a convertible with none of the downsides, and went a long way to wiping out drop-tops, in general. Some hardtops (early sixties’ Fords) even had a fake exterior convertible rib and crease above the rear window to mimic that on a convertible fabric top.
The only problem was that although these cars ‘looked’ like convertibles, the tops didn’t actually go down. It was a minor issue which no one seemed to mind.
The ‘Brougham Era’ was just a logical progression of the same state of affairs in achieving an ‘upscale’ look.
Air-conditioning changed the world. Not always in a good way.
My first car was a 65 Valiant. I would open up the butterfly windows and the floor vents and I got by fine in FL without AC. As long as you were moving the air was flowing. Loved that car so much ran awesome at 25 years old.
Back in the day, this would have been okay. The problem now is due to the incredible increase in congestion, you don’t get much airflow crawling along in gridlock traffic. Under those circumstances during the hottest, most humid Florida summer months, well, I can’t imagine being able to survive without A/C.
And it fed on the reality that when most people buy convertibles, they don’t put the top down too often.
Right on all counts,,,,even the starter! I had a few Mopars. A little insulation would have gone a long way. I had rubber floor mats in my Demon 340, but the console rattling in virtually every Charger, Barracuda, Duster I’ve owned or been in was annoying.
BTW how do I submit an article? Yesterday I did a walk around my neighborhood here in San Diego. A true “Curbside” view from the sidewalk. A lot of people still drive these old cars, they are their daily drivers. Some restored, some original, some not so nice! 18 cars in a 8 block area.
I have never seen a glovebox in these cars that aligns properly – not even in promotional pictures above.
Its true, they never do.
timmm55: send text and pictures (but don’t embed pictures into the text) via the Contact form at the top menu bar.
Thanks Paul.
Photo links to Photobucket OK?
One of my uncles had a late 60s Valiant with the slant 6. I can remember as a little boy riding around Copperhill, TN with him on his errands. He wasn’t into cars; they were just appliances to him.
I just had a scary thought – can you imagine a Toyota Corolla Brougham?
LOL, I have a pair of Oldsmobile “Brougham” emblems, the little silver ones that they used in the late 70’s through mid/late 80’s. I had them glued to my 2004 Alero, but I pried them off when I traded it in. I seriously thought about using them if I bought a Corolla.
Sadly though, I never found a Corolla that fit within by budget…
LOL, I have a pair of Oldsmobile “Brougham” emblems, the little silver ones that they used in the late 70’s through mid/late 80’s. I had them glued to my 2004 Alero, but I pried them off when I traded it in. I seriously thought about using them if I bought a Corolla.
Sadly though, I never found a Corolla that fit within my budget…
Yeah blame plastic money cards noone has pocket change to buy Corollas with anymore
If you think that’s bad, how about a Smart Brougham? The tufted pillow seats would fill up most of the interior. Teeny little opera lamps would be cute, though.
I’d really like to have one of these– a Valiant with soft Corinthian sound insulation.
Valiant VIP they broughamed the crap out of it pretty rare now tho
Vinyl tops were a warning sign in Aussie it usualy screamed hidden hail damage and rust yeah they were applied to new cars but lots of cars got retread roofs to hide damage and the sun just burns them off. It seems strange to see US Valiants still using 60s rear sheet metal and slant engines if you surf thru the cohort I posted a 75 Aussie regal with NZ interior in green but with the new for 71 fuselage body and hemi 6
Goshdangit all to heck, Bryce, START USING PROPER ENGLISH GRAMMAR BECAUSE i’M TIRED OF HAVING TO SPEND 30 MINUTES TRYING TO COMPREHEND YOUR POSTS!!!! Other than that, I do love your posts, when I can understand them
Translation, just for you:
“Vinyl tops were a warning sign in Australia–it usually screamed hidden hail damage and rust. Yes, they were applied to new cars, but lots of cars got retread roofs to hide damage and the sun just burns them off. It seems strange to see US Valiants still using ’60s rear sheet metal and Slant-Six engines. If you surf through the Cohort, you’ll see I posted a ’75 Aussie Regal with NZ interior in green but with the new-for-’71 fuselage body and Hemi-6.”
Eventually, you will come to understand the jargon as easily as if it were the Queen’s English.
Only in Australia are people smart enough to figure adding a vinyl roof is cheaper than fixing light body/paint damage. Did they cover the hood and trunk with vinyl to hide the same damage that occurred there?
A neighbor had one for many years; brown-metallic and light top, with body-color-keyed wheel covers. Oddly, it had lengthened rear shackles.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a budget fix for sagging rear leaf springs. The rear suspension on my parents car sagged a bit after a while, I could see someone adding shackles to compensate. Of course the correct fix would be to replace the springs. In my parents case they just lived with it as is, and possibly didn’t notice…
You are probably right. Back in the early 80s, one of the springs on my Scamp broke. I replaced the pair. When it came to the rear shackles, the only kind I could get (from somewhere other than a dealer) were the multi-hole kind for raising the car. I picked the middle hole (to compensate for a little sag) then sawed off the unused hole(s). Someone just a tad lazier would just leave them as is.
My first car was a silver ’75 Valiant Brougham with the burgandy guts and roof. Thankfully, it had the 318 so that it could get out of it’s own way, but in every other way it was the polar opposite to my ’75 Monte posted earlier. Rust started appearing around the time that it was three years old, holing the front fenders which didn’t bother with inner fender liners. I ended up putting a complete body job on it at seven years old, including new fiberglass fenders, new steel quarters, replacement deck lid, cowl, inner front fender welding, and in retrospect, I should have run like hell. In short order, both rear spring shackles migrated through the trunk floor, both front torsion bars separated from the rear mounting bracket. Have you ever been riding in a car when the torsion bar decides to come adrift? It sounds like a cannon shot going off, and she heels over like the Lusitania at 18 knots. Big change of undies when that happens. The rear shock mount decided to rot around the mounting bolt in the trunk, The upper ball job popped out of the control arm and was welded in (not recommended), rot made a circle around the drivers door striker necessitating yet another plate welded in, floor pans pop riveted in, several alternators and starters, and ballast resistor’s replaced about every quarter. The car was finally written off at 13 years after someone mistook my cheap stereo for an alpine and wrecked the dash trying to get at it. He still probably still doesn’t realize the huge favour that he paid me. I managed to nurse the driveline up to 168k, but by then she was on seven cylinders, and the flywheel was missing some teeth making starting interesting.
People often speak of their Valiants with great reverence, and it is entirely possible that it would have lasted a great deal longer in a place like Eugene without the usual Canadian rust issues. I oiled that car religiously every fall to try to keep it going, but it seemed that the metal would tend to dissolve internally in the most unusual places. In contrast, my Monte was able to rack up 275k without major parts coming loose.
They had a plain four door slant six Valiant at my local Firestone a few years back that they were trying to do an alignment on. I finessed a short drive, and all the memories came flooding back. The seat was missing it’s driver’s bracket (rusted out), the thing pulled like hell to the right when the brakes were lightly applied, and it generally drove like a hay cart. They even had a child seat in the back….the horror!
Forgive the rant, but I think that I need a little lie down to get over this memory.
Severe structural rust in a unit body is certainly a strange experience. The first of two Peugeot 504s I was cursed to own had spent its life in upstate NY. That’s where they mine the salt.
One day on a nice country road, I got the distinct feeling my steering wheel and my seat were taking different lines through the corner. Turned out you could put a finger through each front sub-frame member.
In hindsight, it was really dumb to keep on sinking money into it, but as a university student at the time, it was easier to invest $100-$150 into it every six months at the local welding shop than to plump for an unknown entity. I also think that the welder was a little sympathetic when he would see it reappear on the flatbed. I was afraid to have it towed the conventional way, because I’m sure that something important would have bent. Care used to be essential when it was put up on a hoist for an oil change, as you could stick your fingers in the gap that opened up between the fender and the door. I’ve had numerous large two door GM’s from the same period, and I’ve never had one where the huge doors sagged on it’s pins. Usually the neophrene sleeve on the striker needed replacement, and then the doors shut very tight (once adjusted). Everything went soft on the Valiant, and I drove it for three or more years past it’s sell by date. Was also my last unibody in twenty years due to the experience.
Well, since you see fit to re-traumatize me by running this piece again, I might as well include a few shots of the old dear.
Photo#1 Better times
Going
Good-looking car to start out. The hubcaps keyed to the vinyl are quite unusual–did you do that or did you get the car that way?
Burgundy and silver is always a great color combo.
Really funny story, Dean, thanks!
Going
Gone
Reminiscent of my ‘74 Datsun B-210 hatchback! The tin worms had a banquet with that one!
As Bryce mentioned it is strange to see these cars, a bit like the Argentinean Ford Falcons that continued on using the old bodyshells
I think that every car brochure from the late 60’s through the 70’s has the “business men coming out of the workplace” photo pose,(5th photo from the top)it works on aspirational cars like an Electra 225 or a Oldsmobile 98, but on a Valiant?
I wonder what the wide lapeled individuals walking towards the Valiant are talking about?
“Fired again Bob?”
“Yep….time to hit the tavern and end up in the gutter”
“Lets take my Valiant”
“Why not….it already smells like vomit inside”
Too funny.
Lowell MA had a fleet of taxi’s that used these exclusively for many many years. I can vividly remember seeing them cruising the streets in the late 1980’s when my Grandmother would watch us while my parents worked.
They were all green with a black painted roof and all had broadcast in large letters on the trunk lid “Powered by natural gas”
Talk about extensive quarter panel rot! Never remember seeing one smoke as it drove down the street though. They must have gotten many miles out of natural gas powered slant six’s.
Daniel-Keck cab company, the primary taxi operator in Greensboro, NC, had a sizeable fleet of Aspens and Volares that lasted well into the 1990’s. The anvil-like reliability of the /6 probably lent itself to taxi service.
Couldn’t they have at least offered a clock in this entire platform of cars? I don’t think tilt or any other interior power assists were available either but don’t hold me to that. A brougham just can’t be a brougham if such a simple (non-working after 2 years) option isn’t even available.
The C-pillar ‘Brougham’ emblems look oversized to me especially on the four-doors.
I like hearing the old Mopar gear reduction starter but no clock…meh.
The epitome of “Broughamness” was my late Uncle’s ’71 Gran Coupe Fury. A spring model beginning in 1970, the ’70 and ’71s came in only ONE color – a metallic medium brown color. The vinyl roof had paisley patterns impressed into it and the brown seats had paisley imbedded patterns in the nylon cloth with brown vinyl bolsters. Although Plymouth carried the Gran Coupe and a Gran Sedan a few years afterwards, they lost the brown and paisley only patterns after ’71. My uncle had a couple of extra leafs and HD shocks installed on his as to better tow his little 15ft bass boat. 360 2bbl.
A high school friend had the Fury B. Rockfish is describing. He got it in 1978.
I used to own a 1975 Plymouth Valiant Brougham in this very green color with green velour bucket seats and a pavement-scorching 225 slant six. My dad bought it a year old coming off a lease and kept it ’till ’79 when he bought an Audi 5000 and gave me the Valiant.
While I wasn’t thrilled, it was a green-and-white four-door sedan, it was a free piece of vehicular transportation and it turned out that that car was almost indestructible. Believe me – I tried!
In retrospect it was a pretty terrific car – decent with gas, almost free in maintenance and it was solid as a rock. You could back it into a sewer vent pipe and not cause damage to those massive chrome bumpers while staring at your high school date and those front buckets were really impressive in that green velour. Well, not really.
My grandmother drove a 75 or 76 Valiant Brougham 4-dr when we were kids. They bought it new and owned it until 1995 when my grandfather sold it. It was burgundy/burgundy/burgundy with the burgundy wheelcaps. Very burgundy.
Love the car and hate that he got rid of it.
I’m actually trying to see if I can find it now. It was in good shape in 1995, so I hope it might still be around.
If anyone comes across it in the Bethlehem, PA area please let me know!
Lasted 20 years!! Grandma-Grand pa must have had a garage. Does “Bethlehem PA” still have the Christmas time light ups like they used to do?
Just curious.
I had more than a few Broughams and Dart SE’s over the years. My fave was the white Knight. It was a 75 4door Brougham white on white with red buckets. It was V8, A/C, Cruise it had everything. It came from Marina Del Ray, CA. We took our Honeymoon in it.
I actually own a ’74 Valiant Brougham. It’s got 44k original on the motor, and there were few minor changes that the previous owner did to it. (New paint, dual exhaust, 4bbl, and new bumpers) But aside from that, It’s a real treat driving her around. I’m currently 20, and I haven’t had any appreciation for the cars of today. After Mopar running through my family (dad and grandpa drove only mopar),I felt that this is my pride and joy that I can take out on a nice day and drive around.
Try driving a Dodge Omni with an automatic around and you’ll get the same feeling! 🙂
That is one nice car! Let me know if you’d care to share your car’s story here on CC!
i currently have a 1974 plymouth valiant. bought it when i was 15 & have “fixed” it up a little i would love to restore it but hard 2 find parts any one know of a good website? email me pls at djchicano01@gmail.com
i currently have a 1974 plymouth valiant. bought it when i was 15 & have “fixed” it up a little i would love to restore it but hard 2 find parts any one know of a good website? email me pls at djchicano01@gmail.com dfgdf
Hey Dj, check out ForABodiesOnly.com it’s a forum page for Mopar’s great A bodys (Valiant, Dart, Duster, 60’s Barracudas). You can ask around on there, and the members are always more then welcome to help you out. Good luck!
Hemmings [great source for parts, vendors and reproduction parts], Atlas Obsolete.
I’ve used The Paddock, Wildcat Auto [in OR IIRC] as well as Layson’s for finding parts for my 63 Signet.
Later A Bodies [67 and up] have a great deal of support out there. 60-66 not as much but a search will provide useful sources.
Check for local Mopar events. Lots of vendors there, used parts, etc. The Mopar Spring and Fall Flings in Woodley Park in Van Nuys, CA were amazing for parts hunting. The booths there were sensational for finding just what one is trying to locate.
I had one of these. I bought a used 75 in 76. Had rusted out front fenders by 79. I had the rust “fixed” and repainted it in 80. It started to rust out again by the time I got rid of it in 81. It was a comfortable carbut was lucky to deliver 15 MPG with the slant 6. II would consider it a total POS overall.
I swear I saw a four-door Dart SE in San Diego back in 1992 with velour buckets and a floor shift. It could not have been factory; is it possible to switch from a column shift to floor? It was green. I know I drank a lot during those days, but I’m sure of what I saw. It was in Old City.
GM was ahead of the game in luxury compacts because you could get power windows and locks, which were not available on Valiant/Dart, Maverick/Comet or AMC Hornet.
GM was following Ford once the Maverick LDO and Comet Custom were offered. They were first to the table with vinyl tops, color keyed hubcaps, thick shag carpeting, nicer seats and upholstery and of course imitation wood trim.
The Granada/Monarch offered all that the GM luxury compacts offered and more.
Though they were essentially tarted up Mavericks, the image they gave off was something the NOVAs weren’t able to emulate. These were common Novas. Horrors !
The Granada and Monarch were purpose built [ so Ford claimed and the public believed ] to be luxury compacts rather than a Maverick/Comet replacement, which they were originally intended to be.
That so-called Brougham instrument panel and steering wheel were identical to the ones in my 1974 Valiant Custom. It had the high seatbacks shown on the Brougham’s buckets in the ad, but in a vinyl bench seat. Typical A-body “parts-bin engineering!” Mine was a darker metallic green, quite pretty with green vinyl roof.
Something all the sound insulation would not have helped with: wind noise around the A-pillars. The more streamlined Duster-Demon were much quieter there.
I remember seeing these 1973-76 Plymouth Valiants when I was a boy. I found the grille of the 1970-72 Valiants more attractive than that of the 1973-74 Valiants. From 1975-76, the grille looked much more attractive. It’s the same with the Dodge Dart of the same vintage. I liked the 1970-71 Dart grille, but the 72 grille made the front end look ugly. From 1973 to 76, things looked more attractive. Why they replaced the Dart/Valiant with the Aspen/Volare is beyond me. Maybe Chrysler was *trying* to bankrupt itself, by producing a car of inferior quality to its predecessor?
Well, GM had just came out with their revamped compacts in 1975, with Ford introducing the upscale Monarch/Granada the same year (although the aging, lower-tier Maverick/Comet would soldier on until the Fox-chassis Fairmont arrived in 1978).
So, clearly, the A-body would have steadily lost sales to its newer, more modern competitors. As good as it was, it would have followed the classic pattern set by Henry Ford’s stubborn refusal to replace the Model T which almost cost him the company.
Like an anvil, although the A-body was tough, it was definitely showing its age. And emissions standards were making the seventies’ Valiants and Darts not nearly as reliable as they once were. Sadly, this situation didn’t improve one bit with the replacement Aspen/Volaré, and the rest of the poor engineering really did them in.
Which is more than can be said for its predecessor, the Aspen and Volare.
I was delivering newspapers in 1977 when I was 13 and one of my customers had a 1976 Valiant Brougham ( I didn’t know until years later that it wasn’t pronounced “Brewing-Ham LOL). Brown with a cream vinyl roof and cream velour interior. It looked nice to me then, and I still think the lines on these sedans are nice. A touch of luxury to upgrade a sensible car. Is this where AMC got the idea for the Concord I wonder?
Chrysler saw the surprising results that Ford was having with the Luxury Decour Option (LDO) on Mavricks and Comets in the early 70’s. A little bit later, GM followed in line with its version of the LDO on the Nova (Concourse if I remember correctly). Chrysler jumped into the fold with the Valiant Brougham.
Based on this success, the early Aspens/Volares were very much up market while the Granada/Monarch flew off the dealer lots with every conceivable luxury option know to man kind. AMC didn’t have the money for a new platform, so it developed the Concord from the Hornet and did very well in the market.
Frank, AMC had the idea in their hands in 70 with the Hornet being advertised as “The Little Rich Car” and never took it further. The SST used plaid burlap upholstery [ the brochure shows green and red ] and the lesser models used thin vinyl just like in the Gremlin.
They could have leapfrogged the competition 3 years before Ford did with the LDO Mavericks.
A little effort, not a lot of money and a whole new market niche could have been had. Ambassador inspired tufted velour or brocade upholstery, wood trim, vinyl top, deep shag carpeting, standard power steering and disc brakes, it could have been a winner.
Agreed, AMC should have had Concord in 1974 or ’75 at the latest. I always wondered why they didn’t build a budget version, the Hornet America? or something like that, and go with full-zoot luxury with Concord then. The loaded Limited models they were selling in 1980 should have been on the market 5 years earlier.
Burlap upholstery? That doesn’t sound comfortable at all. And both sexes wore short shorts in the 70’s no less!
Ford was offering a plush Maverick/Mercury Comet variant that would have competed directly with the Mopar twins. Or maybe they hoped to get a jump on the upcoming Ford Granada/Merury Monarch.
Yeah, the 1974 Valiant Brougham was one of those rare instances where Chrysler got their car into a new market segment before Ford or GM. Although these upper-tier, broughamified, compact A-body Mopars were a mild success, they weren’t received nearly as well as the other companies’ later products, i.e., the aforementioned Granada/Monarch and Nova Concours.
A real shame because those Valiant Broughams and Dart SEs were nice-sized, well-appointed, attractive cars, particularly when compared to the ungainly intermediate and full-size offerings of the time.
What a great car! I owned a 1974 Valiant Brougham. Bought it used in 1979. It was a 2-door, Mint green with a Forest Green Vinyl roof and 318 V8. Very dependable and very comfortable with plenty of power. Loved that car!
The one luxury option that seems to be missing from all of the brochure pictures is power windows. I don’t think they were ever available on the A-body.
In fact, does anyone know when power windows were added to the option list of any of the original compact sized cars of the time? I don’t recall if they were available on the Ford or GM products, either, or if they were added to the new Aspen/Volaré, but I’m guessing that changed with the introduction of the upscale Granada/Monarch. Surely, you could get power windows on them (and maybe the last model of the original Nova in 1975).
Yes, they were, but not in North America. Late-model Australian Valiants and their derivatives (which, despite the completely local bodywork, were very much still A-bodies) offered power windows on the high-spec models.
I justhink purchased a 1974 Plymouth Valiant Brougham late last year. Love it! 318 with Magnaflow dual exhaust. Edelbrock intake and carbon etc. Everyone in GA wants to buy it. Green four door with white vinyl top.
Lovely looking car. I remember the Plymouth Valiant of the 1970s. I had a neighbour when I was a boy who had 1974 Plymouth Valiant. At the time, I didn’t find it very attractive, at least not when compared to the 1974 Dodge Dart.
Lovely looking car. I’ve heard of the Plymouth Valiant. But I was way too young to young to drive a car during the time.
I just bought a 76 Valiant and I am wondering how I determine if it is a Brougham. I am so stoked to get this baby up and make it better than she was originally
This worked because it was a simple car, that needed some dressing up. While the VAST majority of Valiant/Dart sedans were plebian, (I had two), this line was popular in 1974-1976. It offered so much, dependable solid car with some nice interior comforts. What’s not to love? The old body design was so plain it was easily dressed up. Many Brougham buyers were repeat Valiant/Dart customers as well. America was going through a bout of inflation and malaise, so it was a safe choice of a dependable ride.
I’d buy a good version of this car. It is a simple car to fix and parts are quite plentiful.
Try as CryCo might to dress up the A-body, there was one thing they couldn’t get around: the little barn-door vent boxes. You couldn’t get much more old-school than a box with a door for outside floor air.
True, but they had great airflow, the Australian 70s Valiants had a more civilized version with plastic moulded vent grilles and cable operated pull knobs under the dash, but same concept, they were criticised by the press, but Chrysler engineers claimed they had greater airflow than rivals.
Which reminds me of the HQ Holdens of the same era. GMH bragged of their superior face level flow through ventilation system, which would have been great when new, but by the time I got to driving age, once a HQ reached a certain speed the airflow would slam the vent shut !, quite funny actually.
To be fair these Holdens were probably past their prime and could have been easily fixed.
Re-traumatized again!
My dad had one, new, in ’74, metallic brown with the white vinyl top. Exactly like the one in the second picture. Slant six was slow but dependable. It had seatbelt interlocks as I recall. It didn’t do anything particularly well but it didn’t do anything particularly poorly either. Practical broughamdom.
Excellent description of a Valiant/Dart. Just practicality. My brothers Dart Sport had the fold down back seat. Came in handy a time or two.
What a VIP-off!
I wouldn’t call this a Brougham. I’d call it a broom.