This is my favorite kind of curbside classic, a twofer in the most poignant way. Not only is the venerable Mopar A- Body (Valiant, Dart, etc.) one of my all time favorites, but this one was just bought the day before by a young guy, for $900 at the St. Vinny’s donation lot. Yippie!!
He’s now joined several previous generations of young adults who fell for the honest simplicity, economy and durable longevity of the A Body, from the time they were new and as soon as they became the cheap used car of choice. Will his generation be the last?
Here’s the enthusiastic new owner and his friend. I found them in the parking lot of Friendly Market, our little neighborhood market and cafe. That means he almost certainly lives nearby, and I’ll get to enjoy the distinctive thrum of a slant six pushing against a Torqueflite, hopefully for some years to come. That’s a cheerful thought, in these less than always cheerful times.
In fact, finding this car and its owner, and hearing how he saw it at St. Vinny’s for sale for $1500, and got it for $900 during the current unpleasantness was a nice mood-booster. The future belongs to them, and life isn’t going to come to a dead halt because of a virus; at least not for them. The old Valiant might come to dead halt one of these days, but it’s in good hands, as his dad has owned a number of old Mopars, and the sacred knowledge of how to keep them running is being passed on to the next generation. Got a spare ballast resistor?
This car is so familiar to me, as way back in about 1979 or 1980, a good friend of ours, a single mom who worked at the little tv station with us in LA needed cheap wheels, and asked me for advice. I helped her find a used Valiant just like this one, except a couple of years younger. It was a stripper, its white paint dulled by the So Cal sunshine. I told her these cars were as reliable as an old refrigerator. And the car was instantly dubbed “The Kelvinator”. I can’t remember if it was her or me that said it first, but it stuck. She even found an old Kelvinator emblem. It served her and her new daughter very well for quite a few years, like almost a decade.
My social distancing was not quite up to spec when I asked if I could get a shot of the interior. A familiar sight, and only lightly changed from my father’s 1968 Dart, except that this one is a lot more cheerful than his black interior was.
I approve of the automatic; it really makes for a more pleasant combination than with the miserable balky non-synchro first gear manual his Dart had. I’ve driven plenty of the 225/TF cars, and it’s quite a pleasant combination, and gives up little or nothing performance-wise. Not that anyone is going to be buying one of these nowadays for its performance potential, although that was once a much more common thing.
Strictly speaking, the 198 inch slant six was standard, but they were hardly ever seen matched up with the TF automatic. And by the mid ’70s, manuals were becoming more rare, although the overdrive versions made a bit of a comeback after the energy crisis.
The cloth upholstery in this one is not the basic stripper version; someone paid extra for the optional deluxe interior. And the leg room looks quite fine, although judging that from a picture can be deceptive, depending on the front seat is set. But the 1974 Valiant did get an additional 1.2″ of leg and knee room in the rear, since it now shared the same 111″ wheelbase body with the Dart. In fact, the differences between the two were now less than ever. You can clearly see that extra length from that gap between the rear of the door and the seat back cushion; in the older Valiant the gap was minimal.
And with that, we bid them goodbye. This car has found the perfect new home, which makes me feel really good. Old Valiants are like puppies at the pound that never age. Who could resist its charms?
Has my watch gone funny?
A young fellow snapping up a nice but imperfect and cheap old Val as car No.1 was happening when I was he, but that was 34 years since.
Nobody at all was hopping aboard a 1939 car in 1986, unless they themselves were old – like, y’know, at least 50, man – and restoring it, but that’s what this car is for me.
1939, I tell you! Why, there wasn’t even a Hitler then, well, not one we were at war with till the September anyway, after which we sure knew him. (“We?” Oh! Seems I’m slipping back too).
Cars have never played by the rules of time. Time just shrinks and stretches according to our perceptions, and our needs for a place in that shifting frame. A ’60 model is so much older than a ’70 – but a 2010 model is barely different to a 2020.
Which is ofcourse complete rubbish, on safety grounds alone.
Good on this kid, and I wish him well.
He’ll find 1986 a good year.
This was my father’s first car 62 Plymouth Sport Fury golden Commando power good memories he’ll take us on road trips he named her Lucy
Holy residual, Batman! I memory serves, this was four grand, maybe $4500, brand new. And somebody drove it for 35 years and it still sold for 20+% of the original price. Not too shabby.
What a great find Paul. There is much talk about young people not being interested in cars anymore, but I’m not sure this is the case. Maybe the interest has waned from the peak years, but I think a lot of it has to do with the high price of admission for many of the more popular cars. This is a great example of a good car that can be bought for little money. This Valiant is a great first old car for someone just starting out in the hobby. I am sure it should serve the owner well for many years and for relatively low cost
Having a parent or other family member who has both the interest and knowledge in old cars certainly helps pass the interest along to the next generation. There is definitely some skillset required to live with an old car, and one that many mechanics today don’t have. Recently I found out two young guys at my work place purchased old cars, which kind of blew me away because I had no idea these guys had any interest in old cars. One is in his 20s and he owned and “old” Mustang – a 2003. So i knew he had an interest in cars but I thought it was late model stuff only. Then he told me he just bought a 68 Fairlane with a 428 to replace the Mustang. Another guy in his early 30s, who I thought had no interest in cars, just bought a 71 Chevelle. Both guys as it turns out have gearhead dads and now that they were in the financial position to afford an old car, finally did so.
A great story and find. This Valiant clearly had a caring home. Thank you!
Besides the steering wheel and dashboard, the interior of this Valiant looks so much like the interiors of the Aspen and Volare, including very close in dimensions. Given the huge money Chrysler put into the F Bodies, when by ’78 the Malibu and Fairmont were considered the better cars, one wonders if Chrysler should have pushed the envelope further with a leaner, more advanced compact for ’76? The Aspen/Volare remained old school in many ways. A more luxurious refresh of the Valiant/Dart, rather than a significantly leaner, more fuel efficient design. But of course, limited cash was likely a big factor.
Chrysler went cheaper on seat belts in the 70s, as I recall seeing a number of Chrysler products from that era with black, non-colour coordinated seat belts on some base and mid level interiors. Including my dad’s ’78 Aspen.
I bought a 69 Valiant Signet 2 door about 45 years ago (nearly impossible to believe it was that long ago) when the clutch on my Audi went out and parts were back ordered for months. I thought I knew what I was doing when it came to car maintenance (that little Plymouth proved me wrong) but luckily nothing major broke off in nearly a year of ownership.
Even though that car was about 6 years old when I bought it I don’t remember paying a lot for it, I guess the broken A/C was the reason why.
Rugged cars, though.
This is terrific! This young man’s excitement is contagious even 1,500 miles away. He looks like he’ll be a long-term owner.
Seeing this happy young man is timely. Yesterday I saw a green 1973 Ford LTD parked at the curb, an LTD I wrote up a couple years ago. As I drove toward it a young gentleman walked around the front of the LTD and hopped into the driver’s seat. This was on a college campus so I’m inclined to think it is his, not a family members. The LTD is unchanged from the pictures, which certainly helped in identifying it.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1973-ford-ltd-its-not-easy-being-green/
Love this.
Anytime some boomer lays claim that kids aren’t into old cars need to be shown this article
ONE kid. 99.99% of kids don’t give a $hit about cars or even a license.
Unfortunately, that is roughly correct.
My son fell in love with and finally bought a 69 2 door Valiant. When at car meets and drag strips, lots of old guys make a point of coming over to say hi and are pleased that my young guy got the A-body bug!
The Dart/Valiant/Duster may be THE curbside classic!
This one looks excellent. The kid got a terrific deal! I think it’s easily a $3000 car.
One comment–as a teen, a good friend of mine had a 68 Dart, much like yours ( but theirs had automatic and power steering). An upright 2-door sedan.
THAT interior I feel is much more austere than this one. Perhaps it’s the color–I always thought this hue of “Detroit beige” made the interiors lighter and classier.
Also the seats, as noted. But also, didn’t these 70s A-cars have more guages in the squarish instrument cluster, than the old rectangular ones?
Great find–cool car and the kids are making out and driving something with character.
An excellent purchase, that young man is living the dream. Wheels, no payment, and apparently an appreciative companion. I hope you continue to see it around and update us periodically.
On TF vs manual: Chrysler’s column shifters were the best from the ’40s to ’54, then they lost the skill. Most Plymouths after ’55 were automatic, though Chevies and Fords were still often stick.
My dad had ’63 and ’64 Darts with manual, and they were not just balky but dangerous. It was way too easy to get into second and reverse at the same time, or get stuck in neutral.
Weren’t the first generation A-bodies, Valiant and Lancer, floor shift, like the Corvair? Maybe just another reason the more conventional Falcon outsold them by a wide margin.
Love it! We had a 1973 Dart Custom with the promotional package plus A/C, AM/FM, radial tires (I added them afterward). Slant six that I would pout into drive and then wait a few seconds for the car to move! It was a practical and comfortable family sedan. We sold it with 140,000 miles on it because I was buying our next vehicle, a 1978 Dodge Aspen Station wagon loaded to the gills. I drove that for 185,000 miles. In 1992 we bought a 1980 Dodge Aspen sedan (model NL41) for our daughter who was a new driver. It also ran and ran and finally, after all three children decorated it (custom by Crunch), and bringing it from 65,000 to about 130,000 miles, we sold it to a NYC police officer living in our county who needed a ride to go to the Bronx. Believe me, no one would steal this car off the street. it was just that boring -AND A COMFORTABLE ride with the extra foam padding that I had placed in the front seat when I hade the front and rear seats reupholstered.
Nice catch!
I hope this one gets some attention to the vinyl interior bits needing attention. The door trim, and the headliner need some fixes. I also see the turn signal stalk is aftermarket, so this one has had some maintenance.
With a bit of attentiveness, this Valiant will carry this young dude around for miles and miles. I’m happy for him.
I am not sure there is a better choice for a car of this age and condition that would be suitable for daily drive duties. One look at those interior pictures and I can smell the aroma of those Chrysler vinyls. And I can just feel the breeze blowing in through the open ventilation doors under the dash.
A buddy bought a 74 Scamp from an elderly owner back in the mid 80s. It had that terrible Chrysler seat belt design that differed from the inertia reel on the GM and Ford cars. The Chrysler shoulder belt locked when it sensed quick movement – which meant that it often took 3 tries to get the belt on because it would keep locking before you made it to the buckle.
His 74 was also plagued by pinging and terrible emission tuning that made me appreciate that my own Scamp had been a 1971 that had largely escaped the worst of that stuff.
Wonderful story, and more proof, to me anyway, that claims of younger people having zero interest in cars & trucks is at least a little overblown.
Lucky kid! Those cars never pop up like that when I’m looking for one. I would love to replace my 2002 Chrysler Concorde with a 70’s Valiant 4 door sedan. A slant six would be just fine. The only thing I’d change is to put a two barrel on it if it didn’t already have one. A much easier car to keep alive cheaply than my Concorde has been.
A great car with a great big heart.
My family has nothing but memories of these cars cruising the Rockies in Colorado. No matter how much trouble we got in, these cars always got us home to safety.
a car you can fix in your garage… not someone elses. simplicity is bliss.
Kelvinator really would’ve been a more fitting name for an AMC product, did Airtemp ever make home appliances?
The Valiant’s superiority over the “Philco” and “Frigidaire” competition (at least pre ’75 for the latter) is clear here.
Airtemp made window air conditioners but not refrigerators etc. I saw a mid-fifties style Airtemp window air conditioner still working in a friend’s house around 1990.
Here’s an Allpar article about their history. The window AC units in it are definitely newer than the one I saw.
https://www.allpar.com/corporate/airtemp.php
The article doesn’t mention that there are still Airtemp branded AC (not window) units made today using the old logo, but some other non-Fedders company owns it.
https://www.airtemp.com/
These seem to be carrying on in the original Airtemp tradition. Branding today is often meaningless with names like formerly GM Frigidaire, high quality Swedish Electrolux, big famous company Westinghouse, and major quality home audio company Magnavox bandied about with no meaning as things changed and the names were just apparently sold off.
Airtemp made furnaces too. My father’s house had one. There was an installation tag on it from 1965. When it finally quit in 2014 at 49 years of age he called a repairman. The 30 something year old tech looked at the “Airtemp by Chrysler Corporation” badge and he asked my father if that was the same Chrysler that built cars. Dad assured him that it was indeed. Replacement parts were going to be a deal breaker as to fixing the old Airtemp so a circuit board modern furnace replaced old reliable. I’ll bet my life that the replacement furnace won’t last anything close to 49 years. When Chrysler got it right, they got it so right.
Beat me to the AMC Kelvinator reference. They shared more than a corporate ownership, also parts bin. My brother had a Kelvinator fridge and the lens over the interior light was an automotive dome light lens.
There’s some rust showing on the outside of this car. I hope the new owner checks out the suspension, cross members, motor mounts etc. for more rust. That’s what did in my 1990 TransSport a few years ago. Plastic body, but some rusted out suspension bits. One big pothole and the rear suspension might have collapsed. The piece one rear coil spring sits on was actually half apart. Yes, it could have been patched and welded but only a backyard welder would have done it. The part was actually available but it was the whole rear axle assembly. OK, there were possibly a few other little teeny problems….
It seems like some underneath car bits can be engineered without considering how they may hold salt water and rust out, so some steel pieces are fine forever but others rust through. We would maybe be better off if the whole road salt thing hadn’t been thought of.
Bingo!
I’m happy for these kids, as a continuance of the old car interest, but when I saw the car, I had a bad case of PTSD as my first car was a ’75 Valiant. Good engine and drive line, but had to weld both leaf springs, both front torsion bars (where they meet the K frame under the floorboards), a ball joint welded in, rear shock welded, and a few others that I’ve tried to forget. All of this was on a well salted Ontario car starting around the 7 year old mark. I’d be crawling under that thing with a pick-axe before signing the paperwork.
No worries, gentlemen of the Rust Belt. This is an Oregon car. Might have a bit of superficial rust down there, but I’m sure it’s pretty solid where it counts.
We had a ’74, the latter of our two Valiants. Bought new for around $3500 with some “popular equipment” option package (A/C, 225/TF, power steering, manual front discs). I became its sole driver when I got my license in 1975, as Dad was no longer driving due to illness. Sold it to a co-worker in early 1985 for $375 after about 130k miles. Fond memories of the car, but 1974 was the nadir of pre-catalytic-converter driveability, with all that extra plumbing under the hood. As a parallel-parking city driver, I would’ve preferred a ’71 or ’72, which was a foot shorter (being on the 108″ WB and lacking the extra bumper protrusions). A foot of length for an extra 1.5″ of rear legroom didn’t seem worthwhile.
@ Paul: “Got a spare ballast resistor?”
I’ve mentioned it once before, but in my 50+ years of being around/owning/driving a number of Mopars, I’ve only had ONE ballast resistor to go out! I can sense the new owner’s joy from the pictures, and wish him many years of driving enjoyment! 🙂
You must carry a spare. We all know that a Mopar ballast resistor will only fail if a spare is not on hand.
Mopar A-bodies: I picked up a ’67 Dart GT from my employer at the time. Got it running, added electronic ignition, electronic voltage regulator, sorted-out the heater box, and eventually I put in the second, and then the third engine. (Original engine had a bazillion miles and lacked appropriate care. The engine I built failed the oil pump gear which took it out the second time.) The oil pump failed on the other side of the state, with my wife’s sister using it to tow a trailer. I fetched the GT with a borrowed pickup, towed the GT while it towed the trailer all the way across the state, during a blizzard.
This was the car SWMBO learned to drive in. It became “her” car, and she “loved” it.
Some doofus who had a job carting around…umm…”special needs” teenagers in his own vehicle was having a conversation with his charge about not putting the pillow on the dashboard which blocked his vision, when he ran the red light and smashed the Dart GT with Wifey driving.
I replaced the ’67 with a ’75 Dart Sport in approximately that same shade of Tan. What a mistake. Same Leaning Tower of Power, same Torqueflite. Disc front brakes that were *worse* than the drums of the ’67. And body lean that seemingly went on forever because Mother Mopar decreed that there would be no front sway bar. Perhaps it was on the options list.
We dumped that ’75 within a year. It was just terrible to drive. Wifey hated that car; but still occasionally waxes nostalgic for the ’67.
I loved this story. These old A-bodies have the kind of character — honest, reliable, unpretentious (and IMHO still good looking) — that makes them irresistible to me. I wish the young owner many years and miles of safe and trouble-free driving.
Bravo, young sir.
“Got a spare ballast resistor?” and sooo many familiar sights inside and out (including the wheelcovers) from my ’72 Duster. Yes, with the 225 Slant Six and the 3-spd auto.
That’s a bit of cheer I wasn’t expecting to stumble across tonight.
PS Whenever someone has made a new “basic” car I immediately wonder “Does it do that like the Dart / Valiant?”
Our next door neighbor, a lovely single lady, who got her drivers license when she was about 50 years old, brought a brand new 1975 Dodge Dart with the help of my dad. She knew nothing about cars, and relied on him for his knowledge and she valued his opinion.
I remember going with her and my dad to the local Dodge dealer on 86th Street, close to our home in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. We test drove a few Darts, and she ended up buying a brand new one, in a very nice medium blue color, with a blue vinylinterior and a black vinyl top. It was a deluxe model as I recall the dash board had some faux wood, and the front seat had an armrest. The car had an AM pushbutton radio, automatic, and factory air (Chrysler Air Temp stickers and all). I though it was weird as all the AC vents were at in the middle of the dash under the radio. I think it was a small 8 cylinder but I am not 100 % sure.
The car served her for many years and I recall she never had any issues with it.. When I got my license, she used to pay me to gas it up, take it for oil changes, and wash it. I always liked the car and though it really was a good honest car.
She married a wonderful gentleman about 10 years later, and since he had 2 cars, she decided to put it up for sale. Guess who got it? ME !!! (and she practically gave it to me as I paid $500 for it, and it was in excellent shape with about 60K mikes on it.
Great report!
Looking at the beat-up door pillar, interior door panel, and the steering column, the previous owner must’ve dragged around the most maddening collection of trinkets on their keychain.
“Strictly speaking, the 198 inch slant six was standard, but they were hardly ever seen matched up with the TF automatic.”
I’m not so sure about this statement. My dad had a 71 Duster with a 198/TF combo and I know of other people who had them as well. Even my 67 Valiant with a 170 had a TF.
My 1st car, and kinda my Holy Grail, was a ’77 Cordoba that I got for $200 because the previous owner’s mechanic wanted $800 to fix her. Well, I rebuilt the carb, replaced the alternator, gave her a tune up and oil change, and she fired on the first turn. She was named the “Bucket” because some wiseass told me I would never get that “bucket of bolts” to run. That same person needed a ride to work one day, and guess who they came running to? Of course I made them apologize to the car before I took them to work. So, hopefully that young man will enjoy his time with the car, and isn’t too quick to let it go. Trust me, I know that feeling of loss.