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1966 Plymouth Valiant 2 Dr Post

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 9:05 am
by dustymopar
A couple of members have twisted my arm and said I should post this up, so here goes :?

This is our 1966 Plymouth Valiant 100 2 door hardtop post. We bought the Valiant in 2010 from a guy in just outside Miami who was planning to get it on the road but had run out of steam. The Valiant came as a roller and without a hood, bumpers and door & rear glass.

Since then, in between a busy job, study and waiting for parts to become available we have been getting the car together. We have mainly used stuff that we had kicking around and have also been creative here and there where stuff hasn't been immediately available. Economy has been the 'name of the game' since registration of imports is apparently no longer guaranteed :roll:

The missing hood and bumpers presented our first problem to overcome. Fortunately, we were able to 'borrow' hood and bumpers from a 66 Cuda owned by a friend of mine in Croydon and swiftly took the hood to a glass shop and had a couple made. I had a go at making the bumpers and made a reasonable job. The car had come with a 67 front grill that I instantly liked the look of albeit that the previous owner had butchered this to make it fit. We shipped in a replacement from the US and fitted to suit. We also managed to find the year and model specific rear glass and gasket and door glass. The body is reasonably solid although a fair bit of welding was need to both floor pans.

The Valiant was originally a slant car but have since fitted a smoky stock small block and 904 in order to get it running. This sits on the original K frame and had used Schumacher mounts to save time and aggravation. The exhaust is a basic 'home-build' affair and merely comprises of twin 2.5" Thrush silencers with turn-downs. The rear end is a 7 1/4 although we have a 9" set aside ;)

The front and rear suspension has been completely rebuild, painted and re-bushed. We have a new pair of Super-stock springs on the rear and Comp Eng shocks all around. The brakes have been completely rebuilt and new brake lines installed.

In a final push last month we managed to get the Valiant MOT'd of which it passed 1st time and promptly sent in the documents to Swansea for registration. With a big sigh of relief, we received notification from the DVLA on Friday and have issued an age related registration mark and V5 :o

Future plans include the fitting of the 9" rear end and a replacement motor. We have some swag bought some time ago from 'Kev the Taxi' including wheels, seats etc. The front drums will also be replaced in favour of a disc brake set up we had picked up following the rebuild of the existing braking system. We previously had visions of a tube front end, but we actually now like it as is so probably won't bother now. There is still plenty to do although we don't have any radical plans, just keep it 'Old-School' and smoke around in her 8-)

A big thanks to Lloyd, 'The Bishop', Matt H and anyone else involved :thumbright: :thumbright:

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 9:16 am
by Pete_B
Love it :thumbright: :thumbright: :thumbright:

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 9:29 am
by MilesnMiles
Great looking and pragmatic project, Dusty. I really like how these cars are now being given proper consideration and I noted only last night on ebay US that prices are on the up.
Obviously Kevs taxi was a wel noted car plus the blue racing Valiant up north (Jerry?) and Terry's recently restored valiant catches the eye and of course Blue is building another one.



:thumbright:

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 1:30 pm
by Cannonball
MilesnMiles wrote:Great looking and pragmatic project, Dusty plus the blue racing Valiant up north (Jerry?)



:thumbright:
that was ken and ollies car from up north ,, now owned and raced by dave bailey luton massive,

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 1:47 pm
by AllKiller
Cannonball wrote:
MilesnMiles wrote:Great looking and pragmatic project, Dusty plus the blue racing Valiant up north (Jerry?)



:thumbright:
that was ken and ollies car from up north ,, now owned and raced by dave bailey luton massive,
Don't think so, same colour though

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 1:57 pm
by Blue
Yep, originally built by Tony Jarvis for Ken and Ollie in the mid 80's, Dave Has owned it ever since.

Nice work Mark, looks like Valiants are the new black....

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 3:21 pm
by terryr
great stuff mark ,glad you stuck with it :thumbright:

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 4:52 pm
by Pete
Nice car and love the colour.

What brakes have you got for the front?

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 4:54 pm
by Mossy68
Great looking car. And as Pete said nice colour. Well done :thumbright:

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 5:14 pm
by shovelheadrob
Blue wrote:Yep, originally built by Tony Jarvis for Ken and Ollie in the mid 80's, Dave Has owned it ever since.

Nice work Mark, looks like Valiants are the new black....
Kenny & Ollie bought the car from me around '84 it had just come from Lakenheath, had a rod hanging out of the slant 6 & a fair size dent in the rear quarter. Mentioned it in a phone call to the Halifax lads & they were at my house the next day. The rest as they say is history.

Image

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 5:19 pm
by Carl
Nice job your doing there, I'm quite local so hope to see it out and about.

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 5:28 pm
by PaulR
Good looking car. Are they SBP Cragars?
Obviously A bodies are the way forward :thumbright:

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 5:30 pm
by dustymopar
Thanks to everyone :thumbright:
terryr wrote:‘’great stuff mark ,glad you stuck with it
Cheers, when you came here last summer I think I was ready to run it in :lol:
Pete wrote:What brakes have you got for the front?
I have drums on at the mo but I took the set-up off Mick's Dart

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 5:33 pm
by dustymopar
Paul, they are exactly that ;)

These may be up for grabs next year once the rear end has been swopped out.

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 13 5:38 pm
by jerry
Nice,colour really suits it :thumbright: