Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
Last week 71ChargerR/T sent me pics of his '69 Valiant via phone. I didn't get them immediately because I was on the phone with a friend that made an offhand comment, coincidentally regarding another '69 Valiant--this one local.
I knew of the car; in fact I almost bought it 15 years ago and missed it by literally 2 hours. I saw it around here and there for awhile, and I knew where it was, but I was under the impression it was a pet project that wasn't going anywhere so I never bothered asking about it. Well, he told me the guy was interested in selling it, and the last official price he'd heard was $2,000 for the car and all the attending parts. He told me, "You could probably offer him half of that. He seems like he wants it gone."
This morning I went and looked at it with cash in my pocket. Sure enough, it was one of the Three Ds: Death, Divorce or Desperation. In this case, Divorce. And what was there was a gold mine. I felt guilty offering the guy a grand, but not so guilty that I was going to whip out all my money and throw it at him, either. :naughty:
The car is a '69 Valiant Signet (the most-expensive Valiant, which is to say still a cheap ride), 198 Slant Six, column automatic. Manual drums, power steering, tinted glass :wtf: , no AC, white with a black top and blue interior. While mostly clean, and with a nice interior other than a cracked dash pad, it has some rust in the driver's side front rail between the trans crossmember and the control-arm area. It really wouldn't be that tough to fix, though, and the rest of the frame looks pretty good. For a car in this area, it's in very good shape. Minimal rust in the trunk extensions, a little over the rear wheelwells, and that's really about it. He drove the car into the garage, and it's now sitting on jackstands. He said though the car had oil pressure and ran, there was no oil getting to the top end and the valvetrain was loud. :hmmm: The valve cover is off and the distributor is out.
But the parts... oh, the parts that came with it are what interested me, and seeing them had me drooling. Included in the purchase price were:
I have too many projects already and no interest in the car, so the only plan for this acquisition is to profit greatly from it. I plan on keeping the 340, but the rest is going away. I actually had someone already interested in the car itself prior to my even leaving the house.
Really not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning and $1,200 in my opinion. :dance:
I knew of the car; in fact I almost bought it 15 years ago and missed it by literally 2 hours. I saw it around here and there for awhile, and I knew where it was, but I was under the impression it was a pet project that wasn't going anywhere so I never bothered asking about it. Well, he told me the guy was interested in selling it, and the last official price he'd heard was $2,000 for the car and all the attending parts. He told me, "You could probably offer him half of that. He seems like he wants it gone."
This morning I went and looked at it with cash in my pocket. Sure enough, it was one of the Three Ds: Death, Divorce or Desperation. In this case, Divorce. And what was there was a gold mine. I felt guilty offering the guy a grand, but not so guilty that I was going to whip out all my money and throw it at him, either. :naughty:
The car is a '69 Valiant Signet (the most-expensive Valiant, which is to say still a cheap ride), 198 Slant Six, column automatic. Manual drums, power steering, tinted glass :wtf: , no AC, white with a black top and blue interior. While mostly clean, and with a nice interior other than a cracked dash pad, it has some rust in the driver's side front rail between the trans crossmember and the control-arm area. It really wouldn't be that tough to fix, though, and the rest of the frame looks pretty good. For a car in this area, it's in very good shape. Minimal rust in the trunk extensions, a little over the rear wheelwells, and that's really about it. He drove the car into the garage, and it's now sitting on jackstands. He said though the car had oil pressure and ran, there was no oil getting to the top end and the valvetrain was loud. :hmmm: The valve cover is off and the distributor is out.
But the parts... oh, the parts that came with it are what interested me, and seeing them had me drooling. Included in the purchase price were:
- A complete 1969 340 engine, coincidentally previously owned by my best friend from high school. It was the engine that was in his '74 'Cuda when he wrecked it (I was in the car at the time).
- A complete, drum-to-drum A-body 8.75" rear axle, 741 center with a 2.76:1 tag still on it. I did not see a Sure Grip tag so I assume it's an open, but the hard-to-find flared drums are still with it.
- A spindle-to-spindle big-bolt disc front end with the desirable spool-mount V8 K-member. Missing one caliper and one rotor, but otherwise still a complete assembly.
- A matching set of small-bolt 14" Ansen Sprints. I didn't look real closely at all of them but the one I inspected was not unilug. It was A-body specific.
- A set of new headers he was saving for the 340 swap.
- A set of 10" front drum brakes; the originals are 9".
I have too many projects already and no interest in the car, so the only plan for this acquisition is to profit greatly from it. I plan on keeping the 340, but the rest is going away. I actually had someone already interested in the car itself prior to my even leaving the house.
Really not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning and $1,200 in my opinion. :dance:
