A few weeks ago I picked up A 1966 Plymouth Valiant 100 2 door. The car is in so-so shape. 170cid/2.8l slant six,1 barrel carb and the modern anti theft device--3 speed on the column manual transmission.The car cranks,runs and moves and stops. Visually the car is pretty ugly.It seems to have been the goldish color that was popular back then. Now it is multicolor -gold roof unevenly applied dark red/burgundy type paint over what appears to be the original paint and a blue replacement fender(it appears to have been in a minor fender bender in the distant past.).The gold is badly worn ,,the red has faded and worn away leaving a splotchy appearance that has the white (primer maybe?) and blue and bare metal in some places showing and red overspray on emblems and grille. The interior needs door panels ,headliner, carpet ,seats basically the entire interior needs replaced/redone.The interior was tan and beige. However the body is almost rust free ,a small 8in x 3in patch behind the passenger rear wheel well.
Mechanically ,as I said it cranks and runs. It does not smoke even after sitting up for a week.The fuel pump and alternator and oil and filter appear newish.At some time in the past the ignition switch went out and someone installed a pushbutton starter. The brakes are surprisingly good. The transmission shifts well(the chrysler shift pattern is very tight in comparison to the Ford 3 on the tree I've had.You can actually start off in 2nd and 3rd gear from a stop.The lighting is a mixed bag some work and some don't haven't delved into that yet.The only issue mechanically I've found is that after about 10 minutes it starts to run hot. The fluid in the system was brownish. I pulled the thermostat housing and there was no thermostat.I thought maybe the rad was filled with sediment and drained everything and refilled. It still ran hot. So I pulled the radiator and the water pump on the chance that the vanes on the pump were gone. Here is where it got interesting ,the water pump housing still had remnants of the factory Chrysler Red paint. The odometer shows 57 k and I thought yeah right, but if the factory paint is still on it...I wonder how long this car has sat up. Well any way the pump was in good shape. I have not reassembled the system yet.
The most recent p.o. was a retired mechanic who passed away after a stroke while fishing.He passed away in 2019 and the car was last tagged in 2017.His widow is now parting with some of his project cars. I may have paid a little too much but I wasn't going to beat up an old lady too much. I think I can handle most of the cars issues myself. The objective is a decent driver not a show car.
I'll be probably post some updates as this goes.
Mechanically ,as I said it cranks and runs. It does not smoke even after sitting up for a week.The fuel pump and alternator and oil and filter appear newish.At some time in the past the ignition switch went out and someone installed a pushbutton starter. The brakes are surprisingly good. The transmission shifts well(the chrysler shift pattern is very tight in comparison to the Ford 3 on the tree I've had.You can actually start off in 2nd and 3rd gear from a stop.The lighting is a mixed bag some work and some don't haven't delved into that yet.The only issue mechanically I've found is that after about 10 minutes it starts to run hot. The fluid in the system was brownish. I pulled the thermostat housing and there was no thermostat.I thought maybe the rad was filled with sediment and drained everything and refilled. It still ran hot. So I pulled the radiator and the water pump on the chance that the vanes on the pump were gone. Here is where it got interesting ,the water pump housing still had remnants of the factory Chrysler Red paint. The odometer shows 57 k and I thought yeah right, but if the factory paint is still on it...I wonder how long this car has sat up. Well any way the pump was in good shape. I have not reassembled the system yet.
The most recent p.o. was a retired mechanic who passed away after a stroke while fishing.He passed away in 2019 and the car was last tagged in 2017.His widow is now parting with some of his project cars. I may have paid a little too much but I wasn't going to beat up an old lady too much. I think I can handle most of the cars issues myself. The objective is a decent driver not a show car.
I'll be probably post some updates as this goes.