1968 Plymouth Valiant Hardtop

Failure is a beautiful thing.  As crazy as that sounds, history doesn't lie.  A curious pharmacist whipped up Coke as a cure for headaches, a Kodak engineer accidentally invented superglue while designing a plastic gun sight lens, and Play-Doh was originally marketed as a cleaning paste.  Granted no one aspires to suck, but sometimes failure can lead to greatness. ( Thx to Steven Kim—Motortrend)

The consignor of this menacing 1968 Valiant set out to make a muscle car from a go to church on weekends car your grandmother would drive and turn it into a muscle car of his dreams.  Well he failed because this A body small car turned out to get way out of hand and thankfully for you, the potential buyer, it becomes the nicest build way overdone and totally radical machine here for the taking.  Failure is good!

Exterior
Totally straight deep end of the pool painted steel panels are minding their gaps to the minutia, and the car has a nice peppering of chrome trimmings to accent the lines.  The split front grille is perfectly aligned egg crate shaped chrome, sports the driver's side Plymouth badge, and has a headlight on either corner of the grille.  The lower bumper has been blackened, the hood has been pinned and a large 6-Pak style scoop resides in the center.  The front quarters, doors and rear quarters are just perfection with no rust and more of the miles deep black paint expertly applied.  Chrome is on for the door handles and window trimmings and is simply perfect as to its condition.  The side view mirrors are the same, and as we move to the trunk below the clear rear glass, it too is presenting with nary a mark on it.  A slightly fanned out trio of light tail lights are on each back corner and a PLYMOUTH badge screams at you from the trunk lid turndown.  Below, a black bumper is as shiny as the bodywork, and just below large black tailpipes peer out from under the bumper.  Simple, beautiful and just the nicest example of a hot rod Valiant in our Hallowed Halls and possibly in the states.  Grounding the car is a set of 15-inch American Racing polished wheels with skinny 165R15's in front and 245/60R15's on back giving the car a tasteful rake from the side view.  Oh and yes you can go to church in this radical ride and get there on time even if you leave 10 minutes late!

Interior
You will continue to be impressed with a swing of the door with steel black painted sills and black ribbed vinyl for the door panels.  An actuator and cranks, as well as the armrest are perfectly aligned and shiny as crazy diamonds.  Inside we sit upon showroom quality chairs in the form of low back buckets in front and a full bench in the back.  These are covered with black vinyl bolsters and have fuzzy broadcloth tuck and roll inserts in a dark steel black fabric.  These all show little to no wear and float on a sea of clean black carpeting.  In the center, perched on the central hump, is a B&M shifter setup, chromed and with black ball topper.  A wood rimmed rally steering wheel adds some warmth to an otherwise cold black and white accented environment.  The dash is factory fare with square and rectangular white faced gauges within a black vertical ribbed textured flat front panel.  A large aftermarket tachometer is mounted to the steering column and the dash top is padded and black.  This black again appears for the dash front andt rest of the dash as it stretches across the the passenger compartment.  Temp sliders and a radio delete, as well as a glovebox are installed in this area.  Below the dash is a trio of aftermarket gauges in a shiny chromed panel also with white faces.  Above a tight black vinyl headliner is covering the ceiling and a working dome light is in the center.  The interior is not to be outdone by the exterior so they fight for attention and they get it.  Speaking of fighting we need to give a shout to the trunk which has been restored and has the spare tire in its dead center, mounted on the factory wheel.  

Drivetrain
Time to cut the meat!  A flip of the hood and we are in bling heaven.  A 440ci V8 sits in this perfectly restored engine bay and within its block are all consignor-stated aluminum rods, a 540 solid lifter camshaft, 10.5-1 compression ratio pistons and the block has been bore .030 over.  There are aftermarket Edelbrock aluminum heads and on top are dual Edelbrock 4 barrel carburetors.  In back is an A727 Torqueflite 3-speed automatic transmission that has a reverse manual valve body and a 3000rpm stall converter.  The rear axle weighs in at 8-3/4 with 3.91 gear ratio.  Headers and a FlowMaster exhaust are on and again another all star presentation with chromed valve coverings and air cleaner, perfectly satin cast intake, and yellow wiring, supple hoses and all clean mounted and buttoned up bolt ons throughout.

Undercarriage
When you get this machine you will need to also purchase a mirror so you can show off the undercarriage as well!  It's that good with the factory unibody and floor pans, dual exhaust, independent torsion bars for front suspension and leaf springs and Caltracs bars for the back.  Wilwood disc brakes are all around and it is a beautiful presentation.

Drive-Ability
My muscle car sidekick test drove this baby and found it to be a fab ride with awesome power, good handling and a smooth cruise with lots of exhaust noise but still in tasteful range.  There were a few frowns as the factory gauges are not working, the heater blower is silent and speedometer did not tick away the mph.  Also, the reverse lights do not illuminate.  

Quite the Valiant build if you will with lots of time  invested and plenty of TLC throughout the process.  Now you have a muscular go to church ride that can get groceries too and all in a very hurry if you want!

VL21A8B265543

V-Plymouth Valiant
L-Low Price Class
21-2 Door Sedan
A-170ci Ibbl I6
8-1968
B-Hamtramck, MI Assy Plant
265543-Sequential Unit Number

Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.