BODACIOUS BEATERS (and Road-going Derelicts): MO' VALIANT!

Phil Coconis
by Phil Coconis
em bodacious beaters and road going derelicts em mo valiant

Looks like we’re going for a double-shot of Valiance, here at the home of the B/B! This time it appears to be a ’63 Convertible model, done up in early ‘80’s Sunset Strip Heavy-Metal Hair Band red and grey primer, no less!

As in it looks as if it was really done in the early ‘80’s and just left to its own devices! WAAYYY BODACIOUS!

Check out the “For Sale” sign. So sunbleached as to be illegible, it is.

If I’m interpreting the owner’s “statement of intent” correctly, this Valiant is more “on display” than “for sale”—which is just as well. Who’d want to let such a unique vehicle like this one suffer such a mundane fate as to be sold and then given a legitimate restoration?!

Not I, for one.

Also noteworthy in the owner’s trim preferences are the stub of “whip” antenna on top of the right front quarter panel, and the mismatched and undersized lower-than-stock profile tires. Nice touches, for sure!

I was always impressed that Plymouth designers executed such a styling about-face with this model, in the space of a couple of years. But for the emblem design, the earlier iteration (one model year previous—featured in the last Bodacious Beaters entry) and this one seem to have very little in common, in terms of exterior styling. In my opinion, they both have merit; but it certainly is a comparison of “apples and oranges”.

Speaking of “apples”, when I lived in the “Big Apple” back in the early ‘80’s, I frequently got out to Fire Island to enjoy the E. Coast beach scene during the summer. I had a ’67 Dodge Dart at my disposal for these excursions; but I would have much preferred cruising this sibling convertible predecessor, instead. It would have definitely made the scene for one of those infamous Oak Beach Inn (R.I.P.) hard rocking weekend concert/party nights.

Phil has written features and columns for a number of automotive periodicals and web-based information companies. He has run a successful Auto Repair Business in the past for many years (See “Memoirs of an Independent Repair Shop Owner” on this ttac site). He can be contacted through this very site, or http://www.linkedin.com/

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 16 comments
  • Scoutdude Scoutdude on Jun 02, 2013

    Try finding 80 series tires in your local tire store nowadays and you'll know why it has "low profile" tires on it.

  • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Jun 02, 2013

    Didn't one of the Magliozzi brothers (Click and Clack) joke about one of them owning a Valiant convertible? This might be the one that was abandoned on the street, when either Tom or Ray got a Fiat. I wonder if he'd like to have it back?

    • MRF 95 T-Bird MRF 95 T-Bird on Jun 03, 2013

      It was the 63 Dart convertible that they would frequently refer to. It was shown in the 60 Minutes segment on Car Talk. BTW They have been running best of's.

  • Chuck Norton And guys are having wide spread issues with the 10 speed transmission with the HP numbers out of the factory......
  • Zerofoo "Hyundais just got better and better during the 1990s, though, and memories of those shoddy Excels faded."Never. A friend had an early 90s Hyundai Excel as his college beater. One day he decided that the last tank of gas he bought was worth more than the car. He drove it to empty and then he and his fraternity brothers pushed it into the woods and left it there.
  • Kwik_Shift There are no new Renegades for sale within my geographic circle of up to 85 kms. Looks like the artificial shortage game. They bring one in, 10 buyers line up for it, $10,000 over MSRP. Yeah. Like with a lot of new cars.
  • Ribbedroof In Oklahoma, no less!
  • Ribbedroof Have one in the shop for minor front collision repairs right now,I've seen more of these in the comments than in the 30 years I've been in collision repair.
Next