Absolutely true, for footprint! But the classification is based on interior space, and the 300 is far, far better packaged. This is something I'll be getting to...
These 1970’s Chrysler A-body’s make fantastic daily drivers. When properly maintained, they scoot around, handle very well and give good MPG. They are relatively cheap and easy to maintain. True, there are no airbags, crumple zones or whatever which would (or at least should) bring heightened awareness, which is a good thing of course.
Those of us that grew up with these cars have a nostalgia for what seemed like a golden age. I suspect that is a large part of what makes these cars attractive. Congratulations on finding an excellent example of an iconic family car from that era. It must have been treated like a museum piece by its previous owner(s), given its condition and low mileage.
It's called MAINTENANCE! If you maintain your car you will not have any issues like having to use a screw driver to open the carb throat; gumming of the radiator, etc. I have a 65 Corvair, 66 Caprice, 66 Belair, 62 C/20, 73 Ventura, and a 76 Ventura -- ALL OF WHICH I DRIVE DAILY on the roads with new cars with absolutely no issues or challenges. P.S. they now make LED bulbs which add more lumens to the rear lights.
I haven't had those problems on this car, I had them back in the day when I was a kid and got cars with 100,000+ miles, which had not been particularly well maintained. Whatever I did, I had to learn to do myself from manuals and experience, which isn't the best way. This car has no issues with warm starting. It's been a wonder - even the automatic choke works.
Beautiful Valiant! Thank you for sharing it. It kindles many memories. I learned to drive in my parent's '73 Scamp and spent a great deal of time driving it.
I had a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger 2-door hardtop. I bought it in 1975 with 8,000 miles on it. I had it for 14 years and only got rid of it in 1989 because the oil pump broke in a place I could not stop and engine suffered serious damage as a result. But the car went 14 years 110,000 miles mostly in the New York metropolitan area with bad roads and bad weather that really took a toll on cars. In the 14 years I replaced virtually every mechanical component on the car including two transmissions, several exhausts systems, numerous brake jobs, not to mention annual tune-ups with new points, plugs and condensers. It still amazes me how today’s cars go a hundred thousand miles with no major work needed and much less regular maintenance. Back then it was assumed you would need to fix major components every 10-15,000 miles. The dart was seagreen with a green vinyl top and whitewalls, had air conditioning, auto trans, power steering and brakes which for that time was a well equipped car. After ten years i repainted the car in a color called emerald green metallic by a local shop. I also put aftermarket wire wheel hubcaps on it and though it was a ten-year-old economy car it looked sharp and i would get compliments on it. Your Valiant has an identical dash and seats from what i could see and really brings back memories. I kept the dart so long because I didn’t have the money to replace it back then but for what i paid in repairs over the years I probably could have bought a new car. I’m 71 now and have had many cars since, including a Mustang GT, a couple of Corvettes and an Infiniti G37 coupe. my current ride is a 2022 Infiniti Q60 which is like a spaceship compared to the old Dart. But I still have fond memories of my emerald green Dodge. Glad to see you keeping the Valiant running and looking good.
Don't forget to open those little doors down in the footwell. Not as good as air conditioning, but they provided a lot of relief from the heat with their copious air flow. They were crude but effective.
My grandparents had a 74 Dart. I saved a 1976 Mercury Monarch from the scrap yard. The car was in too good of a condition to let it be crushed. Didn’t take much to get it back in the road. I have taken it on 2 long road trips with no problems.
I can remember taking our 71 Chysler in for maintenance. The salesman said we would be supplied with a similiar vehicle if needed . What we got was usually a Duster . Although one time they sent us to a Chevrolet dealer and we got a really cool 72 Malibu.
I agree - it's interesting to me that the non-power front disc seems more powerful than the power front disc setup. That might be one car vs another, but I remember those power front discs locking at the slightest provocation.
We had a 1974 Valiant Brougham; black on black outside, "parchment" velour inside. 318ci with AM/FM stereo. Quite posh for a Valiant (we also had a 1962 Signet 100 coupe), and it ran forever. Probably 14MPG on a good day, but that wasn't too bad back then.
I really liked the Brougham though I never was able to lay my hands on one. The 318s I had were pretty worn out but good for 12-18 mpg as I recall. Mind, if I'd tuned and driven better back then, I could probably have done better.
Nice car. The dash looked just like the one in the 1972 Dodge Dart we had when I was a kid. I kind of forgot about those idiot lights in the upper right corner, until I saw them in your video. I drove my 1985 Mustang earlier today. It kind of brings you back to yesteryear driving a car from the past. I have to say I was overly disappointed in my first new car, a 1995 Plymouth Neon coupe. So many things broke on it. I agree with you that it had excellent handling. Mine had the P185/65R14 Eagle RS/A tires on it from the factory and they performed very well, even in the wet.
I have a 1997 Lincoln Town Car Signature as my regular driver (I only drive it on weekends). It's not as old as your car, but I do understand the part about attracting attention when I drive it.
I used to park every year at the NCPC Nationals next to a guy who had a 1974 car that was otherwise almost identical. Maybe it was yours! The cloth interior was a lot nicer than the vinyl.
That was my driver's ed car in 1976. It was beige with a tan, vinyl interior. Had to be a slant 6. Back in the '90's I bought a '74 Plymouth Duster from the original owner (elderly woman) with the "Gold Duster" trim, white canopy vinyl top with a matching white bucket seat interior and the center console. It also had a slant 6, auto, a/c, ps, pb, etc. To this day I regret selling it.
Wow, I thought it was just me. I have a 69 Fairlane. Very unusual in Ireland but people react with their cars, like you said. You even see them suddenly missing exits on roundabouts to drive past. I have to be way way more careful and pro-active when driving it.
We don't have roundabouts but I've seen similar behaviors. There's a reason I put in a third brake light and upgraded the tires! (I still have to install a good brake proportioning valve.)
My dad had a '72 2-door Dart he bought new and sold in 2018 (still all original, low miles, except for the vinyl top) I liked the grill and tail on the late 60's version better, but the Dart looked like it was well made.
The secret to starting a slant six, do not pump the carb before turning over the engine only pump the carb while the engine is turning over, if you do it this way the air carrying the fuel gets sucked into the cylinder not puddle on the bottom of the intake manifold. This also works on other engines with varying success.
I usually only tap the gas once before turning the key to set the cold idle cam. I know that first start was hard... that's not the norm. I think I started it three times in the video and the other two you may not even have noticed it...
Great presentation! It's funny that although I know most of what you talk about in terms of the design features of that era, there will be some younger car buffs who are completely unfamiliar with some of the trends of the times.....50 years goes by quickly!!!!!!!! The original 1960 to '62 is one of my favorite car designs. One of my favorite stories about the Valiant was that it was a popular police car in Sweden. Chrysler's solid engineering had the respect of the Swedes for decades before. Volvo offered vehicles appropriate for police duty, but SAAB was lacking. In the 1960s, SAAB was building Chrysler products for the local market in Sweden, and decided to source the Valiant to compete against Volvo.
Wondering if you've noticed how the modern turn signals are usually built into the headlight assembly now? They are hard to see for us old folks like the old way they were separate assemblies? Then people go out and get the even brighter bulbs so they can see even better that make it even harder for you to see than the already too bright headlights blocking out the turn signals?
I remember that gauge cluster. The Valiant had some sort of simulated wood (pine?) while the New Yorker Brougham had simulated rosewood. Probably slightly more realistic simulated rosewood.
It's odd to simulate a cheap wood (and to do it badly) but that sounds right. I think the New Yorker did a better job of it! The best I've ever seen was on the 300M, it wasn't real wood but it fooled a member of my family who was brought up in the lumber-and-veneer trade. She didn't know it wasn't real until she saw another 300M with the identical patterns! The craziest I ever saw was a black-died wood in a Lexus which was real but looked like plastic.
I had a ‘72 Duster and a ‘74 Valiant four door. The vinyl top would rust easily the smog controls cost MPG. So we dismantled it. The slant six was virtually bullet proof
Dave - I'm laughing at you putting up this video. I did not watch this video in its entirety, but I would say it's not that hard to drive a car from the 1970s in modern roads if you are used to doing it - with the exception that you should be leaving a lot more following room than people typically leave nowadays! You need time to stop. As long as you move with the traffic instead of trying to switch lanes often to get ahead of it, and if you try to be more patient and don't rush around places, you should be OK.
Actually I think a car from the late 50s or early 60s is a lot harder to drive in modern traffic and on modern roads than a car from the early to mid 70s.
If I leave more room on this road I get cut off and have no room at all. It's a problem. I do prefer to leave more room even in modern cars. You'll notice I didn't get around that guy in the white car who insisted on doing 40 in the 55 zone...
Yes, especially with a flathead six! Well, the earlier Valiants are I think easier to drive than the later ones. They were really a wonder of a car - tight bodies and steering, pretty well engineered. I don't think the wide body conversion helped the car ... though it gave it a much higher power ceiling!
Power assisted front disc brakes were an option. Add modern radial tires and stopping distances are very much comparable to any new car. Power steering was also an option. Even electric windscreen washers were an option they came with the 3 speed wipers. Cars with 2 speed had a foot pump that worked beautifully. We had both.
With the low trunk it mostly works. It kinda freaked me out when I started to back out of that first parking space (unless I cut that out) and some moron in a modern car swung in right through my backup path. The rest of the lot was completely empty.
Great story, but you should never have to put it in neutral because of the alternator! A generator, maybe, but a good '74 Valiant alternator should do just fine everyday. A TorqueFlight tranny whines in 1st gear. That's just what they do. The 3rd brake light is a great idea!
It's partly a matter of too much time at stoplights and parades. When I'm clever I use a charger when I get home from a parade to make up for all that idling time. Might need a new alternator. Might be a wiring gremlin somewhere. Checked the battery, checked the grounds...
I loved these cars, owned a couple, but this car was not typical of mid-70s designs. It had been essentially unchanged since 1967, and was really dowdy. I think these stayed around thorough 1976 because Chrysler was late bringing the Volare/Aspen to market, and the gas crisis and attendance quick rise in gas prices made these cars with smaller engines attractive. I don't know how common it was for this model to have power brakes - not sure you could even get them. Ditto electric windows, or a dashboard clock. Even the 'deluxe' models they came out with by the mid-70s mostly lacked these amenities.
Had beautiful 1988 ford Ltd a few years ago. Got rid of it simply for the fact that it seemed as if other drivers on the road wanted to smash into me being envious. Keep the classic in the garage.
I agree, but I don't recall many cars in those days which DID handle well in foul weather...! A lot depended on the tires and Valiant stock tires were nothing to write home about. There were better and worse cars for snow...
They changed from the generator to the alternator so that it would continue to charge even at idle and in gear, you must have a problem. I was born in the '50s and have owned and driven many Mopars from the '70s without having a charging problem even sitting in traffic.
The car probably does have a problem. I've checked the grounds and the cables. Could just be the alternator's worn out but it doesn't have a lot of miles. Might be corrosion, I guess. Maybe I'll pop it out and try to rebuild it...
A lot of people wax nostalgic about how much better cars were back then. 1973 onwards was the nadir of autos in the US,. Europe was not as bad but their time would come. It took till the 90s for manufacturers to catch up technologically with the safety, emissions and fuel economy regulations. Mechanics used to working on 60s cars with not even a PCV valve to deal with would throw up their hands in despair looking under the hood of 70s cars with lowered compression ratios, Exhaust Gas recirculation, lock up torque converters, air pumps, a rat's nest of vacuum lines, lean burn carbs, optisparc ignition, etc. Those cars were so complicated to start, they came with instruction placards on the proper technique to get them going which depended. on the season. In cold weather if you did get it going, 'fast idle' meant for the first couple of miles, you had to ride the brakes to keep the speed below 15MPH. Right now the manufacturers are again falling behind ever tightening regulations and resorting to dubious means to meet regulations resulting in a worsening driving experience. Even so you just. press a button and they start and will last 150+k miles with minimal maintenance. The manufacturers will catch up again. That's how progress is made and why we're not stuck driving a 1974 death trap Impala that gets 11 MPG, accelerates to 60 in 13 seconds and requires constant maintenance to last 100k.
I drive a 71 Chevy Impala. And everyone gets out of my way and gives me a thumbs 👍 up. Cars were built better and stronger than today's plastic fantastic car's and SUVs. If you don't want the Valiant I can buy it my Impala needs a friend.... Today's plastic fantastic car's break in half in an accident they're totalled That valiant gets into an accident it can fixed....
I swear, it sounded like it had finished whirring. Now I know to let it go just a few seconds more. The gasoline in the carb evaporates when I don't drive often enough, so the first start takes a while - after that it starts right up. No need to crank it.
You need the best shocks and the rear spring look weak. Front and rear sway bars will make the car handle like a Nascar Stocker. ,I bought my '73 Pee Yellow Duster from the original buyer. Í also had manual front disks he also ordered traction lock rear. He also insisted on the 198 six 3 on the tree. AC wasn't available with that Motor so he went aftermarket. You had "yer cherce" you could drive on the interstate or turn on the AC but not both! Since the stock radiator was marginal at best ( sometimes I had to drive with the heat on in the Summer to keep from overheating) I had the radiator recored with a triple row core from a NOS '53 DeSoto (don't ask) and never had to worry about it again! At the end of the car's Valiant service (sorry I couldn't help that!) I passed that radiator on to a friend's father's 4 door Valiant, much like yours. The AC setup found its way into my 1965 mid-engine V8 Corvair Monza, the 300 hp Camaro 350 being more than sufficient to maintain highway speeds with the York Compressor working on high. Boy I've had an interesting life!
The rear springs are kinda weak, it's the lightest duty one they have. I was thinking when I got the car about replacing the rear springs with the ones I had in my '76 with the tow package but never got around to it, partly because the price was three times the car's value!
@@motalesdave my 74 Duster did that at the beginning, then it just refused to start I would go to turn it off and it acted like it was going to start but wouldn't, back then it was $2.00 part coast me about $60.00 to find out if moisture get in or cracked in the ceramics I would carry one in all my Plymouths gloveboxes w/ a same size nut driver but good luck
Wait so me driving my 76 charger or my 87 ramcharger....or my 72 dart...is something out of the ordinary...really.... 1 my 76 charger has disc brakes drives just fine among the modern turds out there... So does my 87 ramcharger and by the way gets 15mpg about the same as a modern dodge truck... My 72 Dart came as a slant six with a swapped in super six... I pulled that and now has a 89 roller cam 318/904 transmission.... Found a 74 dart sport as a parts donor car from which I took the spool mount k frame disc brakes and rear axle to get the big bolt pattern for the wheels...the k frame was fully rewelded by me and reinforced with gussets at all critcal points all new ball joints and polyureathane bushings it has power brakes and all hard lines replaced with non rusting Ni copp lines....the only fear I have in driving my cars is not that they don't handle or stop or have the power to pass any thing its the other drivers whom because they count on techonolgy to be able to drive their car they do not have the skill to actually drive their car and hit mine... Which will be a lot harder to replace than their modern turd box!
Yes, it is quite out of the ordinary, at least around here. I almost never see 30-year cars on the road. Congrats to you for taking them out to be seen.
Even in 1974 this car was a little farty, a terrible handling car. Low price, relatively bulletproof reliability, but anything other than slow driving, well there will be tires squealing and embarrassment. A Chevy nova would be nicer to drive back then.
Consumer Reports picked it over the Nova for a reason. Handling is okay with reasonably decent tires-which I got-and can be improved numerous relatively cheap ways. Braking was actually better than normal at the time, as numerous reports show. It’s interesting to me that people within the company knew what should be done differently, but couldn’t get the top execs to approve it.
Diving a classic? I do it all the time, at least a few times a week. Who is your mechanic, mine all start right away. You also need to use an oil designed for classic engines with high ZDDP (Zinc) content.
You don't know how to start a carbureted car,... and if it's flooded you hold the petal to the floor which also opens the choke butterfly. '74 isn't that old, this video doesn't make sense, the car will obviously work exactly as intended on modern roads. This car has no reason to be in a parade.
Why wouldn’t it be in a parade? The parade audiences love it. Over time it’s gotten a lot more shout-outs and interest. There just aren't very many being driven around. As for the hard starting, I really think that's the result of the alcohol in the gasoline, it only happens when the car‘s been sitting for a few days or weeks.
Not from a cold start, surely. I'm pretty sure it's the fuel in the carb evaporating - the alcohol doesn't help. When it's been started inthe last day or two, it starts right up. That's why I haven't really tried to fix that issue.
The very start of this video shows how poorly that car is tuned. I kearned to drive on a 72 Dart. It started on the first turn of the key and purred, even at -40. Makes the rest of the video pointless. Make the poir thing run right. Oh, and a Valiant or Dart with the 318, power steering and power brakes, and modern radial tires will deal just fine with modern trafffic.
Most people don’t realize that a modern “full-size” Chrysler 300 is almost exactly the same length as that “compact” 1974 Valiant.
Absolutely true, for footprint! But the classification is based on interior space, and the 300 is far, far better packaged. This is something I'll be getting to...
These 1970’s Chrysler A-body’s make fantastic daily drivers. When properly maintained, they scoot around, handle very well and give good MPG. They are relatively cheap and easy to maintain.
True, there are no airbags, crumple zones or whatever which would (or at least should) bring heightened awareness, which is a good thing of course.
Those of us that grew up with these cars have a nostalgia for what seemed like a golden age. I suspect that is a large part of what makes these cars attractive.
Congratulations on finding an excellent example of an iconic family car from that era. It must have been treated like a museum piece by its previous owner(s), given its condition and low mileage.
My first car was a 63 Valiant loved it .
It's called MAINTENANCE! If you maintain your car you will not have any issues like having to use a screw driver to open the carb throat; gumming of the radiator, etc. I have a 65 Corvair, 66 Caprice, 66 Belair, 62 C/20, 73 Ventura, and a 76 Ventura -- ALL OF WHICH I DRIVE DAILY on the roads with new cars with absolutely no issues or challenges. P.S. they now make LED bulbs which add more lumens to the rear lights.
I haven't had those problems on this car, I had them back in the day when I was a kid and got cars with 100,000+ miles, which had not been particularly well maintained. Whatever I did, I had to learn to do myself from manuals and experience, which isn't the best way. This car has no issues with warm starting. It's been a wonder - even the automatic choke works.
Beautiful Valiant! Thank you for sharing it. It kindles many memories. I learned to drive in my parent's '73 Scamp and spent a great deal of time driving it.
Kept waiting for the semi chasing you. Great car
I see what you did there
I had a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger 2-door hardtop. I bought it in 1975 with 8,000 miles on it. I had it for 14 years and only got rid of it in 1989 because the oil pump broke in a place I could not stop and engine suffered serious damage as a result. But the car went 14 years 110,000 miles mostly in the New York metropolitan area with bad roads and bad weather that really took a toll on cars. In the 14 years I replaced virtually every mechanical component on the car including two transmissions, several exhausts systems, numerous brake jobs, not to mention annual tune-ups with new points, plugs and condensers. It still amazes me how today’s cars go a hundred thousand miles with no major work needed and much less regular maintenance. Back then it was assumed you would need to fix major components every 10-15,000 miles. The dart was seagreen with a green vinyl top and whitewalls, had air conditioning, auto trans, power steering and brakes which for that time was a well equipped car. After ten years i repainted the car in a color called emerald green metallic by a local shop. I also put aftermarket wire wheel hubcaps on it and though it was a ten-year-old economy car it looked sharp and i would get compliments on it. Your Valiant has an identical dash and seats from what i could see and really brings back memories. I kept the dart so long because I didn’t have the money to replace it back then but for what i paid in repairs over the years I probably could have bought a new car. I’m 71 now and have had many cars since, including a Mustang GT, a couple of Corvettes and an Infiniti G37 coupe. my current ride is a 2022 Infiniti Q60 which is like a spaceship compared to the old Dart. But I still have fond memories of my emerald green Dodge. Glad to see you keeping the Valiant running and looking good.
That's the year I got my drivers license . Love old cars,you drive them,instead of them drive you!
Don't forget to open those little doors down in the footwell. Not as good as air conditioning, but they provided a lot of relief from the heat with their copious air flow. They were crude but effective.
I don't have those because the car came with a/c. I'll try to video the repair on that!
Plymouth Valiant was a fabulous well made , durable car.
4:22 I'm pretty sure I saw Dennis Weaver's '71 Valiant overheating a bit.
Nice car! Enjoyed the ride along taking me back to my 1972 Dodge Coronet. My Father had a 1976 Dart that was indestructible. Thanks for the video
My grandparents had a 74 Dart. I saved a 1976 Mercury Monarch from the scrap yard. The car was in too good of a condition to let it be crushed. Didn’t take much to get it back in the road. I have taken it on 2 long road trips with no problems.
Nice car, I have a 1975 valiant brougham
I'd love one of those lux-Valiants
I can remember taking our 71 Chysler in for maintenance. The salesman said we would be supplied with a similiar vehicle if needed . What we got was usually a Duster . Although one time they sent us to a Chevrolet dealer and we got a really cool 72 Malibu.
Changing from front drum to disc brakes is a must for any old car.
I agree - it's interesting to me that the non-power front disc seems more powerful than the power front disc setup. That might be one car vs another, but I remember those power front discs locking at the slightest provocation.
We had a 1974 Valiant Brougham; black on black outside, "parchment" velour inside. 318ci with AM/FM stereo. Quite posh for a Valiant (we also had a 1962 Signet 100 coupe), and it ran forever. Probably 14MPG on a good day, but that wasn't too bad back then.
I really liked the Brougham though I never was able to lay my hands on one. The 318s I had were pretty worn out but good for 12-18 mpg as I recall. Mind, if I'd tuned and driven better back then, I could probably have done better.
Nice car. The dash looked just like the one in the 1972 Dodge Dart we had when I was a kid. I kind of forgot about those idiot lights in the upper right corner, until I saw them in your video. I drove my 1985 Mustang earlier today. It kind of brings you back to yesteryear driving a car from the past. I have to say I was overly disappointed in my first new car, a 1995 Plymouth Neon coupe. So many things broke on it. I agree with you that it had excellent handling. Mine had the P185/65R14 Eagle RS/A tires on it from the factory and they performed very well, even in the wet.
I have a 1997 Lincoln Town Car Signature as my regular driver (I only drive it on weekends). It's not as old as your car, but I do understand the part about attracting attention when I drive it.
Those generation town cars are becoming rare now.
I Had a 74’Plymouth Duster with slant six cloth interior with Factory a/c same color as yours good car
I used to park every year at the NCPC Nationals next to a guy who had a 1974 car that was otherwise almost identical. Maybe it was yours! The cloth interior was a lot nicer than the vinyl.
Those Slant 6’s were great motors
I still like driving the old carbed cars around. It's the experience.
That was my driver's ed car in 1976. It was beige with a tan, vinyl interior. Had to be a slant 6.
Back in the '90's I bought a '74 Plymouth Duster from the original owner (elderly woman) with the "Gold Duster" trim, white canopy vinyl top with a matching white bucket seat interior and the center console. It also had a slant 6, auto, a/c, ps, pb, etc. To this day I regret selling it.
Wow, I thought it was just me. I have a 69 Fairlane. Very unusual in Ireland but people react with their cars, like you said. You even see them suddenly missing exits on roundabouts to drive past. I have to be way way more careful and pro-active when driving it.
We don't have roundabouts but I've seen similar behaviors. There's a reason I put in a third brake light and upgraded the tires! (I still have to install a good brake proportioning valve.)
My dad had a '72 2-door Dart he bought new and sold in 2018 (still all original, low miles, except for the vinyl top) I liked the grill and tail on the late 60's version better, but the Dart looked like it was well made.
My friend took one of these through a Parkway overlook at 60 mph and came within inches of hitting the curb and going over the edge.
clean looks good
The secret to starting a slant six, do not pump the carb before turning over the engine only pump the carb while the engine is turning over, if you do it this way the air carrying the fuel gets sucked into the cylinder not puddle on the bottom of the intake manifold. This also works on other engines with varying success.
I usually only tap the gas once before turning the key to set the cold idle cam. I know that first start was hard... that's not the norm. I think I started it three times in the video and the other two you may not even have noticed it...
Great presentation! It's funny that although I know most of what you talk about in terms of the design features of that era, there will be some younger car buffs who are completely unfamiliar with some of the trends of the times.....50 years goes by quickly!!!!!!!! The original 1960 to '62 is one of my favorite car designs. One of my favorite stories about the Valiant was that it was a popular police car in Sweden. Chrysler's solid engineering had the respect of the Swedes for decades before. Volvo offered vehicles appropriate for police duty, but SAAB was lacking. In the 1960s, SAAB was building Chrysler products for the local market in Sweden, and decided to source the Valiant to compete against Volvo.
I agree with you totally! I remember writing about the Swedish Valiants. Those early Valiants were lighter and tighter!
Wondering if you've noticed how the modern turn signals are usually built into the headlight assembly now? They are hard to see for us old folks like the old way they were separate assemblies? Then people go out and get the even brighter bulbs so they can see even better that make it even harder for you to see than the already too bright headlights blocking out the turn signals?
Yes, I definitely prefer the old ones. In Europe they still have separate side bulbs.
I remember that gauge cluster. The Valiant had some sort of simulated wood (pine?) while the New Yorker Brougham had simulated rosewood. Probably slightly more realistic simulated rosewood.
It's odd to simulate a cheap wood (and to do it badly) but that sounds right. I think the New Yorker did a better job of it! The best I've ever seen was on the 300M, it wasn't real wood but it fooled a member of my family who was brought up in the lumber-and-veneer trade. She didn't know it wasn't real until she saw another 300M with the identical patterns! The craziest I ever saw was a black-died wood in a Lexus which was real but looked like plastic.
I had a ‘72 Duster and a ‘74 Valiant four door. The vinyl top would rust easily the smog controls cost MPG. So we dismantled it. The slant six was virtually bullet proof
Dave - I'm laughing at you putting up this video. I did not watch this video in its entirety, but I would say it's not that hard to drive a car from the 1970s in modern roads if you are used to doing it - with the exception that you should be leaving a lot more following room than people typically leave nowadays! You need time to stop. As long as you move with the traffic instead of trying to switch lanes often to get ahead of it, and if you try to be more patient and don't rush around places, you should be OK.
Actually I think a car from the late 50s or early 60s is a lot harder to drive in modern traffic and on modern roads than a car from the early to mid 70s.
If I leave more room on this road I get cut off and have no room at all. It's a problem. I do prefer to leave more room even in modern cars. You'll notice I didn't get around that guy in the white car who insisted on doing 40 in the 55 zone...
Yes, especially with a flathead six! Well, the earlier Valiants are I think easier to drive than the later ones. They were really a wonder of a car - tight bodies and steering, pretty well engineered. I don't think the wide body conversion helped the car ... though it gave it a much higher power ceiling!
@@motalesdaveTrue but - it’s an overhead valve six-cylinder engine, not a flathead.
Power assisted front disc brakes were an option. Add modern radial tires and stopping distances are very much comparable to any new car. Power steering was also an option. Even electric windscreen washers were an option they came with the 3 speed wipers. Cars with 2 speed had a foot pump that worked beautifully. We had both.
You do have a backup camera it's the review mirror 🤓
With the low trunk it mostly works. It kinda freaked me out when I started to back out of that first parking space (unless I cut that out) and some moron in a modern car swung in right through my backup path. The rest of the lot was completely empty.
Great story, but you should never have to put it in neutral because of the alternator! A generator, maybe, but a good '74 Valiant alternator should do just fine everyday. A TorqueFlight tranny whines in 1st gear. That's just what they do. The 3rd brake light is a great idea!
It's partly a matter of too much time at stoplights and parades. When I'm clever I use a charger when I get home from a parade to make up for all that idling time. Might need a new alternator. Might be a wiring gremlin somewhere. Checked the battery, checked the grounds...
I loved these cars, owned a couple, but this car was not typical of mid-70s designs. It had been essentially unchanged since 1967, and was really dowdy. I think these stayed around thorough 1976 because Chrysler was late bringing the Volare/Aspen to market, and the gas crisis and attendance quick rise in gas prices made these cars with smaller engines attractive. I don't know how common it was for this model to have power brakes - not sure you could even get them. Ditto electric windows, or a dashboard clock. Even the 'deluxe' models they came out with by the mid-70s mostly lacked these amenities.
Had beautiful 1988 ford Ltd a few years ago. Got rid of it simply for the fact that it seemed as if other drivers on the road wanted to smash into me being envious. Keep the classic in the garage.
Calls for an extra layer of awareness, I'll give you that, but cars were meant to be driven!
My parents had a ‘73. I learned how to drive on it. Unfortunately, it rusted out quickly and was not a car that handled well in foul weather.
I agree, but I don't recall many cars in those days which DID handle well in foul weather...! A lot depended on the tires and Valiant stock tires were nothing to write home about. There were better and worse cars for snow...
They changed from the generator to the alternator so that it would continue to charge even at idle and in gear, you must have a problem. I was born in the '50s and have owned and driven many Mopars from the '70s without having a charging problem even sitting in traffic.
The car probably does have a problem. I've checked the grounds and the cables. Could just be the alternator's worn out but it doesn't have a lot of miles. Might be corrosion, I guess. Maybe I'll pop it out and try to rebuild it...
A lot of people wax nostalgic about how much better cars were back then. 1973 onwards was the nadir of autos in the US,. Europe was not as bad but their time would come. It took till the 90s for manufacturers to catch up technologically with the safety, emissions and fuel economy regulations. Mechanics used to working on 60s cars with not even a PCV valve to deal with would throw up their hands in despair looking under the hood of 70s cars with lowered compression ratios, Exhaust Gas recirculation, lock up torque converters, air pumps, a rat's nest of vacuum lines, lean burn carbs, optisparc ignition, etc. Those cars were so complicated to start, they came with instruction placards on the proper technique to get them going which depended. on the season. In cold weather if you did get it going, 'fast idle' meant for the first couple of miles, you had to ride the brakes to keep the speed below 15MPH.
Right now the manufacturers are again falling behind ever tightening regulations and resorting to dubious means to meet regulations resulting in a worsening driving experience. Even so you just. press a button and they start and will last 150+k miles with minimal maintenance. The manufacturers will catch up again. That's how progress is made and why we're not stuck driving a 1974 death trap Impala that gets 11 MPG, accelerates to 60 in 13 seconds and requires constant maintenance to last 100k.
Looks like your driving a right hand drive vehicle. I grew up with Chryslers. My first car was a Plymouth Scamp.
Either that or I accidentally tapped "mirror front camera image."
Are you driving the English version?
👏👏
I drive a 71 Chevy Impala.
And everyone gets out of my way and gives me a thumbs 👍 up.
Cars were built better and stronger than today's plastic fantastic car's and SUVs.
If you don't want the Valiant I can buy it my Impala needs a friend....
Today's plastic fantastic car's break in half in an accident they're totalled
That valiant gets into an accident it can fixed....
your hard on starters bud
I swear, it sounded like it had finished whirring. Now I know to let it go just a few seconds more. The gasoline in the carb evaporates when I don't drive often enough, so the first start takes a while - after that it starts right up. No need to crank it.
What most ppl don't realize is, normal common sense ppl drive older classic cars than today's cars.
I bought a used 74 Dart...rusted out floors no carpeting. Drove it 60k miles until I lost reverse gear.😂
You need the best shocks and the rear spring look weak. Front and rear sway bars will make the car handle like a Nascar Stocker. ,I bought my '73 Pee Yellow Duster from the original buyer. Í also had manual front disks he also ordered traction lock rear. He also insisted on the 198 six 3 on the tree. AC wasn't available with that Motor so he went aftermarket. You had "yer cherce" you could drive on the interstate or turn on the AC but not both! Since the stock radiator was marginal at best ( sometimes I had to drive with the heat on in the Summer to keep from overheating) I had the radiator recored with a triple row core from a NOS '53 DeSoto (don't ask) and never had to worry about it again! At the end of the car's Valiant service (sorry I couldn't help that!) I passed that radiator on to a friend's father's 4 door Valiant, much like yours. The AC setup found its way into my 1965 mid-engine V8 Corvair Monza, the 300 hp Camaro 350 being more than sufficient to maintain highway speeds with the York Compressor working on high. Boy I've had an interesting life!
The rear springs are kinda weak, it's the lightest duty one they have. I was thinking when I got the car about replacing the rear springs with the ones I had in my '76 with the tow package but never got around to it, partly because the price was three times the car's value!
ballast resistor that little ceramic bar on the firewall two plug ins one on the left and on the right and a nut or screw holding it to the firewall
If it starts eventually it's not the ballast resistor ;) Just a dry carb. Starts fine warm or cold when it's been started within a day or two.
@@motalesdave my 74 Duster did that at the beginning, then it just refused to start I would go to turn it off and it acted like it was going to start but wouldn't, back then it was $2.00 part coast me about $60.00 to find out if moisture get in or cracked in the ceramics I would carry one in all my Plymouths gloveboxes w/ a same size nut driver but good luck
My sister had this exact car as her first "nice" car , was great car until an oak tree fell on it.
Your camera image being reversed driving me crazy! What is this, the UK?
Turns out my camera was reversed for a while but I never noticed till then. You'd think video editors would have a "flip" function!
Give me one of these wonderful old cars that had personality and did not look like the gray turds you see on the road today!
Your under hood shot shows that this car is equipped with air conditioning, while you were rolling down the windows. ?????
Refrigerant leak. I was going to work on it but got distracted. As soon as it cools down a bit I'll try to get to it.
Wait so me driving my 76 charger or my 87 ramcharger....or my 72 dart...is something out of the ordinary...really.... 1 my 76 charger has disc brakes drives just fine among the modern turds out there... So does my 87 ramcharger and by the way gets 15mpg about the same as a modern dodge truck... My 72 Dart came as a slant six with a swapped in super six... I pulled that and now has a 89 roller cam 318/904 transmission.... Found a 74 dart sport as a parts donor car from which I took the spool mount k frame disc brakes and rear axle to get the big bolt pattern for the wheels...the k frame was fully rewelded by me and reinforced with gussets at all critcal points all new ball joints and polyureathane bushings it has power brakes and all hard lines replaced with non rusting Ni copp lines....the only fear I have in driving my cars is not that they don't handle or stop or have the power to pass any thing its the other drivers whom because they count on techonolgy to be able to drive their car they do not have the skill to actually drive their car and hit mine... Which will be a lot harder to replace than their modern turd box!
Yes, it is quite out of the ordinary, at least around here. I almost never see 30-year cars on the road. Congrats to you for taking them out to be seen.
I had a 1973 Duster with the 225 slant six and three-on-the-tree. Great engine, but the rest of the car was shoddy.
Yes, the first gen of these was a LOT tighter.
I'm sure the roads themselves, per se, haven't changed in 5- 6 decades
They have... from two lanes per direction to three, more store cutouts, wider lanes, longer stripes, traffic lights and circles removed...
Even in 1974 this car was a little farty, a terrible handling car. Low price, relatively bulletproof reliability, but anything other than slow driving, well there will be tires squealing and embarrassment. A Chevy nova would be nicer to drive back then.
Consumer Reports picked it over the Nova for a reason. Handling is okay with reasonably decent tires-which I got-and can be improved numerous relatively cheap ways. Braking was actually better than normal at the time, as numerous reports show. It’s interesting to me that people within the company knew what should be done differently, but couldn’t get the top execs to approve it.
Diving a classic? I do it all the time, at least a few times a week. Who is your mechanic, mine all start right away. You also need to use an oil designed for classic engines with high ZDDP (Zinc) content.
Mine starts right away if it's been driven wtihin the last two days. Nice illustration of the Mopar starter sound, though.
@@motalesdave Very true on how many days parked makes a difference with carburetors and modern fuel.
You don't know how to start a carbureted car,... and if it's flooded you hold the petal to the floor which also opens the choke butterfly. '74 isn't that old, this video doesn't make sense, the car will obviously work exactly as intended on modern roads. This car has no reason to be in a parade.
Why wouldn’t it be in a parade? The parade audiences love it. Over time it’s gotten a lot more shout-outs and interest. There just aren't very many being driven around. As for the hard starting, I really think that's the result of the alcohol in the gasoline, it only happens when the car‘s been sitting for a few days or weeks.
Vapor lock
Not from a cold start, surely. I'm pretty sure it's the fuel in the carb evaporating - the alcohol doesn't help. When it's been started inthe last day or two, it starts right up. That's why I haven't really tried to fix that issue.
The very start of this video shows how poorly that car is tuned. I kearned to drive on a 72 Dart. It started on the first turn of the key and purred, even at -40. Makes the rest of the video pointless. Make the poir thing run right. Oh, and a Valiant or Dart with the 318, power steering and power brakes, and modern radial tires will deal just fine with modern trafffic.
I have a video reply coming up tomorrow...