I just bought a '66 Valiant Signet Convertible thanks to the "jaXed" web site. If you have not checked out the www.jaXed.com "site mash" you should, it combines various for sale sites like Hemmings and local trader publications and all of the craigslist sites to combine them into one listing for specific types of cars - it's very cool! Thanks to this site I found my Valiant convertible. I was checking this site every day for '66 Valiants and to my surprise on Saturday there was a craigslist ad for a local car. I probably would have eventually found it but there are so few ads for Valiants that I would only check the local stuff maybe once a week. But with the jaXed site it only took a minute to check the whole country so I'd check every day.

The heading of the ad said "1966 Plymouth Valiant Signet" with no mention that it was a convertible. The small photo in the ad itself did have the top down and the ad did mention it was a convertible. But the picture was so small I had to look closely to see it was a convertible and even in this small picture rust on the fenders and quarters was evident. I expecting this to be a total rust bucket, I thought this would be a glorified and very expensive parts car. But it was only a 20 minute drive away so I could not resist checking it out. I emailed to get some more info as there was no phone number in the ad. I received a reply from the current owner and was told I could see the car, it was parked at an auto repair shop which was owned by a friend of his.

When I arrived I found a pale yellow Valiant convertible that did have A LOT of rust, there was holes through the top of the fenders and the bottom of the quarter panels were rusted out. I'm sure this is due to the salt that is put on the roads around here in the winter. Surprisingly the underside of the car looked really sound, the structural parts looked really good - the frame, floors, torsion bar mounts and rear spring mounts all appeared to be very solid. The car had a current license plate and new radial tires so it appeared to be a driver and not a project that would take a lot of time to get on the road. The exterior trim could be called "driver" quality; it looked like it was all there and it was presentable. The material of the black top looked very good but the rear window was really foggy, almost completely opaque. It was difficult to tell how the interior was, there was stuff covering the front seat, I could see the arm rests were missing and I couldn't really see the back seat area. The car looked like it was in "original" condition, it had been used a lot but had NOT be re-painted or in any accidents, how refreshing to find a 40 year old A-body that had not been molested. Overall the car had potential as a "rat" driver. Considering the price being asked, that looked like it was being driven and most importantly that it was a convertible I was very interested.

I called and left a message. I had a lot of questions, I wanted to drive the car to see if it drove well and know what did or did not work. A few hours later I received a call and I found out it had been in one family since it was purchased as a new car in '65/66. Yes, the car was licensed and drivable, some of the things on it worked and some didn't such as the fuel gauge. We agreed to meet at the car at four o'clock.

I found out a lot more details about the car when I talked to the current owner in person when we met at the car. Originally it was his wife's aunt's car, she lived in Hamtramak, Michigan which is the same city where it was built. Then his wife's cousin drove it for a number of years, it was probably parked around '79 or '80 judging from the license plates that were on it. In the spring of 2005 he literally had to drag it out of the aunt's garage, the car had sat for so long the wheels were frozen. But he said it started easily after it's long dormant period - gotta love those slant six engines! To get it on the road the brakes were re-done with new linings and hoses, plus new radial tires and a new muffler were also installed. In the last three summers it has been driven and enjoyed for approximately 3000 miles which is not too bad considering the owner has other vintage cars on the road. He was contemplating a restoration but he realized (actually his wife did) he had too many other car projects so this one needed to go. He had taken the car to an auto repair shop his friend owns because it is on a major road and he had the intention of putting a large "for sale" sign on the car for passing traffic to see. Before he could put up the sign I had contacted him because luckily for me his son had placed an ad on Craigslist or I would never have found it through the jaXed site-mash.

The interior looked decent but not great, it showed the signs of over 80,000 miles of usage; the front seat has some rather large tears in the cover along some of the seams, the door panels had wear, neither of the arm rests were on the front doors, there were plastic floor mats protecting the carpet so it wasn't too bad and the dash pad looked good but did have a crack in the center but this was difficult to see. Overall the interior did need some attention but it wasn't completely shot. The car started very easily but surprisingly had a very noticeable miss when it was revved past idle. I took it for a short drive and the engine ran really BAD! There was very little power and it couldn't accelerate past 40 MPH. It did steer and stop about as nice as a stock or unmodified 1966 vintage Valiant should, but it needed new shocks (I think they are original!). I figured I was in a good position to negotiate, the car was rusty and it wasn't running right. The owner was VERY willing to lower the price significantly. We quickly agreed on a much lower price and that the engine would be "looked at" by his friends repair shop. Since this was Sunday I would come the next day to pick it up the car since I needed to get the funds from the bank.

The next day a new set of spark plugs had transformed the car, even at idle I could tell immediately it was running much better. With the title in hand I took off in a cloud of smoke (this has been the only time I have seen any engine smoke). My first problem was I had an enormous blind spot due to no visibility through the rear window and no outside mirror on the right side. I had to stay in the right lane as much as possible or I would never be able to get over to the right without knowing if there was someone in my huge blind spot. The car ran really good, very responsive, but my second problem was the ammeter showed the battery was not charging and it was just starting to get dark so I would have to use the head lights. On the 20 minute drive the car only made it about 18 and 1/2 minutes, I was less than one mile from home when the engine quit, luckily I was facing down hill and rolled into an empty parking lot. I pulled the battery, put it on the battery charger and had dinner. The car started right up with a fresh charge and I was home in two minutes.

Since I got it home I've replaced the alternator, gotten insurance and a new license plate. I've used some plastic polish on the rear window and it did remove some of the fog, it is better but I think it will still need to be replaced. I have some '66 Barracuda door panels and arm rests they aren't perfect but are better than the original Valiant trim, so the interior should look much better very soon. I still need to get some shocks, recover the seats and I think I need to put a mirror on the passenger side door. I haven't driven it very much yet but I'm pretty happy with it so far.
(sorry but I don't know how to post pics yet on this site)

Congratulations on the new purchase. Sounds like a decent project!

With some work over the winter months, you will have a great car once the Spring time weather hits... then Summer fun, here we come!
DD

Sounds Great.
So are you up in Michigan then? I used to live in Midland years ago and still have friends in Flint area. I have a 66 Cuda parts car so if you need trim pieces or ??? just ask.
Frank

_________________
Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

Thanks for all the comments.
Yes I'm in Waterford, Michigan.
I'd like to put a few miles on it before the weather gets really bad.
I've found a local person that specializes in A-bodies and I'm having a few upgrades done to it right now. I should get it back the middle of next week and then I'd really like to get the rear window replaced because it's pretty difficult to drive the way it is now.