Val

Val is a 1973 Plymouth Valiant sedan the team acquired for the bargain price of $300 after her owner received one too many parking tickets and couldn’t afford to keep her on the road. The Plymouth Valiant was the original econobox, and represented more than 70% of Plymouth’s total sales in 1973.

The Plan

While a difficult car to make visually appealing and interesting, Crash and Burn intend to pay homage to this little (for the time) family sedan that became an icon for the decade that brought us disco, Richard Nixon in the White House and the first integrated circuits. One commercial trend of the era in particular has provided the team with the inspiration for Val’s pending decorative transformation.  Stay tuned for details…

The Butcher’s Bill

As one might expect with a 35 year old car that has sat in various backyards for most of its life, Val will need some TLC (and possibly some CPR) before she will be ready to take on the 1,500 miles of splendor that are the BABE Rally(plus another 1,200 or so to get to the start line and home from the finish line). So far, the list of repairs includes:

• replace de-laminated tires
• replace windshield washer couplings (oddly, this was one of the most difficult repairs measured by frequency and volume of swearing during the process)
• remove the remnants of  landau top (did they use asbestos in vinyl or automotive adhesive back then???)
• patch rust channels in roof hidden by remnants of landau top
• plug vacuum system and “adjust” emissions control devices
• install manual choke
• repair or replace windshield washer fluid tank (and the ^#%@% integrated pump)
• replace outside mirrors
• replace rear differential (an unpleasant surprise less than eight weeks before the rally…)
• replace worn bushings in steering rack

For the latest blow-by-blow accounts of Val’s repairs (or lack thereof), scroll back through the Team THOTC blog.

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