Hi All!

I found a '72 valiant at a junkyard that is near by me in PA. It is a green 4 door with a very nice body. The front seat and headliner is chewed up badly, but it has a nice 225 motor with 145,000 miles on it. I tried to start it, but you have to put it into netural. Sounds good with no noise, but smokes a bit . It is not IN the graveyard yet and is for sale for $450.00. When I tried to move it, the tranny seems fine and and I can steer it with no ease at all (PS). When I hit the manual brakes, it feels as though the frame was broken. Some guy offered to look at it while in action and told me that the front sway bar is broken or disconnected from one end. He also said that it would only cost a few dollars to fix. It kinda sounded like the left front drum locking up badly! I did not get a chance to crawl underneath since it started to rain out. SOOO... the questions are 1) is it worth buying it to be used as a second car? 2)how could I convince my wife that this is a bargain? 3) What kind of gas mileage could I expect from this A body car. I have a 225 in my truck and it runs like a bear !!Thanks...Kevin

Offer him $250 for it if the rust is not too bad and see what happens.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Hi Dennis...

I called down there this morning and he said that he will not go lower than $400.The title was also sent in as salvage, so I would have to get a R title for it. I wish that I can post a picture that I took of it. Oh well Kevin

That's not how you do it. You go down there with $250 in your pocket, look at the car and act blase about the whole thing "BUT you MAY be able to do something with it for $200". When he balks, show him the $250, and bring up the trouble it's going to be for anyone to get the title and be prepared to walk away. There's a good chance you would get the car for $250 that way, no chance if you call and ask him how little he will take. Horse trading 101.

D/W

EDIT: Are you the one who sent the pics to my home email? If so, You might even want to go $350 on that one, looks pretty decent (from what little I could tell looking at the front and passenger side. Rust is your main enemy, especially where you live. Expect some here and there and in the floors, but leave it alone if it's got bad structural rust around the subframe or suspension). Seems that guy is not that far off on the price, but he'll be glad to take $350 if you keep a good poker face.

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Yep, that was me I have about 20 more pics that I took. What would we do without are digital cameras? If you would like to post them or want more, it's fine with me. I am not sure if I am able to post them here. I meant to send the text along but could not go back The VIN # is : VL41C2R302376. Wish it had the 198 slant in it. I only ran into one in my life and it was in a '73 dodge van with a 3 on the tree. The company that I worked for back then called it "Old reliable" I will take your advice and head on down that way on Monday Can you or someone from the group kinda guess at what kind of mileage that I can expect?
Thanks again
Kevin

I would expect it to get in the mid to high teens for milage, once it is tuned up and running correctly.
Where in PA are you located? I am in the south eastern corner.

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Hello There!!!

I live in the upper northeast corner of PA..right between Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. Thanks for the input on the mileage and nice photo of the car!! That is the same color of the one I am looking at!!! Is that a Sherwood Green?? You did a really nice job on that car and I wish you the very best of luck with it and who knows, maybe one of these days if I get this one, we'll meet up on the turnpike!!!

Happy Travelin',

Kevin

1973 Dodge Slant Six Power Wagon and another one in progress

Barganing works man. I got the 73 in my sig for $300 when the owner was asking $500, it made the 30 mile trip home too. Let us know if you score it or not!

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70 Dart, 360, 727

Tell him your wife said $250 and that's it...if it were up to you, you'd go the $400 but it's not so.....

Anyway, be careful of how much rust, I grew up in southeastern PA. so I know all about the "Can't be able to poke your finger through" rule at state inspection time. that rule was ultimately the demise of my old 1960 Valiant.....still running when they hauled her to the junk yard

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63 Valiant 200 Signet Convertible 170/
63 Dart, 225/
68 A100 Pick-up 225/
2006 Mitsu Raider Quad Cab (Dakota) Mopar 4.7L
1992 Dodge Stealth RT (My Mid-Lifer) 3.0L 24V

they changed it to there cant be any sharp edges around the rust holes. though you can't have any rust holes that could allow exhaust into the passenger compartment ie: quarter pannels.
Thanks but it is the original paint. I stumbled accross a car that had been put out to pasture after being garage kept fo ovet 20 years. it just turned 112,000 miles last weekend.
the color of mine is EF8 I think that is Ivy green metallic but i'm not sure.

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Yeah, they are very strict on body and patchwork these days!
The '72 Valiant has only one spot of rust near the top of one of the fenders...THAT'S IT!! :PThe dark green paint is all original too. The quarters are solid, but I am not sure how the floor are. Here in PA, I had to change the cab, fenders and box or my mechanic said that it would not pass inspection the next time.The floors were really bad. Still working on it, but if I get the valiant it will have a new friend parked right next to it. Tomorrow will be hear soon and I'll know for sure! My wife says that if the guy accepts the offer, I can have it for an anniversary present What else can a guy ask for? ?

Later....
Kevin

I pulled a 74 Valiant out of a yard near me for parts and the guy wouldn't go below $400 and he couldn't even find the title. I paid $200 for the car in my sig pic. I has been my daily driver for the last 4 years, it isn't now that I have gotten a job in Bethlehem and I will not be able to afford to drive the Valiant 60 miles a day. I got a Mercury Tracer(God I hate fords) for $300 But it gets twice the milage of the Green Machine. I really need to find a Dodge Shadow and sell the tracer.

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Get rid of that Tracer, it is ophan model by Ford. So many recalls and extremely low value.

Good luck on that Tracer.

Cheers, Wizard

Hello There!!

Well, here is the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say!! I did some investigation into the owner of the car and found the mechanic who actually worked on it and knew it from the day it was sold! ( I found a garage maintanaince sticker on the air cleaner). The guy told me the owner felt money was NO object in taking care of this vehicle. He put two grand into body work which explains the great shape of it! Unfortunately, the mechanic told me he fixed the frame (in the front) TWICE by welding it and it could no longer be fixed this way and would NO WAY pass inspection!! Even when it was good, the alignment had to be done every six months. So the lesson we all learn from this is NEVER trust a junkyard owner to tell you the truth! So I'm off to find another one to talk the wife into letting me play with! Thanks for all your input and ideas!! If the car does make it into the yard, I'm going to pick up the engine from it and put it aside for my power wagon or something else since I am a huge a slant six fan! If anyone is interested in any parts from it, I will contact them when and if it does make into the yard for parts sale. Just give me an e-mail and I'll keep you posted!!

Take Care and Have A GREAT Day!!!

Kryin' Kevin but still the owner of a '73 Power Wagon in progress with the leaning tower of power!

where exactly do you live 8track?
i used to live in nicholson, 30 miles or so north of scranton...just north of clark's summit and whatnot....

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My Dart
GO VOLS!
It's not rocket science, we're just splitting atoms.