Hi. It’s hard to begin. I have a 1974 Plymouth Valiant. My dad had gotten it for me for a real good price so I could have it for my first car. So it wouldn’t be a big loss if I wrecked it while learning to drive on my own. My dad and I had put about $500 in to it just to get it running, replacing some hoses, brakes and a few other little things. It is a sparkly brown colored with a dark tan top. No dings or dents at all (witch was kind of surprising to me when I got it since it was an old now a classic). This car wasn’t the ideal car but it got me everywhere I needed to go. At the time it was band camp (8 years playing the trumpet).
It had:
Power steering
No Power Brakes (nice for the right calf)
No power windows / Door locks
Security System (driver door lock doesn’t work so if I lock the doors you have to get in through the passenger side and slide over. No one would want to steal it anyways. Maybe the gas but not the car.)
AM radio (picked up only 1 AM channel. WBAC. So every morning on the way to High school I would hear the obituaries. Something was better than nothing.)
You have to let it warm up nice and good before you go anywhere or when you stop and hit the gas to make it across the street it would die on you. One special evening when I went to the local Collage to pick up my little sister, who is in grade school and was taking a summer class at the collage, and on the way home it started clanging really loud. It was loud enough to echo between the trees on the sides of the streets. We had stopped by Wendy’s to get some lunch and then went towards home. All most making it, the engine stopped and we coasted down the road a little. After trying to get it starting again and not able to, I ended up getting out and pushing it off the road so no one would hit it. Heavy as crap car. Anyways, my guess is that the oil pump quit and locked up the engine. My dad found another one about 2 years ago but hasn’t had time to put it in. I currently have a 2000 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner. Now that I have a good part time job and have seen movies like Fast and the Furious, Triple X, Men in Black 2, and have seen decent old cars turned in to bad beasts old cars, I am wanting to do that with my Valiant. Give it a paint job, put a bigger engine in it and soop it up, redo the inside and put power windows/door locks and a real radio system with a speaker in each door. It was a pretty weak car before but I want to change that. I also want to be able to drive it whenever I want and make it look good, but then I don’t want a show car that I never drive either.
Question 1:
How much? Can someone estimate me a round about $$$?
Question 2:
How long will it take to finish project?
I would like to know what everyone thinks and any suggestions anyone may have on what to do or anything special or whatever. Thanks for your time.
Jess Disney
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