For all you '60-'62 Exner Valiant and Lancer fans!

[Bill Crowell]

I recently installed the Auto Body Specialties front and rear torque plate kit in my '62 Valiant V-200 more-door:

http://www.autobodyspecialt.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=MP-AR2829

Although the kit is advertised as fitting '63-'76 Valiant and Dart only, I found not only that it fit my '62 pretty well, but that it fit even though my car has subframe connectors and the Mopar rear spring relocation kit installed. The front torque plates can be boxed right into the subframe connectors.

I called the man at ABS and told him how well his torque plates fit on my '62, even though it is non-stock, and he said he'd probably change his website to say they fit '62-'76. He seemed quite knowledgeable about the Exner-styled early A bodies. When I suggested the kit might also fit a '60-'61, he said he was pretty sure it wouldn't because the bodies those years were different somehow. He also said that a '62 can take a '63 floorpan, but a '60-'61 can't.

I've always been curious about the exact differences between the '60-'61 and the '62 Valiants and Lancers. (I know the '62 has slightly different front clip and fenders, which are not interchangeable with the '60-'61.)

 

[VDART]

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=80749&highlight=1962+valiant&page=3

here is a thread about the toads, thanks for posting 1st hand knowledge of a part ! Lawrence

 

[slantsixdan]

The deeper you dig into a '60-'61 Vlaiant/Lancer, the more differences you find vs. '62+. Hemi Anderson put it well, I think: "The first two years of Valiant/Lancer were really 1950s cars." He's right.

 

[Bill Crowell]

Dan, remember when you were a kid and the comic books had puzzles in them, such as the ones about "how many things can you find wrong in this picture"?

One of these days maybe I'm going to do something similar with the early Valiants. I've got the FSMs for both the '60 and the '62 models. I could post all the pictures of the body sheet metal from both FSMs side-by-side, and see how many differences we can find!

Does that sound like a plan? Anybody else interested in that?

 

[VDART]

sure, Charlie S has a complete parts manual (I sold it to him) I also have a 62 tech manual .

I wished I had been diligent when I had 61& 62's at my house for a time

 

[Bill Crowell]

To start with, I have always heard that one of the biggest differences between the '60-'61 and the '62 was in the steering control arms and the front K-member, so I compared them in the FSMs.

The 1962 FSM is a combined Plymouth and Valiant manual, where most of the chapters have different sections for Plymouth and Valiant. But the steering and K-member chapter has only one section, which must therefore apply to both Valiant and Plymouth. So I think that the '62 Valiant and Lancer had the same K-member and steering as the full-sized Plymouth (which was downsized somewhat for '62).

I am not seeing any difference in the body sheet metal or doors, really. They used the '60 FSM's body panel diagrams over again in the '62 manual, and just re-numbered them with the suffix "A".

 

[slantsixdan]

Off the top of my head, not counting minor/trivial stuff like different badges and trim (but VDart, I sure hope you kept the "shark fin" ornaments off the tops of the fenders on that red '60!), substantially different parts comparing a '60 vs a '62 Valiant include:

K-frame
Engine mounts (all 3)
Upper control arms
Lower control arms
Upper ball joints
Lower ball joints
Torsion bar mounts
Pitman arm
Idler arm
Drag link
Steering gearbox
Steering column
Steering shaft-to-box coupler
Starter motor
Flywheel or torque converter ring gear
Manual transmission assembly
Manual transmission shifter
Parking brake cables and anchors
Parking brake mechanism
Brake light switch setup
Amount of electrical system protection (almost none in '60, not much in '62)
Fenders
Hood
Grille and surround
Front bumper
Front valence panel
Cowl
Steering wheel
Turn signal switch arrangement
Dashboard
Instrument cluster assembly
Tail lamps and surrounding sheetmetal
Door handles*
Glovebox latch*
Vent wing latches*
Quarter window gaskets and surrounds*
Trunk lid*

Items marked with * are different but directly interchangeable; other items are either non-interchangeable or only with significant work.

I'm not sure about floor pans; this outfit says their repair pan fits '60-'65 (which raises questions about '66, which should be same as '65). Then there's this outfit—which has a lot of repair parts it's nice to know are out there, but I'm not sure what to make of their listings, which show two different front floor pan repair panels, one for '60-'64 and one for '60-'65. Maybe the first one should be '60-'61 and the other should be '62-'66? Donno.

 

[VDART]

sadly I did not save the trim off the 1960 pictured, in fact I should have kept that car it was very clean just a locked up motor & at the time it was my first toad .

 

[pishta]

Dan, whats the chance these '67+' inners fitting a 65? could it be that the narrow A was just more narrow?

 

[slantsixdan]

pishta, I'm sure I don't know. :-(

 

[pishta]

well, I just looked at my 65 and the old inners bolt in horizontally on the top row so they must be different? Now we both know...:-(