The Great White Brick - '69 Valiant

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There's still a goodly amount of unrestored A-bodys out there. I look at Craigs list every so often, and I see some really good deals. I've been walking by a solid Demon, on my morning walk for the last two years. I've got three A-bodies myself. I don't see many Valiants, so it's always nice to see one thats being brought back to life. All things being equal, I think our hobby will be alive and kicking for a few years yet to come. Howard
 
This car is all about hobby for us. We've put in more hours than you can count. I've contributed just about every spare part I had kicking around, and then some. It's great! Tonight I soldered up some bad wiring in the engine bay and it brought me back to my youth when I learned how to solder and I was soldering computer stuff and little electronic things as a hobby. We just work away, chatting and listening to the radio...it's a real social thing. I wish the garage was big enough for two cars and 4 people, then we'd have a real party!
 
Big day today! We put in a temporary steering wheel, temp seat (bucket with foam pad) then we put wheels on the car, bled the brakes and actually DROVE the car out of the garage!!

This is the first time this car has moved under its own power in almost 20 years!! Yay!!

Sanding the body has begun too.......so exciting.

I took a movie, I will post it somewhere for you all to see...very cool!

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Movies....

http://www.enbcom.com/valiant

MVI_9450.avi - car coming out of garage for first time in 6 months, first time under its own power in almost 20 years.

MVI_9452.avi - Tom trying to lay some rubber but the strip is a little short!
 
Okay, one more. Here's Tom happy as a pig in you know what (just firing the car up, getting ready to roll!

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awesome! if that was mine i would pull up some chairs, grab some cold ones and just stare at all the hard work and the beautiful sight in front of me!

of course, fire it up and throttle it a few times as well!!!..............
 
Yupp....we did that.....but there's still work to be done so back into the garage it's gone.

I'm cleaning up the trunk in prep for finishing the floor paint and seam sealer, Tom is repairing and fitting the fiberglass front fenders.......

.....and every so often we fire it up and listen to it roar.
 
We're hoping to have it painted with headliner and glass installed in time for Carlisle!! But I'm thinking that's a stretch. Moparfest? Perhaps. I've never actually been.....I always hope to go but something always comes up that time of year.

I take it you'll be there with your '68? I'd love to see it.
 
1966 dart wagon said:
wow you are hauling *** on your car, very nice progress, i loved the pictures, u make us including me all look lazy :sad1: :lol:
Click to expand...
I secong that remark, including the lazy part!
 
I do plan on taken the Valiant IF I go. I have already registered but 2 nights ago we got a phone call asking us if we want Nascar tickets. The g/f and I went 2 years ago and it was awesome. amazing seats, camping, shopping etc. So now I'm confused. :(
 
very nice, i remember starting my car up and getting it to move on its own power again, its a very good feeling, keep us posted with pics :thumbup:
 
Visited the wrecking yard again today, here's a shot of the Dart that sacrificed its life to donate its floor pan to the Deviant project. I think the Dart was actually in better condition than the Deviant....but that's life!

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We finished cleaning up the trunk area, coated with MCU and we're prepping the body for paint. It's looking like a real car now!

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Unbelievable !!! Yall look like you are having the time of your life.
I like the first time rolling in 20 year vidio, Got a chill bump rush out of it.:-D
What can I say This is going to be a special dart.

To COOL.:toothy10:
mybe I will see this car one day at a show or strip.
Keep up the fun and hard work guy's yall made my morning.:cheers:
 
Okay, the Deviant has been getting sanded and primered all week and now it's getting paint! Tom is painting it right now as we speak. I was there today, we finished sanding some areas and Tom's built a homemade downdraft fan system in the garage.

Basically there's an old furnace fan rigged to the side door with a vent running across the floor (with a filter on it), and the car is rolled over top of it. In the main large garage door there's a filtered vent to let fresh air come in. We put plastic on the ceiling to stop some dust from the attic, hosed the floor wet and rolled the car back in to get sealer and paint.

By tomorrow I'll have some photos of the car W1 White again, for the first time in many many years!

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Oh ya, you have to remember that this car has less than a cup of bondo on it. Only along the rear trunk where an old dent was discovered. The rest of the car was pretty rust free.....EXCEPT of course the floor and frame which is where most of the work was. From the rocker panels up everything was pretty good....I guess this is why we thought the car should be saved.

Now with a new front frame, patched rear frame, new floors, new rockers, new drivetrain, new suspension, new paint and a ton of work, she's a whole car again!
 
I agree with a down draft, I like the paint to go down out of sight and away from top services. Less over spray.
Can't wait to see it in it's new skin.:toothy10:
It's a good day.
 
Looking excellent Neil. I wish I would have done a good job like you guys have done!! Consider yourself lucky I don't live around the corner from ya..hee-hee

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Neil what is the full name of that silver rust undercoat you are using and where in Canada can you get it I am close to being ready believe it or not. I should have a restoration thread started in the next month or so.
 
Bad news. The paint job, although technically excellent, went bad. I mean, Tom did a great job but the whole thing orange peeled really bad! What might have caused this?

I do know he forgot to ground the car...he knows it was a bad mistake and he just somehow forgot. Would that cause orange peel all over?
 
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