What a wonderfully fine little car! It’s not a pretentious collectible, or a fawned-over muscle car, just a nice compact convertible in the form of a 1964 Plymouth Valiant. This is the type of old car that is too often overlooked, and shouldn’t be – it really has a lot going for it. It may be a bit pricey at $24,000 but let’s see what’s here and might be driving the ask. Located in Los Angeles, California, this shiny drop top is available, here on craigslist.
This sporty Valiant got a new stable mate in ’64 in the form of the Barracuda. Even though the Barracuda was a hardtop only that year, it likely stole some of the Valiant’s thunder. A Valiant convertible was fairly rare in ’64 with just 5,800 copies being assembled. This example is powered by a 145-gross HP 225 CI, “slant-six” engine – probably as indestructible an internal combustion engine as ever existed. Regarding all things mechanical, the seller tells us, “New Slant 6 225 ci engine overhaul. New transmission rebuild. Trans is Push Button 3 speed Automatic w new shift linkage. Rebuilt and updated drive shaft. Rear End gears were inspected and are in excellent condition with new gear fluid installed. New front disk brake conversion. Upper and lower ball joints were replaced. New shocks. New steering box. Radiator redone“. The listing proclaims, “Drives Great” and there’s no evidentiary reason to assume otherwise.
The thoroughly deep crimson finish is fairly new, having been applied in 2019. The entire presentation, including the stainless trim, chrome, and new black vinyl top is excellent. This little Plymouth makes a big visual statement! There is no reference to repaired rust, and certainly, no trace of any in hiding so I’ll run with the assumption that it’s a non-issue. The panel alignment all looks good too – as good as it got in ’64, so crash damage is probably a non-event. Of note, several listing images portray this car with a white top – that was the previous lid before the new black one was installed. Lastly, I’m not a fan of white-lettered tires, and they’re technically out of step on a ’64 model anything, but in this case, they work, and work quite well!
Inside is where the head-scratching starts – I’m not sure what’s up with the bench seat other than it being covered with a cheap-looking black fabric cover – no telling what’s under it. The seller mentions that a new dash pad has been installed and that’s good to know, but in one image it’s black, so I don’t know if we’re looking at the original one (above) or if it is a before-and-after pictorial. It’s the same matter as listed above where some images feature a white top. It’s best to get the car completely finished, as in ready for sale, then start snapping away – anything else is confusing and can be misleading. Anyway, beyond that, what’s visible of the carpet shows as being a bit faded but I’d expect that after 59 years of existence in a convertible.
There you have it! It’s a cool little car with some nice improvements and upgrades. But that begs the question, $24,000 worth of nice stuff? What do you think, priced right, or not quite?
$15K – $17K max…..
A lot of love poured into that one, consider the hours it took to do that before casting aspersions. Red is one of my favorite flavors!
Neat little Mopar. Reminds me of the 65 Valiant convertible my brother owned. His was baby blue with a darker blue top and blue interior.
My grandmother had a Dodge charger convertible 64 I love that car
Would make a nice driver…just a little overpriced
I M O $6 to 8k tops. Anything over that is show off money. I don’t care how much the current owner has in it. For what they are asking there is so much more, and better out there.
Nobody is interested in your seat cover. I’ll never understand why folks obscure an extremely important aspect of the car you are trying to sell!
Passed on a similar blue one for 13k. I think
that was a good deal; dang it!
Being in LA adds 40%… for someone, not me.
Needs a lot of love and attention
Don’t get me wrong but price ant right twomuch money
I had a 73 with a 400cui bb blueprinted
Really loved that car so sorry I sold it
Only missing one thing and that was a/c
Like I said before 2 down at 55 or even 75 just don’t get it
And my car was white with red stripe white interior
Man I loved that car and the horn
400 with a thermocarb locking rear
Sorry but I’d have to ditch those white letter tires. Those and that dreaded seat cover is a turn off, especially at that asking price.
LOL! Because remounting the tires and slipping off a seat protector are so hard…
It’s pretty. When it doesn’t sell then yes, the price is to high.
If graded at a high #2 would only be a $16,000 car. White letter tires are later in the 60s’, should have went with whitewalls, and put the trim rings on with the hub caps. I liked it better with the white top, I could see a black top with a black interior. BTW it does not appear to be the Signet model of the 64 Valiant
convertible which would put the value @ $17,000, still far short of the ask.
It’s a very good seat cover😄
My uncle had one of these converts when I was a kid. Dark blue with a white top. Sharp looking car, that never seemed to run.
My favorite year Valiant, 1964, last year for push button drive. I had a 64 two door post Valiant, 170 slant six, that was a perfect run-around-car. It cost less than $2K new, got as good gas mileage as a VW, had more room, and not to mention, was safer. I got a chance to get a 65 Barracuda that had add-on a/c so I sold the Valiant and got the Barracuda. .
My dad bought a white ’64 Valiant brand new in ’64, white exterior, blue interior. $23 or $2,400? Can’t remember. My sister got it in ’67 and eventually sold it in the ’70’s. Car was indestructible! Dad would even drive with the top down in the winter and rain coming down. My brother and I would crouch down on the rear floor when he stopped to try and stay dry! Later on, I had a 4 door ’64 with a 273 in it- drove it for 5 years in the ’80’s and it was a great car. Bought a ’65 Barracuda, with a slant 6and rusted floors in ’83 and drove it for a year or so. Just purchased a ’66 Dart GT Convertible in original #3 condition this morning. These are just great cars, that are a lot of fun- but it is overpriced by about 10G’s.
My very frugal grandparents gave up on their ’55 VW “Bug” and bought a brown ’64 Valiant wagon, slant Six, three-on-the-tree … learned to drive a stick on it and the turquoise ’58 Apache Fleetside … that Six was pretty much indestructible until the ’68 318 Fury III replaced it (LOTS of HS memories in that one), which he replaced it with a ’67 Chrysler a few years later – never figured that one out …
Back in ’72 my brother was looking for a car and I couldn’t talk him into one of these. It was a ’65 white w/ a blue top and interior, 273 auto. on the floor and bucket seats. It was just about perfect w/ only 40,000 on it. Dealer wanted a grand for it. Instead he got a ’67 dart GT with a 273 and auto., it had bad paint and a crusty white interior. The Dart turned out to be real turd, he traded it in on anew Pinto in ’73. All because he was not going to drive a Valiant. They should have badged these as a Barracuda convertible and sold a lot more.
I too had a ’64 4dr. With the 273v8 and push button auto. My first car bought from my sister . Drove it daily until I hit a 1600 cow. Wasn’t much damage but bent roof and bpillar made it unpractical to repair.
Love the car!
It would be better with “64” tail lights ( those are “66”).
I think that Greg M priced it right
What was he difference on the tail lights between ’65 and ’66? Can’t remember…
The taillights are correct for a 1964 Valiant and without some body work, a 1965 taillights wouldn’t fit a 64.
Finally a car on here with a proper restoration. Once a vehicle is taken apart and assembled that all seems and panels aligned perfectly that means there is tons of body filler. None of these older cars ever came out of the factory absolutely perfect no perfect seams no perfect panel alignment and no perfect paint. Anything that is done absolutely perfect is no longer a truly collectible car it’s a resto mod.
Maybe the price is a little high for this particular vehicle but I’ve seen other vehicles that were nothing but rust go for crazier prices
Wow!what a sharp lookin’ car!my grandparents bought a 2dr hardtop,bronze with red interior in new in early 64.passed onto my mom in the 80s and grew up riding in that car.given to me in the early 2003.my stepdad had put a 8.75″posi trac rear end with 3.55 gears and v8 torsion bars in the front riding on 14 inch chrysler rallye wheels.it had bucket seats,had plans to put a 340 in it.ended up selling it in 2005 to a collector.it was a rust free california car.regret selling it
The seat covers flew out the window in my big block ’65 Valiant when going at a high rate of speed. Oh my..
My 1965 Valiant Signet, mid 10 second grocery getter that I drive weekly, its alternative fuel car….premium fuel & race gas….drive them now before they wont let us !!