King of Compacts is how a 1962 brochure describes the first-generation Plymouth Valiant. Coming in several years before the flood of Japanese imports that most of us think of when we think of “compact cars,” the Valiant was, at the time, a slightly smaller, less-expensive car than others in the Plymouth lineup. This one is listed here on eBay in Salem, Oregon, and the seller has it listed at $4,000 or best offer.
Most of the ’62 Plymouth Valiant four-door sedans we’ve seen here on Barn Finds have been white; that seems strange to me. Even stranger, Plymouth gave their color white a nice name: Ermine White! Not just plain White as some other lazy car companies would have defaulted to. This car looks pretty nice to me, condition-wise. The design is up for debate, although I like the design. Big shocker.
Out of a ton of great photos that the seller has included in their eBay listing, there isn’t one photo showing the rear of the car. This is a screenshot of the video that they posted, and the rear looks as nice as the rest of the car does. The bumpers may need a bit of tweaking, but I don’t see too many alarming things related to the condition of this car’s exterior otherwise.
The fabric and vinyl seats need help in front, but the rear seating area looks nice. The floor covering also needs help, and the passenger kick panel is missing, as is the glove box door. I believe the padded dash should be matched to the rest of the interior, but the black vinyl on it now looks perfect. Any ideas on that? Plymouth made the first-generation Valiant from 1959 for the 1960 model year, until the end of 1962, in a two-door sedan, four-door sedan, and a wagon version. I’ve always wondered what a convertible may have looked like – here’s a rare brochure showing one (crickets) (train whistle in the distance)…
The slant-six engine is basically bomb-proof, but I’m not sure which one this is. Added in 1961 was the 225-cu.in. version; otherwise, the base 170 was standard. This one appears to have power steering, which is fancy as heck. It’s backed by a push-button-shifted TorqueFlite transmission, and the seller says it runs and drives, but the transmission works best if the car is warmed up first. Hagerty is at $6,900 for a #4 fair-condition example, so this doesn’t seem like a bad deal to me. How much would you pay for this Valiant?
I always thought , even as a child in the sixties, that the Valiant was an ungainly mess. But that convertible version looks handsome. It’s a good deal but fifty years ago you would have gotten laughed at driving one.
My grandparents had one of these and it was the car I first learned to drive on back in the 70’s. Fairly simple and absolutely “no frills” with the ability to get you from point A to B safely and if I remember correctly enough room for 6. No complaints!
My parents had a black 61′ with red interior with a 3 on the tree. Sadly the Philadelphia winters rusted it out around the Slant six which was fine.
The wagons are really cool looking to me but SO rare now.
We had a white early 1960s Valiant when I was a kid. I think it was earlier than this one, with the “toilet seat” rear decklid. I was too young to take much notice about the family bus at the time, but family lore says that a snow plow ripped the roof off the thing when it was buried in a snow drift. (So much for the fancy “Ermine White”!)
I love the convertible version. The 2 door actually looks better without the roof in my opinion. Once again Scotty pulled off something that actually looks like it could have come from Chrysler. Overall this one looks very solid, especially for a car that was primarily used up as daily transportation.
I concur; due to its’ styling quirks, the four door sedan is better looking than a two door!
There was no convertible Valiant until `63, which was the second generation Elwood Engel designed boxy version.
The Virgil Exner designed `60 Valiants were 4 doors and wagons only, `61 & `62 had 4 doors, wagons, 2 door sedans and 2 door hardtops.
David, I’m assuming you didn’t see the link at the end of the fourth paragraph where I made one in Photoshop?
David, I live in Gladstone, Queensland. There was a blue ute made from one that used to be around town a lot. I talked to the guy who had it one day. It took a hard hit to the rear, thus the ute conversion.
The first car I ever owned was a 1960 Valiant station wagon. It rusted almost in half. It was upgraded to a 1966 Valiant coupe, which the 1960 donated it’s transmission to fix. For a while the station wagon had logos on the sides, “All the brothers drive Valiants.”
Thanks, Dave!
Ah, that is sort of cool looking.
Someone made a UTE out of a `61 V200 in Australia if you search the web.
The inserted back picture looks to have “Lancer” taillights. I remember the Valiant taillights being in the two rear “wings” kind of slanted.
`60 & `61 Valiants had the cat eye tail lights in the fins.
`62 had round tail light beneath the fins as pictured.
`61/`62 Lancer tail lights were indeed round but incorporated into the fin, not beneath them.
Thanks for straightening me out!
Thanks!
I thought the same thing
Even though the Valiant and Lancer were basically the same, I always preferred the Lancer.
As quirky as the styling is I always liked these year Valiants. Not sure if it had a carpet flooring or a rubber pad but overall it looks pretty clean in and out and those slant 6’s will run forever. Those hubcaps definitely came off of a much later year Plymouth as my grandfather had a new 74′ Valiant with the exact same wheel covers.
Listing update: someone made the seller an offer they couldn’t refuse, it’s gone.