1962 "R" Series Valiant.
Body No. RV1 - 2 - 101
Body No. RV1 - 2 - 101
"What a piece of crap:....... that's pretty much what every person who saw the Valiant said about it, as it sat in a delapidated state in the garage. Honestly, I thought I'd made a massive mistake. I was under no illusions though - I knew it was pretty stuffed, but I was after something I could simply play with and practice auto skills on.
My God.....there was some practice to be had with this thing.
When it arrived on a flatbed, Sandie pretty much looked and shook her head. To be fair, John was the only one who thought something could become of it. My plan was to simply play with it - it's not like I could hurt it, and it didn't matter if it took 10 years to look half decent.
It had sat in this state for 12 years, with nothing done to it before I got it. But, it WAS an "R" Series......and they are pretty rare.
I said I'd never get another Valiant after Pa's one......
My God.....there was some practice to be had with this thing.
When it arrived on a flatbed, Sandie pretty much looked and shook her head. To be fair, John was the only one who thought something could become of it. My plan was to simply play with it - it's not like I could hurt it, and it didn't matter if it took 10 years to look half decent.
It had sat in this state for 12 years, with nothing done to it before I got it. But, it WAS an "R" Series......and they are pretty rare.
I said I'd never get another Valiant after Pa's one......
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The car is an original 3 speed floor shift manual - the one with the "curvy" gearstick. It came with most of it's exterior trim but there was heaps that I had to source locally and overseas. I decided early on that I wanted to do an "original" car. I've never tried to do an all original car, so why not ? This cars paint tage said it was AL 7140 Leaf Green. This was supported by scraping of the 3 or more layers of other paint that had been applied over the years, and finally reaching the original green underneath - Leaf Green.
It's actually hard trying to get a colour that is an exact match to what would have been Leaf Green back in the day, because each manufacturer has it's own tints. I originally had one green done before using a slightly different shade (also called Leaf Green) which is actually quite nice in real life.
It's actually hard trying to get a colour that is an exact match to what would have been Leaf Green back in the day, because each manufacturer has it's own tints. I originally had one green done before using a slightly different shade (also called Leaf Green) which is actually quite nice in real life.
