Shady Lady

I have had this car for 24 years, bought her in 1987, in fact I tried to buy her twice, the first time I saw her she was in the bomb yard at the back of the local ford dealer I was there with the boss collecting one of our customers cars and there she was, my boss was not a great businessman and owed me some wages so he asked if I wanted it, I really wanted a HQ coupe but they were way out of my price range and I could see some potential for this one even if it was an old Valiant at least it only had two doors and it might have a V8, so the boss tried to purchase it but was told that it was part of a lot, the ford dealer would sell off the trade ins they didn’t want to put on their lot in groups of 4 that way they didn’t get stuck with the junk no one wanted, never mind it wasn’t a HQ anyway! About 3 months later the boss has gone out of business and I am on the dole and have saved the huge amount of $200, when I saw an add for an old valiant hardtop, $500 was the asking price, so I took my $200 to prices autorama and found it was the same car, fairly straight and looked complete, had some rust showing and had seen better days, I haggled for all I was worth but the salesman wouldn’t go below $350 so I told him that I only had $200 and would pay the rest off he didn’t like that much until we opened the bonnet and found that several important bits like the carby were missing so he finally took my $200 and put the car on layby. My friends thought I was mad but I could see some potential and there was no way I was going to be able to afford a HQ anyway, I got her home and began work, my old boss loaned me all kinds of tools the most important was an oxy set, the bit of rust that was showing was just the tip of the iceberg, it took me 6 months with an oxy to cut and weld all the holes up and I found that at some stage it had been in a bad prang, the right hand quaterpanel had been replaced and the rear bumber and boot lid did not fit quite right but these were beyond my capabilities and when it was painted it looked ok, I had trouble getting some parts. Back then you could still buy valiant parts from the dealers but some of the parts I wanted were not listed in the parts book that’s when I first discovered that these hardtops were not built in Australia but assembled here with the local front clip and right hand drive. Finally almost 2 years later I got her registered 3 days later an old bloke tried to make a right hand turn from the left lane and I had no where to go but through him, his car was a write off, since then 5 more vehicles ran into her and a piano! She also caught fire once and had to escape flood water by driving through water that came up to the door handles, after more than 20 years as a daily driver she was looking a bit sad, but she was the only car I had so I kept driving her, the last 5 years my circumstances have changed a little and for the first time in a long time I have been able to save some money so I decided to get her fixed up a bit however I don’t have many tools left and no where to work on her so I went to a panel beater and asked for a paint job and a few other bits and pieces replaced like the roof lining and dash pad etc he gave me a quote for a restoration and said it would take about 3 months, I said ok and booked her in.









15 months later I have her back and she is worth every cent I wouldn’t even swap her for a HQ !

Wow, looks fantastic John, glad to see the old girl all pretty as I bet you are, congrats mate.

That's a great story!You two were meant to be together.Looks great tooLrt's hope for 20 or so more years together .Thanks for the happy story.Best to you.Bill

Very nice mate, she looks incredible now. Great to see another Val saved, thanks for posting. Have fun cruising

Great story with a happy outcome. I agree with Bill - you two were meant to be together. I don't recall seeing a Valiant coupe in Victoria, but I'm sure they were around? It is a very nice looking car and you're one lucky guy to have it.

Looks great John. Pimp my ride! did you get a 32" tv, a coffee percolator and a waterbed in the boot?

Shoey wrote:Looks great John. Pimp my ride! did you get a 32" tv, a coffee percolator and a waterbed in the boot?

no but there is room ...when r u comin around to install them ?

What a cool old mopar good to see you save her ,they are rare now days,missed buying a white one once.

Well at least your flying the MOPAR flag mate
Looks good

Outstanding car man , but keep the polish into it that colour has habit of breaking down . Dad had a vc in that colour and it was repainted but still went down like before they painted it .
Great car to cruz in , most ended up being chopped to make the convertable which didnt work because the clowns forgot to strengthen the floors ! Enjoy .

VERY, VERY ,VERY , NICE MATE!, Love it, gotta apreciate the perserverance and eventually the dedication, you now have something more special than a "dirty old HQ", these things really turn heads as most youngin's have no clue what they are, i'm always being asked by youf, "what is it?"Enjoy every moment mate!

thanks for all the nice words guys

I forgot my auntie Voilet bought a white one of these new she had a EK Holden before it,it was black in side,the valiant towed a big horse float around it had four race horse's in it a anyone time.its a shame not a lot like the Valiant's they were a great car.

WOW - what a transformation! Looks fantastic John and would be worth a lot more than $500 these days I reckon...

Love the car...love the story.

The funny thing is , growing up these Val's didn't do anything for me , in my area they were migrant or indigenous cars ... Now they look hot and I wouldn't mind one . Nice job on this one

looks awesome and i loved the story too.

i used to own a VG four door, so i know what they are like.

my godson recently got married and asked if they could use my car as the wedding car, yesterday they presented me with a framed pic as a thankyou.

Looks beautiful mate, I didn't know you were a MOPAR man?
It's a real credit to you. I had my old Val in a wedding earlier this year and it's a great feeling to have it on show on a special day

ive had all kinds but have managed to hang onto this one the longest

Nice reward mate, looks really sweet done in that old b/w look. NICE!!!

  bet your are proud of it too.

as i reversed into aparking space today the stupid &^%$#*&% cow in the next space opened her door against my car.

Not good. Not good at all mate!

Geez it looks like she opened the door using both feet. Don't tell me she was driving jap plastic! Will have to be more particular where I park the EJ.