Hi all. My names Kev and I have 1969 Chrysler Valiant wagon running a Hemi inline 6. I also have another '69 wagon shell that I am going to modify. I have just sold a '65 Chrysler Valiant wagon and the family runaround is a 1990 Toyota Landcruiser diesel wagon.
Welcome Kev! Here in Canada and the US, they were called Plymouth Valiant, even though Chrysler made them. I think that Dodge also made wagons on that body for the US, but not in Canada. Nice to see ya, mate. Has that dust storm settled down yet?
Actually the only exterior sheet metal shared with the US version of the 69 Valiant and Dart was the front doors and the cowl. The 68 Aussie Valiant shared its front sheet metal with the US 67-69 Dart, but by 69, the Aussie Valiant had very little resemblance to the US version. From 68 on, most of the Australian Valiant was of completely Australian design. In the US and the rest of the world where Valiants and Darts were sold, 66 was the last year for a station wagon version. The only other exception was South Africa. In South Africa in 68 anyway, the Australian Valiant wagon body was used but with the US Valiant front sheet metal which gave it a completely different appearance from the Aussie Valiant wagon in the front. The Australian Valiant wagons were exported to other right hand drive countries. In England, knocked down versions of the Australian Valiant sedans and wagons were assembled alongside 67-69 Barracudas that were shipped over from the US in knocked down form and assembled with right hand drive components from the Aussie Valiants. These were assembled at the Rootes factory where Sunbeam Alpines and Tigers, and the Hillman (briefly known in the US as the Plymouth Cricket) were built. Since Chrysler owned Rootes from 66 on, the Australian Valiant's role was to replace the big Humber Super Snipes, but the Valiant wasn't as successful in England as it was elsewhere in the world. Meanwhile, the whole Sunbeam Tiger arrangement with the Ford engine under the hood and the Chrysler Pentastar on the right front fender is a different story. Bottom line is the 69 Australian Valiant wagon and Wayfarer Ute pickup were completely unique to that part of the world.
Yah it's nice to hear from someone who knows their stuff. The aussie's have such great cars, with the same names but different styling. So if ya got be sure to get 'em up here, we're pixel fiends!
Thanks for the welcome guys. Jim has pretty well nailed it with his description. If you check my pic out you can see the rear of my '69 Valiant Wayfarer ute (pickup). The tail lights are similar to the '67 Barracuda and first appeared here on the '67 (VE)model. They continued on the ute only until '70. In '69 we also received a hardtop which was the Dodge Dart with Australian front sheet metal. My wagon should have left the factory with the 225 slant. Instead it received the first production 2bbl upright engine known as the Hemi 6. This car actually left the factory with engine #00001. The Hemi was officially released in '70.
mumble grumble Something Chrysler did here in America,that really bugged me,was when they stopped making Valiant/Dart sized wagons.Early Seventies I believe...The Volare/Aspen wagons were great cars,though...
Thats right. From 1970 until the introduction of the Aspen and Volare wagons in 1976, the smallest Mopar wagons were the B-body Satellites and Coronets (later called Fury and Monaco). Unless of course, you count the British made Plymouth Cricket wagon and the Japanese made Dodge Colt wagon. The Valiant line in the US consisted of only the 2 door sedan and 4 door sedan from 67-69. In 70 the two door sedan was replaced by the Duster coupe, and in 71 the Dart two door hardtop body was added to the Valiant line. Meanwhile, the Dart had the 2 door hardtop body style all the way until the end of the Dart line in 76 as well as a convertible in 67-69 and the Duster coupe body to make the Demon and Dart Sport coupes from 71 till the end of the line. But no wagons during all those years after 66. Theres a little known fact about the 67-69 Valiant line though. In Mexico, in addition to the sedan models, there was a 67-69 Valiant 2 door hardtop that used the same sedan roof as the Valiant 2 door sedan, but with no center post. On a side note, in Mexico, the 67 Coronet 440 and 500 series featured the hidden headlight grille of the U.S. 66-67 Charger, even on 4 door models. So, I've been wondering if there were Coronet station wagons assembled and sold in Mexico in 67. If there were, then I think that they too would have the Charger's grille with the hidden headlights.
Now,there's an idea!..I've seen videos of Pontiac wagons turned into GTO wagons...A Charger wagon with a 426 Hemi and a four speed manual. Talk about sleepers...
Welcome to the forum. Great wagon. Would love to hear more about that Hemi6 and see some pics of it. Also what kind of mods do you plan on doing?
I had a 84 Plymouth Reliant when I was younger. That wagon was great Got me coast to coast a few times when I was 20.
