1970 Plymouth Valiant Duster
HOW LONG HAVE YOU OWNED THE CAR?
I bought it for €15,750 on 22 October 2005 from a dealer in the Netherlands when I was working in Germany. The car was initially shipped to Oliver Zinn at moparshop.de near Dortmund. He was a great help with registering the car, getting it through its first TÜV (German MoT) and insurance evaluation. I’ve since refurbished the bumpers and rear lamp clusters, fitted new headlights and windscreen, repaired the boot wheel well, fixed paint blemishes (but no complete respray) and added ‘383’ engine call-out numbers to the black stripes. I returned to the UK in October 2015 and registered the car here on 9 January 2016. The current insurance valuation is £25,000.
HOW MUCH HISTORY?
The VIN tag says that it is an export model built at the Dodge plant in Hamtramck, Michigan, on 16 June 1970. It was originally a six-cylinder 225ci 145bhp model in Bright Blue Metallic and exported to Denmark on 1 July 1970 and modified to its present configuration by a Mopar specialist there. It was last registered in Denmark on 28 August 2003. Engine swap: V8 big block 383ci (6258cc), Torqueflite 727 gearbox, limited-slip axle, 15in Rallye wheels, heavy-duty front torsion bars, front anti-roll bar and heavy-duty rear springs, Bilstein shock absorbers front and rear, 1971 shark-tooth grille and 1971-style black stripes.
WHAT’S LEFT TO DO ON IT?
Maintenance mostly now. In addition, road camber is reversed to driving in Germany and I’d like to get the steering alignment checked.