A good Old Car Story

[Bob T]

Howdy, a few years back after much searching, I was fortunate enough to luck onto a rareish car ( rare out here anyway ) it was a 1971 Aussie Chrysler Valiant Pacer 265c.i.d. 4spd #1484 out of 1641 total built. Of these only 10% were 4 speeds and this one had been bare metalled and repainted in the original Mercury Silver and the motor had been rebuilt and had a bit of a cam.

It had been un-registered for 12 years and off the road for 4 years while the resto was being done. As it was 8 1/2 hours drive away, a guy I knew went and took a lot of photos and did some checking. After a few weeks of sporadic contact from the owner who worked nightshift and lived in a rural area and was slowly finishing the car to get it on the road,  and legal we arrived at a price subject to viewing.

I flew down for a look with the dough and ended up driving it back. Not without mishap however, as the guy had'nt installed the gas tank seal correctly and Yes, when it was filled up it came out faster than it went in. After draining it and removal and fixing it I hit the road for the drive back. Meanwhile the weather had deterioated with heavy rain and getting late. About now it became apparent that an alignment would have been a good option as everything was way off. After a long hard drive through the night I was back home with the car I thought would be "The Keeper" . And my wife sure liked it too   Great, everyone was happy.

Fast forward a few years, I'd had some custom wheels built with 14" stock centres inserted into 15x8 and 15x9 rims to retain the stockish look and fitted a set of Triple OER 45 Carbs , similar to weber 45s, and we enjoyed many family miles in it to shows and trips away.

One day I had an email out of the blue from a guy asking if it was for sale, after a week or so I rang him back out of courtesy to tell him , "Sorry but No".
About right there it got real interesting.
He asked me what the original licence plate was and recited the first two letters. I read the rest of it back to him and I could hear him tapping it out on his keyboard , checking on a motor vehicle rego site.
There was this long gap and the he said " Wow , I've found it".
It turns out that his Grandfather was the original owner and he' been trying to track down the car for months after the old boy has passed away. He told me about the holidays they'd had as kids and towing a caravan on holiday to the beach with the Grandparents and the happy times.

I thought about it for a while and told him ," Ok, you've got the best reason for wanting it , so come and have a look if your interested and have the money that Im going to want for it".

He drove 6 hours to come and have a look . The first thing he said when he came into the garage was " Man, I havn't seen this car for 26 years and cant believe its still around and looks as amazing as this"
We went out for a rural drive and I really opened it up and let him have a drive. He could'nt stop grinning as the sound of it wide open and the 6pk induction noise was all we could hear.

Anyway, he paid what I wanted and then he told me that his Grandfather had driven this guys mother to her wedding day in it and that this car held a very special place in their family as a result.

Two weeks later, he emailed me to Thank me for selling it to him and said after he'd trailered it back and cleaned it , he took it around to his Parents place and his Mother just burst into tears and could'nt believe that her Dad's long lost car was back, and that it never would be sold out of the Family again.

Glad I sold it to him as the right guy ended up with it and I like a happy ending  

Anyone else got some good car stories?.

Cheers Bob T

[Tilar]

I like the looks of those, but for some reason they look like they have a lot of AMC Matador in them.

[1969chargerrtse]

   Great love story.

[Darkman]

Ahhh...the good old VH Valiant. Nice car.

I am trying to track down my Dad's VK Valiant they bought brand new. It has been off the radar for a little over 10yrs now

[loudmouthaussie]

  mustve been hard to hang onto it after hearing that story!

on the flip side my grandma wants my grandpas old 68 valiant ute and related parts cars gone from under the house so my uncle is around here today with the shits (and a towtruck) 

[Bob T]

Ahhh...the good old VH Valiant. Nice car.

I am trying to track down my Dad's VK Valiant they bought brand new. It has been off the radar for a little over 10yrs now

Good luck with that, you never know what'll turn up. What happened to me was like the proverbial hole in one, considering how many of them were wrecked or rusted out.
Had a few VH Vals , good cars and reliable, and can make good power ( relatively ) with a few little mods,  squeezed a 14.1 out of my old 6pk R/T Charger, not bad for and old 6cyl  
Had a 82 WB Holden Panel Van when I was in my mid 20's and did a lot of miles across the country chasing away  big site construction work . It had a 253 V8 and 4 spd and was as clean as a whistle. I tried to find it a few years ago but it had been crashed and written off. Damn. And it could do a good skid  

Also had a 61 EK Station wagon 138 cubes with triple carbs and 3 speed,  and me and my wife did the round the South Island trip in it, 2800 miles in about 3 weeks, after doing the full strip down paint and panel and motor rebuild and working around the clock to get it ready for the trip. man those were the days haha.

 Great love story.

Cheers, Yeah I must admit I like the dollar signs as much as anyone, but this was one guy that really deserved to have the car. It now lives in their dealers showroom on display and still gets out at the weekend for runs and the odd show. Pleased they got in touch with me.

mustve been hard to hang onto it after hearing that story!

on the flip side my grandma wants my grandpas old 68 valiant ute and related parts cars gone from under the house so my uncle is around here today with the shits (and a towtruck) 

Wayfarer??, not many around. oh, for more storage space