Plymouth does not build many cars like the Plymouth Valiant: a 4-door 3-seat wagon (1960–1961) / 4-door 2-seat wagon (1960–1962) / 4-door sedan (1960–1962) / 2-door sedan (1961–1962) / 2-door hardtop (1961–1962) with 170 cuin LG Slant-6 I6, built from 1959 to 1976 at the height of the post-war boom. Its designer of record is Virgil Exner.
How it came about
The Plymouth Valiant (first appearing in 1959 as simply the Valiant) is an automobile which was marketed by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States from the model years of 1960 through 1976. It was created to give the company an entry in the compact car market emerging in the late 1950s and became well known for its excellent durability and reliability. It was one of Chrysler's best-selling automobiles during the 1960s and 1970s helping to keep the company solvent during an economic downturn.
Road & Track magazine considered the Valiant to be "one of the best all-around domestic cars". The Valiant was also built and marketed, with or without the Plymouth brand, worldwide in countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as other countries in South America and Western Europe. Its compact size, by American standards, allowed it to be sold as a large car in Europe and elsewhere, without being too large for local conditions.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 170 cuin LG Slant-6 I6; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 2750 lb. The gearbox is a 3-speed manual / 3-speed Torqueflite automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 106.5 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Plymouth's history is not in doubt: the Plymouth Volaré followed it; it was built at Hamtramck, Michigan (Dodge Main. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Mini Mini, the Dodge Challenger, the Nissan Patrol. Its Plymouth stablemates include the Plymouth XNR and the Plymouth Laser.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Plymouth Valiant — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.