1962 Plymouth Valiant 6.1L HEMI

3rd Gen HEMI projects and products.

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1962 Plymouth Valiant 6.1L HEMI

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More photos: http://www.thehemi.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5702

1962 Plymouth Valiant - A Prince Of A Valiant
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/ ... a_valiant/
Among gearheads, Pratt & Miller requires no introduction, so we'll settle for a recap. One of the leading race shops and R&D facilities in the USA, Pratt & Miller is home to the factory Corvette Racing team. This outfit has collected eight consecutive ALMS titles, five LeMans class wins, and 72 race victories, so it's the best of the best. But like many enthusiasts who work in the upper-est echelons of the motorsports world, the guys at P&M have never lost track of their hot rod and muscle car roots. One wing of the New Hudson, Michigan, facility, known as Pratt & Miller Collector Car Restorations, is devoted to customer rod builds--including the '62 Plymouth Valiant featured here.

Who even builds a first-generation Valiant? Fair question. The oddball yet oddly compelling body style does have its proponents. You want us to name one? OK, here's Dustin Bechtold of Sioux City, South Dakota. He tells HOT ROD, "I had been looking for one for years and I finally found one. I told my wife to grab her checkbook and the five kids, and we headed for northern Minnesota." They drove the '62 Valiant all the way home, too. It was a clean and straight original, then powered by an aluminum Slant Six. However, the coat of oil covering the back half of the car by the time they arrived back home let Dustin know it was time for a makeover.

Dustin and Pratt & Miller Program Manager Mike Atkins developed a build theme for the Valiant we'd call subtle and sophisticated. There's nothing garish or flashy here; the car is almost an OE-style reimagining of the original Valiant design. Even the wheel and tire choices are somewhat conservative: BFGoodrich G-Force rubber, 225/50ZR17 front and 275/50ZR17 rear, with 17x7.5 Wheel Vintiques Magnum billet wheels. These wheels echo the style of the steel Magnum 500 wheels that were ubiquitous as factory equipment in the '60s, providing the Valiant with a classic Motor City look.

The interior is equally subdued, with Recaro seats in Ebony and Black Carbon leather and a redesigned dash with Classic Instruments gauges and a navigation screen. If Chrysler decided to build a '62 Valiant SRT8, this car would make a pretty fair prototype. The powertrain features a 6.1L Hemi and a five-speed automatic, while the suspension and brakes have been brought up to 21st-century specs as well. Here's an elegant, contemporary GT in an early Mopar A-body's skin, if you can imagine that.

Dustin is an orthopedic surgeon by profession and as we know, doctors tend to be conservative, button-down types. That's the stereotype, anyway, and in that regard the understated Valiant might be a fair reflection of its owner. Except for this: If you examine Dr. Bechtold's hot rod a little more closely, you'll see evidence that the good doctor might be, like many hot rodders, a tiny bit twisted. The shifter and brake-pedal assemblies are from the human replacement parts catalog--they're artificial hip and knee components, the hardware of his trade. "A box arrived at the shop one day with a note that said, "Find an application for these components," Mike recalls. "That was a challenge. It's not the kind of thing we do at Pratt & Miller every day, but I have to admit it was fun."

"We think we built the most beautiful 1962 Valiant to date, if you can use beautiful and Valiant in the same sentence." --Mike Atkins, Pratt & Miller
I wouldn't use beautiful, but I would certainly use cool. ;)
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scottm
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Re: 1962 Plymouth Valiant 6.1L HEMI

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Bumping this topic for #ThrowbackThursday social media posts!

#Plymouth #Valiant #PlymouthValiant #HEMI #61HEMI #Mopar
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