Dave Walden’s 1970 slant-six Valiant took Best of Show, and registered the highest scoring Gold ever in OE Certification judging at the Mopar Nationals in Columbus, OH. Dave’s goal was to find an original car that could be restored using its own parts, which he did using about 99% of the car’s own parts. His restoration is definitely way over the top, costing him about 100 grand on a car that would be worth maybe $20,000-$25,000. Dave also produced a book detailing the restoration that shows many “before” and “after” photos that were shot by Tom Barcroft. The photos here, taken by Barcroft and Paul Stenquist, allow blowups on your screen for more detail. Barcroft shot the “before” engine, while Stenquist shot the restored engine.
An interesting shot (above), not included in the print article, shows the lifting point on the engine that was used to lift and install the engine in the vehicle. The factory attached a fixture, secured by two bolts, on the head to lift the engine. One of the fixture bolts fell between the manifold runners and remained there when Dave bought the car from Rich Heidbretter, who in turn had bought the car from the original owner. Dave removed the bolt, restored it, and returned it to the location that he found it. Now how weird is that?
Dave also recreated the original 1970 Valiant new car smell. Just scratch and sniff your computer screen using our special Mopar Action proprietary scratch ‘n’ sniff software (an industry first!) to get a first-hand whiff. Follow the link for a second scratch ‘n’ sniff sample of the elephant house at New York’s Central Park Zoo. Bon appétit.
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