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itsworn · 7 years

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For Chuck Ellis, This Free 1964 Valiant Became the Dream Machine

The ideals of horsepower come in many designs. Some simply like it brutal—all power, all the time. Some like technology: What is the coolest way to make the air pump under the hood as complicated as possible? Some like economy—maybe not totin’ it all out of the factory in the lunchbox à la Johnny Cash, but definitely finding ways to stay within budget. For Chuck Ellis, it was none of the above. Actually, he’d been dreaming about a vintage Mustang as his first car when this 1964 Plymouth Valiant was offered to him for free back in 1997, before he even had a driver’s license.

We met Chuck and his wife, Carolyn, at the 2017 Carlisle All-Chrysler Nationals, where he was showing off his just-completed A-body Mopar. What makes this impressive is a couple of things that some Car Crafters may never even attempt. First, they drove up from Florida to Pennsylvania on a fresh restoration, which was a ride of just less than 1,000 miles…in each direction. Second, this was Chuck’s first car project. Actually, it’s his only car project, and, in fact, the only vintage car he has ever owned.

There is still 225 ci of Plymouth’s “leaning tower of power” tucked into the little 1964 Valiant body. Produced in a year that echoed the final reflection of both Virgil Exner and the Italian firm of Ghia in Chrysler’s early-’60s Plymouths, this car deserves a little introduction. Chrysler Engineering had originally tilted the new engine—first in 170ci and later in the more popular 225ci configurations—to allow it to fit under the low hood of Valiant, which debuted as a sports model in 1960, in competition with the new Ford Falcon and Chevrolet Corvair. The original Valiant, which was a stand-alone model before joining the Plymouth family, had an aluminum engine. It was tipped to the left to allow clearance for the water pump at the side instead of at the front of the engine, thereby opening up right side of the engine bay for a more impressive intake and exhaust system.

The Valiant package was even the subject of the 1960 Chrysler SAE meeting in Detroit. Perhaps its best claim to fame was its dominance in NASCAR’s pair of first and only “compact series” events that January, where driver Marvin Panch used his factory-tweaked version to lead all the other Valiants to victory; the Fords and Chevy lost both events so badly that Big Bill France subsequently cancelled the program! Factory Race Program coordinator Tom Hoover later noted that, other than the 426 Hemi, the Slant Six was the most efficient engine Chrysler built in this era. (For the complete story of the Sixes and Hemis, from a technical perspective, SAE’s book Chrysler Engines 1922-1998 by former Chrysler engineer Willem Weertman is worth every penny.)

Back to 15-year-old Chuck, who was cutting those Mustang pictures out of Auto Traders when his father, a local mailman, heard from a fellow letter carrier about an old car abandoned in a carport in a house that had sold. They went to see it, found out that the little old lady who owned it had put about 50,000 miles on it before it ended up parked a decade earlier, and her son was glad to give it to them if they would take it out quickly. The new owners of her house were not happy it was still there when their moving van had arrived. As they towed it home, Chuck’s dad, Rik, said, “Son, you have a year to get it running, or it’s out of here.”

A year. Chuck liked cars but knew nothing about them. However, it was the ’90s, and he was pretty savvy about computers. He was taking repair classes at a local technical school and met a guy who was having some trouble with the books but could spin wrenches. They agreed to help each other out. Meanwhile, he began chasing parts to get the car running again.

“That November, my dad and I drove up to Ocala, Florida, for my first big car show, the annual Mopars with Big Daddy event at Don Garlits’ place. I was excited to get to the swap meet and get the parts I’d need to get the car running. The first booth I went to was manned by an ornery old dude. I told him what I had and he said, “I’ll give you a hundred bucks for that car right now. A kid like you is just gonna ruin it anyway.” That made me mad. More importantly, it made me determined. I was going to do awesome things with this car.”

Chuck was successful in his mission and got the car running two months before the deadline from Dad. Now 16 years old and with a driver’s license, the car was Chuck’s vbest version of the cars he’d grown up seeing on TV. “During that time it became known as the ‘Flying Valiant’ because I was always trying make the car act like the cars in The Dukes of Hazzard or Starsky and Hutch, driving through fields and trying to grab air off hills. I successfully got it fully airborne one time, and that’s why it no longer has the original 170 under the hood. I still don’t know how I didn’t bend the unibody and destroy the car. The only damage was to the engine (it threw a rod six weeks later) and to the front passenger shock that bent in half,” Chuck says.

Despite that, the car served as regular transportation for a number of years, with JC Whitney seat covers and an economy, “quick-bake” paintjob. Then in 2011, the transmission mount broke and sent the fan right into the radiator. The car was off the road again, but would never be the same.

“The accident proved to be a catalyst for the life of the car. I knew I couldn’t keep patching the car up while I drove it forever, and that the tin worm was only going to get worse unless major surgery was performed. We’d finally gotten a house with a garage and I realized it was going to be now or never, and if I was going to do this restoration, I was going to do it right.”

Now living in Gainesville, Florida, Chuck’s friend, Ben Simons, had just finished restoring his family’s factory 426 Street Wedge 1964 Dodge D100 High Performance Package pick-up. After some encouragement from Ben, Chuck began working in earnest on the Valiant. He stripped the body to bare metal, sent out to be media-blasted and slowly patched up. He even took welding classes at a local technical school, and in 2016, it was ready for paint. Mike Nelson, of Mike’s Custom Car Shop aprayed the TB3 Basin Street Blue, also known as Petty Blue in some circles. The all-steel body now has mild front fender flaring to accommodate larger tires, homemade frame connectors join the front and back framerails, and the C-pillar and hood trim were shaved off. Underneath you’ll find a Hellwig front sway bar, a boxed and gusseted K-frame, Firm Feel tubular upper control arms, boxed lower control arms, and poly bushings, including the engine and trans mounts. The framerails were coated internally with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator, and the full underside of the unibody sprayed with Rhino Liner. All of the non-visible steel on the interior was painted with thermo-acoustic paint, resonant areas received Dynamat coverings, and the floor and ceiling were insulated with half-inch insulation called “The Insulator” used in light aircraft.

A 225ci version of the of the Slant Six is backed by a mildly worked automatic and an 8 ¾-inch differential from a 1971 Scamp. The engine is bored 0.060-inch over and was built by Chuck and Ben, with balanced bottom-end parts, a 9.20:1 compression ratio, an Erson cam using 340 V8 springs, a reworked ported-and-polished head with hardened seats, and Doug Dutra’s special Dutra Duals headers feeding into a single pipe. The eye candy is that Offenhauser intake supporting a dialed-in 600-cfm Edelbrock with choke, with a recurved, stock Slant Six electronic distributor set up with HEI parts for fire, and a vented, trunk-mounted Optima battery. A Ron Francis 24/7 wiring kit finished it off, and for Florida driving, a custom A/C system was fitted by Slant Six guru Charlie Schmid, who built an adapter for the Sanden A/C compressor. Feeding the cool-breeze atmosphere is a vintage Mark IV evaporator/blower underdash unit found at a swap meet.

There’s no shortage of custom work inside the car, either. In addition to the custom upholstery by Rob Philpot, Redline Gauges rebuilt a set of NOS stock gauges that included the 120-mph 1965 Barracuda speedometer, an amp gauge converted to a voltmeter, and a vintage 1970s Sun Super Tach, modernized internally. The OEM radio is now converted to AM/FM/USB/Aux/Bluetooth by Rick’s Radio Conversions, and a real 1964 Barracuda woodgrain wheel serves as the tiller. Meanwhile, in keeping with the theme of an OEM star machine modified for TV or movie use back in the day, a set of Chrysler A-pillar spotlights with both interior handles and old-school yellow KC HiLiTES covers were found and added.

Chuck’s wife, Carolyn, was all in on the project as well. She and Chuck have known each other since grade school, and she did a lot of the detail work, getting as dirty as Chuck did in the process. When it came time to rebuild the engine, it happened in their living room. She shared in the end result as well, driving part of the way on the 1,000-mile journey to the Annual Carlisle All-Chrysler event, smiling as much as Chuck did when we gave their car our celebrity-pick award.

As always, there were a lot of wild cars at Carlisle: a four-door Barracuda, Hemi convertibles, supercharged street machines, and homebuilt projects in progress. But the scarce Offy parts caught our eye, and as Chuck began pointing out the little things, the more apparent the purity of the project became. Nope, it’s not that Mustang he once dreamed of, and it’s not a 1,000 hp street terror, but it is one-of-one, and it’s Car Crafted Chuck’s way.

Tech Notes

Who: Chuck and Carolyn Ellis What: 1964 Plymouth Valiant Where: Gainesville, Florida

Body and Paint: Light customizing, like fender flaring and shaved trim, helps make a unique statement, and Chuck even went back to night school for welding classes. All the tin was hammered at home; the Petty Blue paint is gunned-on, courtesy of Mike Nelson. A 1968 Barracuda flip-top gas cap has been adapted to replace the body-color twist lock. Chassis: The factory unibody survived the rigors of youthful driving, and now features subframe connectors and upgrades like Rust Encapsulator in the framerails, a gusseted K-frame supporting the engine, and a Rhino Linings coating as protection from the elements.

Suspension: This bomber now has a Hellwig front sway bar, Firm Feel tubular upper control arms, boxed lower control arms, Bilstien shocks, and poly bushings, including the engine and trans mounts, and ESPO six-leaf springs at the rear.

Steering: Tweaked for handling and tilled with a 1964 Barracuda factory woodgrain wheel. Brakes: Wilwoods up front; OEM drums at rear.

Wheels and Tires: Thanks to Summit, the OE mini rollers gave way to nicely blended 15×6 police steelies, with OEM hub caps and fat 235/60-15 Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/Ts on all four corners.

Engine: The “leaning tower of power” gets its retro look thanks to an Offenhauser intake and 600-cfm Edelbrock carb. Other outside changes were the valve cover and detailing, with ignition via an HEI conversion; Mallory Promaster coil; recurved, stock Slant Six electronic distributor with vacuum advance; and “Flamethrower” HEI III four-pin module for spark. An Erson cam with 0.465 lift and 280/270 degrees advertised duration fills the cylinders, with Doug Dutra dual headers taking it out. Minor head work, 9.2:0 compression, and added Sanden AC complete it.

Transmission: Drag racer Mark Wilson rebuilt the original A904 transmission, adding an Edge Racing mild street 2,600-rpm stall converter.

Rear End: The rear axle is an 8 ¾ from a 1971 Scamp with a 3.23 SureGrip unit and Moser axles with green bearings.

Interior: This 2,900-pound car is street-driven and still has bench seats. The custom upholstery is by Rob Philpot of Gainesville, with the dash featuring bezels re-chromed by Layson’s, NOS stock gauges calibrated by Redline, a 1965 Barracuda 120-mph speedometer, and the alternator gauge converted to a voltmeter by Redline as well. The vintage 1970s Sun Super Tach was modernized internally by Redline, and the OEM radio has been converted to an AM/FM/USB/Aux/Bluetooth by Rick Seaman of Rick’s Radio Conversions. In keeping with the factory look, a 1964 Barracuda woodgrain steering wheel is in place.

Electronics: Chuck fitted a Ron Francis 24/7 wiring kit, added a Ford Duraspark voltage regulator now hidden in vintage Sun Tach sender box in engine bay, and put the Optima battery in the trunk.

Thanks to: Carolyn Ellis, for being the most amazing, supportive, and patient wife ever. Ben Simons, for countless hours of time, skill, and encouragement (and loaning me his fancy tools and not being mad when I broke some of them). Mike Nelson, Charlie Schmid, Mark Wilson, and Frank and Jean Paty. Thanks also to my mom and dad for giving a kid with no prior mechanical knowledge a chance to build an ugly and messy car in their carport, and my neighbors for not being too mad when I set up a makeshift paint booth in our driveway to prime the car.

The post For Chuck Ellis, This Free 1964 Valiant Became the Dream Machine appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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