Pluggers by Rick McKee for March 15, 2011

and he’s a plugger if he has the part ready just for you

Had a couple of those Valiants…and a DeSoto too Not bad in their day.

Ours was a ‘59 I think.

I had one where the guys at the auto parts store knew the car’s nickname, too!

Knows make, model, year, engine, options, mileage and his inventory of applicable parts.

Had a 64 Valiant. Push button automatic. Good little car.

I still prefer the ‘53 Chevy 31 Apache pickup I drove for a while… May it rest in peace, wherever the dork who bought it from my Dad ended up with it.

The clerk also knows somebody who will buy it if he ever decides to sell…

baldo maybe

the valiant was the basis for the barracuda. plymouth premiered the car two weeks before ford introduced mustang (april 1964) but to a whole lot less fanfare. to this day i think the 64-66 ‘cudas were the best of the bunch. as far as the valiants were concerned, (the model was introduced in ‘62) i think it looked a LOT better than the more radically styled dodge cousin, the dart (which was originally introduced as the lancer in 1961).

I had forgotten about the Plymouth Valiant. Google Images reminds me they were pretty nice-looking cars. (Of course, FS is entitled to his wrong opinion.)

That was before federal auto performance standards kind of homogenized most cars and made them so boring.