I've been looking for a daily driver to replace the much-beloved '62 Valiant wagon I sold over a year ago after it was hit for the fifth time. I obsessively surfed Craigslist and last month I found a clean, two-owner, low mile 1962 Plymouth Savoy for sale in Newport, Washington, about an hour north of Spokane. I wasn't really looking for a full size four door, but the condition, slant six motor and three-on-the-tree were very intriguing. So was the owner- Mike, a Mopar nut who was selling off the last of a large car collection that had included a 413 max wedge car, a '62 Fury wagon (that was sold to Disney) and a Ferrari Dino. When I asked what the Savoy would need to make it to Sacramento he said, 'Nothing. I'd drive this across country right now.' That's what I wanted to hear.
The car was pretty much as described, although I think it has 161,000 miles (rather than the 61,000 Mike thought) based on pedal wear. Still, it's a clean (almost too clean for me to be comfortable) car with lots of life left. He'd had the head rebuilt to run unleaded gas a few years back, the brakes and tires had about 1000 miles on them, as did the clutch, radiator and all the hoses. The keys fit in the door locks, but the works are all gummed up- he'd never locked it.
Mike gave us a quick tour of the car’s quirks and I hopped in. It fired right up and we headed south. Only 1200 miles to home…
2 comments:
'62 means it probably has aluminum keys. Getting metal keys cut should work since the aluminum wears down with use. Talk to Bill about it. That car looks great! I'm sure that drive back was a lot of fun.
Good guess- it does have aluminum keys and they are skin-nay!
Post a Comment