2023-12-06 12:56:00
Mechanical and paper problems frustrated the dream of Javier Miley, if he had it, to use the famous “Perón’s Cadillac” for the opposite direction along Avenida de Mayo from Congress to the Casa Rosada. There will be a convertible for the inauguration, but it will be a model that began to be produced a few years after the black machine that the general ordered but he could not enjoy because he was dismissed earlier.
The 1955 Cadillac was discarded when experts from the Automobile Museum, who had participated in the thorough restoration during the government of Mauricio Macri, they went to see it and found some problems in the box, in the brakes on one of the wheels, and in the gas tank, which had to be replaced. There was no time to get him out of the Casa Rosada Museum, and he also didn’t have insurance, nor the VTV, nor the green card in order. Impossible. To look for an alternative.
Which will be, according to those in charge of the ceremony, a car that debuted as a brand in Argentina at the end of 1961, but a model that began to be produced in the country in 1964. They are preparing a Valiant IIIin a convertible version, according to the data.
What will the presidential inauguration be like?
What does not change is that the incoming president, an open admirer of the power of the north, will have those minutes of pomp on an American brand “boat.” The Plymouth Valiant, called “Nobody´s kid brother” (something like “nobody’s little brother”) was manufactured by the Chrysler Corporation from 1960 to 1976, with two or four door options, without pillars, and also, convertible.
In Argentina the life of the car was shorter. Initially, the “Plymouth” vanished and the “Valiant” went from model to brand. The Valiants, then, were manufactured and sold in Argentina in four versions, familiarly identified as I, II, III and IV.
The first two had the Plymouth Division design, and remained the most iconic, with its striking fins on top of the fenders. The III and IV, with their more conservative straight lines, were derived from the Dodge Dart model.
The Valiant: almost 5 meters of car
The company Fevre y Basset Ltda. SA, Chrysler Argentina SA, began the era with the presentation, at the end of 1961 in La Rural, of the Valiant V-200. That is, the I, although it was never officially called by the number, and that is why car fans say that the Valiant I “never existed.” The following year, production at the San Justo plant became 100% national and the Valiant II arrived. Between the two of them they sold 4,500 units, a figure considered a success.
In 1964 the III arrived, with the same engine but a completely different body. It is the model in a convertible version that Milei would use this Sunday, December 10. In those days, every year there were new developments with the Valiant: in 1965 the top models arrived. The Gran Turismo, a sports car with floor shift lever and four seats instead of the long seats of the time. And the Coronado, with electric windows.
They had a 68 liter gasoline tank and were very long cars. The III came close to 5 meters, with its 4,975.9 millimeters. The IV surpassed them, with 5,040.
The Valiant left a mark on the streets and also on Road Tourism. They made the manufacturer debut in the category. They competed on the tracks with two cars that made history in popular taste, like the Chevrolet 400 and especially the Ford Falcon. Both were launched in 1962, almost in parallel with the Valiant. One of the first to race a Chrysler car was Luis Rubén “El Loco” Di Palmalegend of national motorsports.
The end of Valiant production in Argentina came in 1968, when they were replaced by the Dodge; the more basic Polara and the luxurious Coronado. At collectors’ exhibitions or when from time to time someone appears stretching the cycle on the street, the “car with wings” continues to show off its daring.
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