Northern
Exposure
Chrysler’s Canadian-
market 1964 Valiant
Signet 200 combined
Dodge and Plymouth
styling in one!
BY MARK J. McCOURT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICHARD LENTINELLOE
ven if you’re a classic-Mopar
enthusiast who knows your
1960s Chrysler products,
you might do a double-take
upon encountering this convertible.
To American eyes, it’s a curiosity that
combines Plymouth and Dodge styling,
but isn’t badged as either of those
brands. It’s an unusual import, hailing
from Canada, and this largely original
1964 Valiant Signet 200 illustrates the
alternate automotive reality that once
existed above the 49th Parallel.
It took a pair of retired Chrysler
employees to seek this car out and
bring it down to America. Williamson,
Michigan, residents Dick and Connie
Roth were looking to add a convertible
to their old-car collection, and were par-
ticularly keen to fi nd one built by their
honored former longtime employer. The
red-over-black Valiant on these pages
had jumped out at Dick, when he spot-
ted it for sale in Hemmings Motor News.
“Canada has a different and unique
culture. We lived most of our lives in the
Detroit area, and were frequent visitors,”
he tells us. “Connie also lived in Québec
and Ontario for several years, and loves
all things Canadian. I have always
appreciated the Canadian-built vehicles
made specifi cally for the ‘hometown’
market, because of their changes. We
once owned a 1928 Ford Model A
that was built there, and had unique
characteristics. In the Hemmings ad, I
could see this Valiant had a Dodge Dartdriveabledream
rear, and that’s one of the major reasons
why I was interested in it.”
It was the dead of winter in Febru-
ary 2016 when the Roths traveled to
Peterborough, Ontario, roughly an hour-
and-a-half north of Toronto, to inspect
the car. “It was being sold because the
owner was more of a General Motors
man, and he was already negotiating to
buy a Chevelle convertible; he needed
the money and the space to make that
happen,” Dick recalls. “We looked at the
car in his garage, but were not allowed
to drive it due to snow on the ground.
We were given a sheet of cardboard, so
we could look underneath. It did start,
but the top could not be lowered due to
the temperature.”It may not have been a warm intro-
duction, but this Mopar compact proved
to be everything Dick and Connie were
looking for. It was a rare example of the
Valiant that was, in 1963 and 1964,
unique to this northern market. This
nameplate was introduced in 1959 for
the 1960 model year to battle Ford’s
conventional Falcon and Chevrolet’s
unorthodox Corvair. It was initially sold
in America without Chrysler, Dodge,
or Plymouth badging; while the Val-
iant was built by the Dodge division
and sold through Plymouth dealers, it
was a standalone marque. In the U.S.,
Plymouth marketing adopted the Valiant
for 1961, while Dodge rolled out the
Lancer; the latter wasn’t sold in Canada,64 HEMMINGS CLASSIC CAR OCTOBER 2019 I Hemmings.com