Let's play a game- Help me identify what car this is!

I drive by it every day.  IT's quite striking, and smaller than typical bloat-cars of that era.  I've dreamed of throwing an lsx in it and making a cool rat-rod out of it... but I'd like to know what it is so I can do more research!  Can anyone help from this awful picture taken at a school bus stop?

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Edit:  picture upload apparently isnt working... standby.  Apologies!

Dodge or Valiant or a Chrysler. 

Let's see if this works:

And that looks like it's a '60-'62 Plymouth Valiant.

For some reason it will not let me upload it either. 

you guys are the best, I knew it'd be easy, just didnt know what was wrong with hosting.  Imgur and upload arent working for some reason. 

Now, what says the hive?  worth turning into a fun family beach cruiser?  It's VERY short money, and complete, and also miraculously not rotted through. 

I bought a ,62 Valiant dirt cheap because it had been neglected    Neutral button missing.   Sourced one at the junk yard.   Adjusted the valves,  a yearly routine on that engine.   Thorough cleaning and polishing in an out.   Ran it for a long time.

I think it would be a cool cruiser, pending on how much work is involved though.  If it's a cheap turn around then go for it. 

probably a slant 6.  In which case it would run as is, and continue to run forever.

I had one in the early 70s as a daily. Brother gave it to me after he forgot to put my 65 GTO in gear and allowed it to roll down a hill and hit a tree. I drove it hard for 2 years and sold it to a guy that drove it for years.

"striking". Ok.. I guess that's one way to describe 60's Chryslers.

It could also be a Dodge Lancer. Very little difference between the two and it's not a close up photo.

Almost a perfect 50/50 weight balance. I had a 1960 that I used to terrorize sports car drivers with. 170ci with the head milled   .060', carb modified, would wind to 7,200 rpm's. Auto trans with push buttons. It would wind out to 60 mph in 1st gear. A really fun car.

The Lancer's grille isn't quite so tall. It's not the clearest picture, but I'm pretty sure that is a Valiant front end. Here's the Lancer - the grille does not extend above the headlights.

"Auto trans with push buttons". Yep, that was the 1st thing I thought of.

MadScientistMatt said:

Let's see if this works:

And that looks like it's a '60-'62 Plymouth Valiant.

Not only was it immediately identified, Matt did it without a picture :) This forum is good.

That on a C5 chassis would rock.

A friend used to buy them for $50 in college.  Had a pair he ran into the ground called, of course, "Prince" and "Princess"  Valiant.  Beer was involved.

Richard Petty raced one back in the day:

I wonder if it has the sought after  l aluminum Slant-6? Yes, I used sought after and Slant-6 together.  On purpose without hyperbole. 

stuart in mn said:

Richard Petty raced one back in the day:

First, shoot your graphics guy, Richard.  You managed to takle the homeliest cat in the universe and make it worse.

Second, can you imagine the aero lift on that thing?

Third, I knew a guy who sold Mopars in the late 50's.  He said there was a group of them drinking at the shop on August 31, 1959 and decided they needed to got to the rail yards and break into the train cars to see the new models.   One of the guys said, after they opened the door and stood there is shocked silence for a minute, "Boys, we are selling Studebakers."

148 HP.   wow.   Must of had the power pak

Stock was 101 HP. I'm not sure what the Hyper-Pack was.

Excerpts from https://www.allpar.com/threads/the-slant-six-hyper-pak.229962/ regarding the Hyper-Pak and the NASCAR race:

With the release of the compact 1960 Plymouth Valiant, NASCAR sanctioned a special race for the new six-cylinder compact car class, which would involve all three major automakers. [Ford brought their new Falcon, Chevy their new Corvair.  Pontiac brought their new Tempest in 1961, plus there was a Studebaker Lark in the race that year.] 

With the slant six introduced in 1960 in two versions, a 101 hp, 170 cu.in and a 145hp, 225 cu. in. version, the slant six built its reputation for performance and reliability. The 148hp, 170 cu. in Hyper-Pak introduced in the 1960 Valiant was the next step and the one that was to prove the new engine worthy of any performance challenge.

Seven slant six valiants entered the new NASCAR race in 1960; when the race ended, not only had all seven Hyper-Paks finished, proving their reliability and durability, but they won the first seven places!

In reply to FMB42 : aka Juke Box Drive.

I've driven a push button auto Dodge around Watkins Glen, in the dark, chasing a '64 Cadillac. When a 3rd vehicle showed up we got the hell outta there.