My first car was a hand-me-down '72 Valiant. IIRC Mom and Dad bought it in '76 to replace a '66 Monaco. Mom drove that Valiant until 1988 when Dad got her a new Chrysler minivan so the Valiant went to me after I spent a couple of weeks worth of evenings (after homework) and weekends rebuilding the front end and then driving lessons from Dad.
Looked very much like this '74 except the top was vinyl instead of paint and it was baby shit tan instead of baby blue. Also it was a straight front bench, no arm rest. Same hubcaps though!
https://youtu.be/0YmVx48tqdU?si=Nz9ux0jqDD2V4zJX
In a lot of ways, I hated that car. It wasn't cool. It was "ugly" in styling and color. The a/c sort of worked but it killed what little power there was and hit the MPG even harder than my right foot. It wasn't fast or powerful and the only real upgrade option was to grenade the 225 and drop in a 318 which was my "secret" plan but the reviewer is right, the Slant-6 was damn near indestructible. It had an oil leak we never could fix (I always said the oil was self changing). The radiator had more JB Weld than factory welds. I think there was a power steering problem as well but I don't remember now.
But 30 years on, I think it's the one car I'd like to have back. Not simply because it was the first, but also because you just don't see them on the road or at shows.