HISTORY OF THE ‘R’ & ‘S’ SERIES VALIANT CAR CLUB OF AUSTRALIA (INC.) by Martin Wood

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On 4th May 1975 a notice was published in the West Australian Sunday paper “The Sunday Times”, printed in the Motor Mart section under Valiant and asked for ‘R’ and ‘S’ Series owners interested in forming a club to contact the advertiser.  The response was very encouraging with 11 owners, all of whom were very enthusiastic contacting us.

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Remember, the cars were only 13 years old, but attracted attention where-ever they went, partly because of their unique styling and ability to out perform most other cars of that era.

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The first official meeting was held in Morley on Sunday 25th May 1975.  From then on several meetings were held to discuss a name for the Club and ways of promoting it.  Members voted unanimously to call the Club the ‘R’ & ‘S’ Series Valiant Car Club of W.A.

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The next step was deciding on a suitable club sticker to attract new members.  Members all tried their hand at designing one and eventually we chose the design still currently being used today.  T-shirts were organised and  printed with the same design as the stickers and the same colours – red, white and blue (Chrysler colours).

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Meetings were originally held at different club members homes during 1975, but as the Club grew, meetings were then held in the conference room of the Dianella Hotel.  

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About mid-1976 we moved to Elstead Hall, just off Walter Road, Morley as our clubrooms and also held our Annual Car Shows at Elstead Park, Morley.  In hind-sight we should have proceeded to claim this permanently as our address and deck-out hall  with our cabinets and memorabilia, it was possible back then as we knew people in high places.

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The executive committee consisted of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity and Public Relations Officer, whilst law and order on car runs, etc. was handled by our Sheriff.

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Social activities and fund raising events were planned by a separate Social Committee which consisted of five members.  The Club was very active in the early years – car runs, car rallies, barbecues, picnics, film nights, bowling nights… we also organised games nights, cabarets, annual car shows, etc.

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IN JULY 1977 our Club name was changed to the ‘R’ & ‘S’ Series Valiant Car Club of Australia and was registered as such with the appropriate Government Department.

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During the year 1977 our Club had several write-ups in the Australian magazine “Custom Rodder” and we had many enquiries from Eastern States enthusiasts and in SEPTEMBER 1977 another club was formed in New South Wales – this club was known as the ‘R’ & ‘S’ Series Valiant Car Club of Australia – N.S.W. Branch.  Both clubs were run on similar lines, had the same Constitution, and kept in close touch with each other.

 

In March 1978 Chrysler Australia recognised our Club at last and were generous enough to donate trophies for presentation to winners of our Annual Car Judging.  In addition to this Chrysler did a write-up, together with photos of 4 members cars in an edition of their own magazine “CARE” (Chrysler Australia Reports Events) which is distributed to all Chrysler dealers throughout Australia.

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ON 2 AUGUST 1978 the Club became incorporated.

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Membership to our Club was open to anyone owning an ‘R’ and/or ‘S’ Series Valiant or a  similar shape body, e.g. Dodge Lancer.   Just recently membership to our Club has changed to accommodate those persons that have sold their ‘R’ and/or ‘S’ Series can still remain members of the Club simply by having an interest in these particular models. 

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Two clubs formed in Victoria: The ‘S’ & ‘R’ Club in AUGUST 1978  

                                                     The ‘R’ & ‘S’ Club in 1982                                              

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Next came the South Australian Club in 1983…… and  then Queensland in 1987   

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We talked many times about having a National Car Show in Adelaide, S.A. as we realised inviting all the ‘R’ & ‘S’ Clubs to Perth, W.A. would be a lot to expect so thought, not half way, but closer to other Clubs and also being the home of Chrysler.  This almost eventuated when in 1985 a “Chrysler Nationals Car Show” took place and our Club made the effort to attend an extremely well organised show.  It was amazing to see how many other ‘R’ and ‘S’ Series attended from other States and was a great opportunity for members of the other clubs to discuss a future national get together for all ‘R’ and ‘S’ Series Valiants.  It was met with great enthusiasm, little did we know it would be some 17 years later when it eventuated. 

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National Car Rallies followed:    N.S.W. 1999,    S.A. 2002,    QLD 2005,    VIC. 2008,   W.A. 2012,      

                                                        N.S.W. 2015,    S.A. 2017,    QLD 2020 (Cancelled due to Covid), and

                                                        VIC. 2022.       

                               

We have always stood  behind the Executive Committee and helped in anyway we could .…. the many CAR SHOWS we organised were very successful and it  helped members monetarily with the  first three NATIONAL CAR RALLIES.

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We have always had positive feedback and thank you for being such dedicated members,  we are so very proud of our Club.

 

BEVERLEY & MARTIN WOOD   -   CLUB FOUNDERS

(‘R’ & ‘S’ SERIES VALIANT CLUB OF AUSTRALIA INC.)