Valiant? Classic that's what it is!

Valiant adjective brave, courageous.........mmm I don't know anything about that but what I do know is that I once owned an 'R' model Valiant and that car was something else. If only I'd known then what I know now I'd have stashed it away somewhere safe and made a fortune today, that is if I could bring myself to sell it.

So the word valiant always catapults me right back there to the early 70's which is when I had the absolute pleasure of cruising around in a R Model Valiant, white it was and I lived in the northern suburbs of Melbourne in Victoria, Essendon to be precise.

It's not so much about being brave or courageous but it's classic that's what it is!

I found this pic on the internet, now tell me you don't think this is one classy automobile?

Push button gears on the dash, teardrop shaped tail lights, the spare wheel well on the outside of the boot and manufactured in 1962!   OMG I'm almost drooling thinking about it and looking at that red one here. I can just see me in one of those babies today, cruising around Cairns being a rev head magnet hehehehe (as opposed to being a chick magnet in case you were  confused!)
 
Come to think of it I've driven some amazing classic cars over the years. My first driving lessons were in the very sleek,  prized by many at the time, Ford Customline. It was a Star Model if you don't mind and once upon a time I could have told you all about V8's,  single spinners and twin spinners and all things Customline. But that was a long time ago!

This pic from the Wikimedia website ( no, not Wikipedia) is just like the one I used to drive

I was rather partial to lots of  sparkling chrome accessories and those deep dished wide wheels were pretty cool at the time as was the impala straight through gear shift, see I told you I knew a thing or two about Customlines :)

A few of my friends had Customlines.... the duco on one was flat black, looked like it had been painted with a paint brush, another had a convertible with customised fins out the back, it was dull charcoal grey. In fact I think it might have been undercoat grey lol..anyway the guy who drove it was a rather unique looking guy, a little mongoloid in appearance which only added to the 'look'.
I recall one night after midnight marching out of the house that I was sharing with lots of other 'freaky'  friends, anyway the owner of this car was revving the guts out of this V8, roomper ,roomper, roomper, the sound vibrating up and down our little suburban street in Moorabbin! Of course I was the one who had to stamp my feet and do the telling off, it's amazing that we didn't end up being rewarded with a visit from the boys in blue which wouldn't have ended well I can assure you. But that's another story and back to my classic cars :)

Then I remember as a newly licensed driver I was driving a Zephyr Mark II (1950's - 1970's) ...I loved that car too. It had extractors which was mandatory at the time, either that or you drove around with the choke out to give the impression you had some hotted up beast under the bonnet...oh yeah that's cause we used to have cams to give the engine that lumpy sound we all so loved.

This pic from Wikipedia....isn't she gorgeous!

Well being only a new driver, I lived at this block of flats and I had this car parked next to the fence in front of the units where I lived, I mean right in front!...so here I was in the car revving it up, feeling pretty cool and into reverse I go and turn the steering wheel onto hard lock...oops, that wasn't a good idea, should have waited until I'd reversed out a bit first cause the next thing I hear is 'bang' and I'd swung that poor little Zephyr into the paling fence beside the car....of course everyone who lived in the flats came out to see what the hell had happened...how embarrassing! But needless to say it was a good lesson on what not to do and with little damage done to the car or the fence no real harm was done...well except for my pride of course.

So this has turned out to be a little story about some of the classic cars I've driven and I'm still only 18 in this story!!!!