Saturday 8th August 1959

The 39-day-old Plymouth-DeSoto Division of the Chrysler Corporation was renamed the Plymouth-DeSoto-Valiant Division to herald the impending arrival of the new compact Valiant. It was created to give the company an entry in the compact car market emerging in the late 1950s. The Valiant was also built and marketed, without the Plymouth name, worldwide in countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as other countries in South America and Western Europe. It became well known for its excellent durability and reliability, and was one of Chrysler’s best-selling automobiles during the 1960s and 1970s, essentially keeping the company afloat during its hard economic times. Road & Track magazine considered the Valiant to be “one of the best all-around domestic cars”