Monday 21st September 1959

The first Plymouth Valiant was produced in Michigan, US although it was not known by that name until 1961. Originally code named “Falcon” after the 1955 Chrysler Falcon, plans for the new model went awry when the Chrysler marketing team found out at the last minute that Ford had already registered the name “Falcon” for its compact car. The news resulted in a wild scramble, for the logo castings had already been made and marketing plans finalised. A company-wide contest was held for a new name, and “Valiant” emerged the winner. However, there was no time to make new logo castings, so the car was simply introduced as the Valiant. It wasn’t until 1961 that the Valiant became the Plymouth Valiant.