It must be almost forty years since I saw a S-Series Valiant for the first time. I had only been in Australia a few months and I loved the place. I was working as a general hand on a property a few miles out of town and it was my first day off, so what do you do with a day off in a new country? You go exploring.

I was exploring Carowa, a small town on the state border of N.S.W. and Victoria. After an hour or so I walked into a pub and got me a beer and a steak sandwich and went outside to stand in the shade of the veranda to enjoy my sandwich and glass of Tooths K.B.

Looking down the main street towards the river I saw this white thing come gliding into town over the old bridge. This was no Ford, Holden or BMC model, this was something completely different, this was straight out of a Sci-fi movie, but what was it?

I watched the driver park the car, she got out, locked the car and went about her business.... what was an old lady doing driving a car like that (she must have been all of thirty five). I crossed the road, beer and food abandoned. For five minutes or more I just looked, "but what is it?" I thought.

I walked to the front of the car and there on the radiator grill was one word "VALIANT" - and I wanted one!

I never did get my S series, I did get an AP5 and an English girl for a wife, who’s only topic of conversation was to return to England to be closer to her mother. Back in England she still went on bitching, eventually we went our separate ways, but that’s an other story.

That was over thirty years ago.
Today I finally have my S Series Valiant. After four trips to Australia in the last six years and going to see a few dog boxes, I found one living in Queensland, asking price $7000. I don’t know if that is over or under the average price for this model, but what the hell. The car has had $2000 worth of work done on it. New water pump, fuel pump, ball joints, rear brake shoes and wheel cylinders, front drums have been replaced with disc brakes and the invoice just reads on.

On the test drive I found it a good comfortable ride with a fair acceleration for a forty year old with just a slight hint of blue smoke - well she wont be doing any rallying. Inside she is good and clean, straight from 1962. The body could do with a fresh coat of paint, but the main thing is she is rust free. Altogether the Val cost me $10,000 and that includes shipping and insurance back to the U.K.

Finally, this must be the only car made that runs on solid fuel - all this came out of the fuel tank after it was running rough and we decided to see if she needed a clean. Best Regards, Stuart Prosser Send Email.

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