Who remembers Valiant effort

I did read those articles. The name for the car sort of seemed weird though. A "Valiant Effort" is associated with a failure despite one's best attempts at success.
Back in those days, nobody wanted a valiant so it might have been considered a fail car that you got because that was all you could afford or find.

When I bought my first valiant, a few people asked me why I wanted such a car when they were far from "in fashion"

Now it's a completely different story when people see a Valiant