History of the “Maple Valley Street Rats Car Club”
Founded in Maple Valley, Washington. This car club has two primary goals. The first is to promote preservation, enjoyment, restoration and or 
modification of 1980 and older vehicles without make or model preference. The second goals is to provide scholarships in automotive technology to deserving students.
The Maple Valley Street Rats is a spin-off from the Tahoma High School Street Rats, also of Maple Valley, Washington. The Tahoma High School auto shop instructor and his students established the Tahoma High School Street Rats in 1985. The name “Street Rats” came from Street Rods plus the big block Chevrolet engine nickname. A student from Tahoma High School used the colors scarlet and the black to design the Street Rat logo. The original goal of the high school club was to develop interest in hot rods and muscle cars. As the club grew, its goal shifted to providing community services such as food drives, Easter egg hunts, Christmas toy drives and more.
The idea for the Maple Valley Street Rats started in an effort to offer financial scholarships to deserving students going to automotive schools after high school. From 1999 to 2017 the Maple Valley Street Rats has awarded more the $57,000.00 for students to attend a variety of automotive schools. The club started in 1998 with seven members , mostly from local automotive businesses in Maple Valley. The Maple Valley Streets has developed the following scholarship fundraisers:
- o) Friday night cruise-ins, Covington, Wa at the Walmart store-May Thru September
- o) Maple Valley Days car show at Lake Wilderness Park in Maple Valley,- 2nd Saturday of June
- o) Automotive Swap Meet, Covington, Wa at the Walmart store – 3rd Saturday of August
- o) Kent Cornucopia Days car show-Kent Wa—2nd Saturday of July