Facel S.A. was a French manufacturer of pressed steel automobile components and, subsequently, complete automobiles of their own design. To intensify its

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

war effort, French subcontracting company for military aeronautics Bronzavia created a subsidiary called Facel (

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

of ''Forges et Ateliers de Constructions d'

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Simca Simca (; Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company) was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat S.p.A. and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italy, Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simc ...

, Ford of France,

Panhard Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks#Military vehicles, Re ...

and

Delahaye Delahaye was a family-owned automobile manufacturing company, founded by Émile Delahaye in 1894 in Tours, France. Manufacturing was moved to Paris following incorporation in 1898 with two marriage-related brothers-in-law, George Morane and Le ...

. Approximately 2,900 cars of all models were hand-built in Facel's short life. Unitary bodies without a chassis became general for mass-produced cars, and Facel lost its big customers. French niche manufacturers ceased production. Métallon left the partnership in 1953, and Facel set about designing and making its own complete cars using engines made by Chrysler, Volvo and Austin. Its first design, named Vega, was shown to the public in 1954. The Facellia model, introduced in 1959, was under-developed, and losses brought about by its warranty problems became impossible to recoup. Prior to closure, Facel had been placed under the control of

Sud Aviation Sud Aviation (, 'Southern Aviation') was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating in the merger of Sud-Est ( SNCASE, or ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du sud-est'') and Sud-Ouest ( SNCASO or ''Société nat ...

subsidiary SFERMA (''Société Française d'Entretien et de Réparation de Matériel Aéronautique''). Though initially successful, Facel closed its factory in October 1964.

Business history

Facel was founded on 20 December 1939 by Bronzavia, a French manufacturer of military aircraft, to make special components. Marcel Koehler (formerly of motorcycle manufacturer Koehler-Escoffier) directed Facel from 1939 to 1945. He gave way to Jean Daninos when he returned from the United States, summoned by Henri Feuillée, the ex-boss of Bronzavia and a large shareholder of Facel. Jean Daninos had begun his career with Citroen, where he assisted in the design of the Traction coupés and cabriolets. He moved to

Morane-Saulnier Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier was a French aircraft manufacturing company formed in October 1911 by Raymond Saulnier and the Morane brothers, Léon and Robert. The company was taken over and diversified in the 1960s. History Model development ...

, then in 1937 to Bronzavia as technical director. During WWII he worked in the US with

General Aircraft General Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1931 to amalgamation with Blackburn Aircraft in 1949 to become Blackburn and General. Its main products were military gliders and light transport aircraft. His ...

, which was using Bronzavia patents, but he returned in 1945 and took charge of Facel. Daninos merged Facel with Metallon, a tie maintained until January 1953.The Story Facel-Vega
by ''Amicale Facel Vega''. Retrieved April 13, 2020. ;Coachwork provider Daninos had Facel begin manufacturing short-run and special complete finished bodies for the major French brands. In conjunction with l'Aluminium Français Facel designed the all-aluminium alloy

Panhard Dyna X The Panhard Dyna X was a lightweight berline produced by the French manufacturer Panhard from 1948 to 1954. It was designed by the engineer Jean Albert Grégoire and first exhibited as the AFG ''(Aluminium Français Grégoire)'' Dyna at the Pa ...

and then built around 45,000 examples for Panhard. The body work assembly division was established in 1948. It made various models of Simca Sport and drew publicity by designing with

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (; ; short for Pininfarina Società per Azioni) is an Italian automotive design, car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 ...

and then building a special body on a

Bentley Mark VI The Bentley Mark VI is an automobile from Bentley which was produced from 1946 until 1952. The Mark VI 4-door standard steel sports saloon was the first post-war luxury car from Bentley. Announced in May 1946 and produced from 1946 to 1952 it w ...

chassis. The car was named the Bentley Cresta. The exercise was repeated in 1951 and named Cresta II. September 1951 saw the introduction of its

Ford Comète The Ford Comète (later known as the Simca Comète) is a car that was built between 1951 and 1954 in France by Ford SAF. Intended as the luxury model in the range, the Comète's bodywork was built by FACEL, who later produced the better-known Fa ...

. Production of the Comète ended in 1955 when Simca took over Ford France. The styling of the Crestas and Comètes was developed into the shape of the first Vega. ;Scooter bodies, truck bodies, tractor bodies, jeeps and smaller components During the same period, Facel-Metallon pressed out body panels for Delahaye's army jeeps (painted and upholstered); Simca, Delahaye and Somua's trucks (painted and upholstered); scooters by

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy, to a ...

Piaggio Piaggio Group () is an Italian motor vehicle manufacturer, which produces a range of two-wheeled motor vehicles and compact commercial vehicles under five brands: Piaggio, Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and Derbi. Its corporate headquarters are ...

and

Motobécane Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. "Motobécane" is a compound of "moto", short for motorcycle; "bécane" is slang for "bike." Motobécane is a different co ...

; tractors by

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson is an agricultural machinery manufacturer, established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of Ireland. It was based in Coventry then moved to Beauvais in 2003 when ...

; and stainless-steel bumpers, hubcaps and grilles for Simca/Ford and for

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

. ;Aviation In conjunction with

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapons. ...

, Facel-Metallon and Facel also turned out combustion chambers in special metals for Rolls-Royce jet engines. File:Panhard Dyna 247.JPG,

décapotable File:Simca 8 Sport Cabriolet 001.jpg,

Simca 8 The Simca 8 is a small family car built by Simca and sold in France between November 1937 and 1951 (including wartime), available as a saloon, coupé or cabriolet. It was a rebadged Fiat 508C "nuova Balilla" made at Fiat's Simca plant in Nanter ...

sport cabriolet File:Ford Comete.jpg,

coupé File:Simca 9 Sport Coupe dutch licence registration AM-20-65 pic3.JPG,

Simca 9 The Simca 9 is a French sports car produced by French automaker Simca. It first appeared in June 1952 and was built until 1954. It was a development of the Simca 8, from which it differed by being lengthened a bit (a few centimetres or inches) bet ...

sport coupé File:Simca Aronde Coupé (7496025116).jpg,

Simca Aronde The Simca Aronde is an automobile which was manufactured by the French automaker Simca from 1951 to 1964. It was Simca's first original design (earlier models were all to a greater or lesser extent based on Fiats), as well as the company's first ...

coupé

Facel Vega

The Facel Vega marque was created on 22 July 1954 by Jean Daninos, (brother of the humorist

Pierre Daninos Pierre Daninos (26 May 1913 – 7 January 2005) was a French writer and humorist. Life Daninos was born in Paris. He wrote ''Les carnets du Major Thompson'', which was published in 1954, and was followed by many sequels. The books in the series ...

, who wrote ''

Les Carnets du Major Thompson ''The French, They Are a Funny Race'' (; released in the United Kingdom as ''The Diary of Major Thompson'') is a 1955 French comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, based on the 1954 novel ''Les Carnets du Major Thompson'' by Pierre ...

''), although the Facel company had been established by the Bronzavia Company in 1939 as a subcontracting company for the aviation industry. FACEL (Forges et Ateliers de Construction d'Eure-et-Loir, ''in English: forge and construction workshop of the department of

and

Simca Simca (; Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company) was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat S.p.A. and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italy, Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simc ...

. The company was headquartered in Paris at 19 Avenue George V, and had the main assembly factory in

Colombes Colombes () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. In 2019, Colombes was the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 53rd largest city in France. ...

at 132 Boulevard de Valmy, with parts supplied from the outskirts of the city in

Amboise Amboise (; ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Today a small market town, it was once home to the French royal court. Geography Amboise lies on the banks of the river Loire, east of Tours. It is also about awa ...

Dreux Dreux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in northern France. Geography Dreux lies on the small river Blaise (river), Blaise, a tributary of the Eure (river), Eure, about 35 km north of Cha ...

and

Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the tallest buildings in the metropolitan ...

Facel Vega FV, HK500 and Facel Vega II

The Vega production cars ( FV, later and more famously the HK500) first appeared in October 1954 at the Salon de l'Automobile Paris using

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

V8 engines because no French company at the time produced an engine that met the company's objectives. Initially, a DeSoto

Hemi engine A hemispherical combustion chamber is a combustion chamber in the cylinder head of an internal combustion engine with a domed " hemispheric" shape. An engine featuring this type of hemispherical chamber is known as a hemi engine. In practice, ...

was installed, while the overall engineering was straightforward, with a tubular chassis,

double wishbone suspension A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckl ...

at the front and a

live axle A beam axle, rigid axle, or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically, they have a ...

at the back, as in standard American practice. They were also as heavy as American cars, at about . Performance was brisk, with a top speed of around and 0 to in just under 10 seconds. Most cars were two-door

hardtop A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, typically metal, and integral to the vehicle's design, strength, and style. The term typically applies to a pillarless hardtop, a car body style without a B-pillar. The term "pillared hardtop" was ...

s with no centre pillar, but a few

convertibles A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving ex ...

were built for special customers (including Daninos' wife: eleven of the FV series and a single HK500 were drop tops, out of 842 built in total) in spite of Daninos' dislike of the bodystyle due to its lack of structural rigidity. Fully 77 percent of the production was exported, due to the punitive

Tax horsepower The tax horsepower or taxable horsepower was an early system by which taxation rates for automobiles were reckoned in some European countries such as the UK, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy; some US states like Illinois charged license plate ...

system in France. The 1956 model was improved with a bigger

Chrysler Hemi engine The Chrysler Hemi engine, known by the trademark Hemi or HEMI, refers to a series of high-performance American overhead valve V8 engines built by Chrysler with hemispherical combustion chambers. Three generations have been produced: the Fire ...

and updated transmission and other mechanicals. In the same year, production began of a four-door model, the ''Excellence'', with rear-hinged doors (

suicide door A suicide door is an Car door, automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on Horse-drawn vehicle, horse-drawn carriages but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are less saf ...

s) at the back and no centre pillar. The pillarless

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

unfortunately made it less rigid and the handling was thus poorer than that of the two-door cars, and surviving examples are rare. 1959 models had even bigger engines, a and later a Chrysler Typhoon engine, and were quite a bit faster despite their extra weight. The final evolution of the V8 models came in 1962 with the

Facel Vega II The Facel Vega 'Facel II' is a grand touring car produced by French automaker Facel Vega between the years 1962 and 1964. By 1962, the Paris-based company was facing bankruptcy. The Facel II was to be the company's last attempt to create a luxur ...

, which was lighter, with sleeker, more modern lines, substantially faster, and famously elegant.

Facellia

In 1960, Facel entered the

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

market with the Facellia, with a premiere at the Paris Motor Show in 1959. It was a small car similar in size to the then popular Mercedes 190SL. Facellias were advertised in three body styles: cabriolet, 2+2 coupé and 4-seat coupé — all with the same mechanical parts and a wheelbase. Styling was similar to the Facel HK500, but with rather elegant (though fingernail-breaking) flush door handles. Following Facel Vega's demise several of M Daninos's styling cues were "borrowed" by Mercedes-Benz. Prices were roughly

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

4,000 for the Facellia ($ in dollars ), US$5,500 for the Facel III ($ in dollars ) and US$6,000 for the Facel 6 ($ in dollars ). With the idea of creating a mass-produced all-French sports car competing with the

Alfa Romeo Giulietta Alfa Romeo Giulietta is the name of three different automobiles made by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo: * The first Giulietta (Type 750 and 101) was a rear-wheel drive car made from 1954 to 1965, in 4-door saloon/sedan, coupé, spider and e ...

, the

Triumph TR3 The Triumph TR3 is a British sports car produced from 1955 to 1962 by the Standard Motor Company of Coventry, England. A traditional Roadster (automobile), open two-seater, the TR3 is an evolution of the company's earlier Triumph TR2, TR2 mode ...

and

Porsche 356 The Porsche 356 is a rear-engine sports car, and the first ever production Porsche model. The 356 is a lightweight and nimble-handling, rear-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-door available both in hardtop coupé and open configurations. Engineer ...

B, Facel moved away from Chrysler engines because Chrysler didn't offer a four-cylinder engine at the time. Instead, the Facellia had a four-cylinder 1.6 L twin-cam engine designed by former

Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago was a French automobile manufacturer based in Suresnes, Hauts de Seine, outside Paris. The company was owned and managed by Antonio Lago, an Italian engineer that acquired rights to the Talbot brand name after the demise of Darracq ...

chief engineer Carlo Machetti, who won at Le Mans, along with the advice of famed English cylinder-head guru

Harry Weslake Weslake & Co also known as Weslake Research and Development was founded by Harry Weslake, described as England's greatest expert on cylinder head design, with premises in Rye, East Sussex, England. Weslake is most famous for its work with Bentley ...

, and built in France by Paul Cavallier of the Pont-à-Mousson company (which already provided manual gear boxes for the company's larger models) so as to be compliant with the punitive French horsepower tax system and increase sales. The engine had only two bearings supporting each

camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition syst ...

, using special steels, as opposed to the usual four or five. Despite the metallurgical experience of Pont-à-Mousson, this resulted in excessive flex, timing problems, and frequent engine failures. Famed engineers

Charles Deutsch Charles Deutsch (1911–1980) was a French aerodynamics engineer and automobile maker, founder of the brand " DB" with René Bonnet, and later of the "CD". Early history Deutsch was born at Champigny-sur-Marne on 6 September 1911. His father wa ...

and

Jean Bertin Jean Henri Bertin (5 September 1917 – 21 December 1975) was a French scientist, engineer and inventor. He was born in Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He is best known as the lead engineer for the French experime ...

were called in to solve the issues, but it was not enough and the engine was pronounced a disaster and the Facellia with it. The updated Facellia F2 was presented at the March 1961

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

. Company president, Jean Daninos having been obliged to resign in August 1961 in response to the company's financial problems, the new boss, a former oil company executive called André Belin, gave strict instructions to the after-sales department to respond to customer complaints about broken Facellia engines by replacing the units free of charge without creating "difficulties". The strategy was intended to restore confidence among the company's customer base. It would certainly have created a large hole in the income statement under the "warranty costs" heading, but it may have been too late for customer confidence. ;Volvo engine The troublesome powerplant was replaced with a

Volvo B18 engine The B18 is a 1.8 L inline four cylinder overhead valve automobile engine produced by Volvo from 1961 through 1968. A larger 2.0 L derivative called the B20 debuted in 1969. Despite being a pushrod design, the engines can rev to 6,500& ...

in the Facel III, but the damage was done. Production was stopped in 1963 and despite the vision of it being a "volume" car, only 1,100 were produced - still enough to make this Facel's highest production number. Facel lost money on every car they built, with the luxury car side of the company being supported entirely by the other work done by Facel Metallon. The small Facellia met with little success and the losses from this, due to strong competition at the luxury end of the market, killed off the business which closed its doors at the end of October 1964. What was, according to some, the best small Facel, the Facel 6, which used an

Austin-Healey Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and des ...

2.8-litre engine, came too late to save the company with fewer than 30 having been produced when the financial guarantors withdrew their support.

Prominence

Prominent owners of Facel Vegas (mainly of Facel IIs) included

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' att ...

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

Max Factor Max Factor is a line of cosmetics from Coty, founded in 1909 as Max Factor & Company by Maksymilian Faktorowicz. Max Factor specialized in movie make-up. Until its 1973 sale for US$500 million (approximately $ billion in 2017 dollars), Max Fa ...

Jr,

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress best known for her roles in Hollywood films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in ...

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win the Formula On ...

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor with a career that spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films, in roles co ...

, several

Saudi Saudi or Saudi Arabian may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia See also *Saud (disambiguation) The House of Saud The H ...

princes,

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; ; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs. Kaye starred ...

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made document ...

, The

President of Mexico The president of Mexico (), officially the president of the United Mexican States (), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor. He is known for starring in the television shows ''It Takes a Thief (1968 TV series), It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch (American TV series), Switch'' (1975–1978), ...

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...

, Hassan II, King of Morocco,

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer and entrepreneur. Her acting career spanned almost 70 years. Reynolds performed on stage and television and in films into her 80s. She was nom ...

, the

Shah of Iran The monarchs of Iran ruled for over two and a half millennia, beginning as early as the 7th century BC and enduring until the 20th century AD. The earliest Iranian king is generally considered to have been either Deioces of the Median dynasty () ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Maurice Trintignant Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (; 30 October 1917 – 13 February 2005) was a French racing driver and winemaker, who competed in Formula One from to . Trintignant won two Formula One Grands Prix across 15 seasons. In endurance raci ...

Brian Rix Brian Norman Roger Rix, Baron Rix (27 January 1924 – 20 August 2016) was an English actor-manager, who produced a record-breaking sequence of long-running farces on the London stage, including ''Dry Rot'', '' Simple Spymen'' and ''One for t ...

, Joe Hepworth and French Embassies around the world. Race-car driver

would drive his HK500 from event to event rather than fly. French writer and Nobel Prize winner

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

died in a Facel Vega FV2 driven by his publisher's nephew,

Michel Gallimard Michel Gallimard (1917 – January 9, 1960) was a French publisher. Michel Gallimard was a nephew of Gaston Gallimard who considered him his spiritual son. Biography Career In 1946, Michel Gallimard met Albert Camus while the latter completed ...

. At the time of his death, Camus had planned to travel by train, with his wife and children, but at the last minute accepted Gallimard's proposal to travel with him instead.

Models

Facel Vega FV The Facel Vega FV/FVS is a car produced by French automaker Facel from 1954 until 1959. It continued to be built until 1962 as the HK500. History FV The Facel "Vega" was launched at the 1954 Paris Salon, although the first prototype had been com ...

Facel Vega HK500 The Facel Vega FV/FVS is a car produced by French automaker Facel from 1954 until 1959. It continued to be built until 1962 as the HK500. History FV The Facel "Vega" was launched at the 1954 Paris Salon, although the first prototype had been com ...

Facel Vega Excellence The Facel Vega Excellence is a luxury saloon automobile produced by French manufacturer Facel Vega, that was unveiled at the Paris Auto Show in October 1956. Production started in 1958 and lasted until the company ceased production in 1964. The c ...

Facel Vega Facellia Facel S.A. was a French manufacturer of pressed steel automobile components and, subsequently, complete automobiles of their own design. To intensify its World War II war effort, French subcontracting company for military aeronautics Bronzavia ...

Facel III Facel S.A. was a French manufacturer of pressed steel automobile components and, subsequently, complete automobiles of their own design. To intensify its World War II war effort, French subcontracting company for military aeronautics Bronzavia ...

Facel 6 Facel S.A. was a French manufacturer of pressed steel automobile components and, subsequently, complete automobiles of their own design. To intensify its World War II war effort, French subcontracting company for military aeronautics Bronzavia ...

References

External links

The Facel Véga Home Page

Facel Vega Club Germany + Spare Parts!

Motorbase profile

Retro Website about Facel Vega
{{Coachbuilders of France Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Paris French brands Coachbuilders of France Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Sports car manufacturers