Facel Vega

France, 1954 – 1964

Facel SA, Pont-à-Mousson

The fast and costly Franco-American Facel Vega car was the product of a firm which had previously built bodies for Panhard, Simca and Ford. The first Facel Vega cars used boxed frames, coil-and-wishbone independent front suspension and hydraulic brakes. They were powered by 4,5-litre hemispherical-head V8s of Chrysler manufacture, developing 180bhp. The elegant Facel Vega coupé bodies were welded to the frames and the instrumentation was reminiscent of a light aircraft. Facel Vega cars were available with either Pont-à-Mousson 4-speed gearboxes or with automatic transmission. Later editions of the Chrysler engine brought capacity and output up to 5.8-litres and 325bhp respectively by 1958 for the Facel Vega, and ultimately to 6.3-litres and 390bhp, giving the Facel Vega a top speed of 135mph. Power-assisted steering was available from 1957, in which year the long-chassis Facel Vega Excellence 4-door saloon was introduced. From 1960 the big Facel Vega cars had disc brakes. In 1960 came the smaller Facel Vega Facelia, also with disc brakes and powered by Facel Vega’s own twin ohc 120bhp 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine. However, these units gave trouble and after financial difficulties in 1962 they were discarded in favour of a 1.8-litre push-rod Volvo engine giving 108bhp. The price of this Facel Vega model in England was £2211. A version using the Austin-Healey 3000 engine was in preparation in 1964, but the Facel Vega firm went bankrupt before this could be made inseries.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS
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