In 1962 French car
maker Facel-Vega starts to sell the new Facel II. The new GT coupé
car, designed by Jean Daninos (Facel-Vega founder and president), was
presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 1961 and received a very
enthusiastic reception comparing it with the best Italian designs.
Facel-Vega
advertised the Facel II as "Le Coupé 4-places le plus rapide du
Monde" ("The
Fastest 4-seater Coupé in the World"). The Facel II was powered
by the American Chrysler 6.3 litre “Typhoon” engine, producing
265 kW with the Chrysler Torqueflite automatic gearbox (top speed:
225 km/h) and 291 kW with the French “Pont-a-Mousson” four speed
manual gearbox (top speed: 247 km/h). It almost all out-accelerate
its rivals like the Aston Martin DB4, Ferrari 250 GT and
Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
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| Predecessor: Facel-Vega HK500 |
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| Facel-Vega Facel II |
The car was
standard fitted with Dunlop disc brakes on all four wheels, power
steering, leather seats, electric windows and radio aerial. The Facel
II was owned by some famous people, including Pablo Picasso, Joan
Collins, Tony Curtis, Christian Dior, Ava Gardner (she owned three
Facel's II), Herbert von Karajan, Danny Kaye, Princess Grace of
Monaco, Yves Montand, Anthony Quinn, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra,
Ringo Starr, François Truffaut, and Robert Wagner.
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| Facel-Vega Facel II |
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| Facel-Vega Facel II interior |
In 1964 the Facel
company went bankrupt as a result the Facel II production stopped
with only 180 Facel's II ever built.
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| Facel-Vega Facel II |
Trivia:
- Facel stands for
“Forges et Ateliers des Constructions d'Eure-et-Loir”
- Facel produced
bodies of custom cars like the Simca 8 Sport (1951), the Panhard
Dyna cabriolet (1952) and the French Ford Comète (1952) before the
first Facel Vega model in 1955
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| Facel-Vega Facel II |
