Facel Vega was a French builder of luxury cars from 1954 to 1964. Initially successful the company folded with the failure of its entry into the small luxury sports car segment of the market. Their advertising slogan was "For the Few Who Own the Finest".

Company history

The brand was created by Jean Daninos, (brother of the humorist Pierre Daninos who wrote Les Carnets du Major Thomson). FACEL (Forges et Ateliers de Construction d'Eure-et-Loir) was initially a metal-stamping company but decided to expand into car manufacturing in the early 1950s. Facel entered the automobile business as a supplier of special bodies for Panhard, Delahaye and Simca. Around 45,000 Simcas were built, this lucrative contract enabling Facel to market a car of their own.

Facel Vega

Prototype 1954 Facel Vega The first Facel Vega production cars appeared in 1954 using Chrysler V8 engines, at first a DeSoto Hemi engine; the overall engineering was straightforward, with a tubular chassis, double wishbone suspension at the front and a solid driven axle at the back, as in standard American practice. They were also as heavy as American cars, at about . Performance was brisk, with an approx top speed and 0 to in just under ten seconds.

The bodywork was beautifully styled, making the Facel Vega an enduring classic. Most cars were 2-door hardtops with no centre pillar, but a few convertibles were built.

The 1956 model was improved with a bigger Chrysler engine and updated transmission and other mechanicals; in the same year production began of a 4-door model, the Excellence, with rear-hinged doors (suicide doors) at the back and no centre pillar. The pillarless design unfortunately made it less rigid and the handling was thus poorer than the 2-door cars, and examples are rare.

1959 models had even bigger engines, a and later a Chrysler V8, and were quite a bit faster despite their extra weight. The final evolution of the V8 models came in 1962 with the Facel II; lighter, with sleeker, more modern lines, substantially faster still and famously elegant.

Facellia

With the idea of creating a mass produced all-French sports car competing with the Alfa Romeos, Facel eschewed its standard of American engines, and the Facellia had a 4 cylinder 1.6 L DOHC engine built in France by Paul Cavalier of Pont-à-Mousson. The engine had only two bearings supporting each camshaft, 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 failures. The engine was pronounced a disaster and the Facellia with it. The troublesome engine was replaced with a Volvo P1800 powerplant 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 1100 were produced, which is Facel's highest production number. Facel lost money on every car they built, the luxury car side of the company being supported entirely by the other work done by Facel Metallon, Jean Daninos's obsession being very similar to that of David Brown of Aston Martin.