Facel Vega HK500

Facel Vega

Forges et Ateliers de Construction d&rsquo;Eure et de Loire SA, or Facel, was founded in 1938, producing machine tools for the military aircraft industry. The company diversified and made car bodies for Ford, Delahaye, Panhard and Simca. By 1954 it had created the marque &quot;Facel Vega&quot;&nbsp;to introduce their own vehicle, known as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/fv/">FV</a>, a handsome and luxuriously appointed two-door&nbsp;four-seater powered by a Chrysler 4.5 liter&nbsp;Hemi V8. The FV evolved into the <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/fv/">FVS</a> (S for Sport) and later into the <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/hk500/">HK500</a>. They also launched the <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/excellence/">Excellence</a>, their only 4-door model, and the <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/facel-ii/">Facel II</a>, advertised by the company as &quot;The Fastest 4-seater Coup&eacute; in the World.&quot; The <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/facellia/">Facellia</a> model, the company&#39;s&nbsp;attempt to enter the sports car market, had significant engine problems. It&nbsp;is said to have been a major contributor to the&nbsp;company&#39;s demise in 1964.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Forges et Ateliers de Construction d’Eure et de Loire SA, or Facel, was founded in 1938, producing machine tools for the military aircraft…

In 1958, the&nbsp;Facel Vega HK500&nbsp;was introduced, replacing the <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/fv/">FVS</a>. Essentially, it was just a renamed, upgraded FVS. Equipped at first with the 335&nbsp;hp (250&nbsp;kW) 5.8-litre V8 from the FVS, the HK500 soon received a 360&nbsp;bhp&nbsp;6.3 litre Chrysler V8, giving it a top speed of 147&nbsp;mph (237&nbsp;km/h). It could accelerate from 0-60&nbsp;mph (97&nbsp;km/h) in 8.5&nbsp;seconds.&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/facel-ii/">Facel Vega II</a>&nbsp;replaced the HK500 in 1962, after approximately 489 had been built.

In 1958, the Facel Vega HK500 was introduced, replacing the FVS. Essentially, it was just a renamed, upgraded FVS. Equipped at first with…

HK500

Facel Vega FV & FVS

The Facel &#39;Vega&#39;&nbsp;was launched at the 1954 Paris Salon. By 1956 the cars were called&nbsp;FVS&nbsp;(for Facel Vega Sport), earlier cars often being referred to as simply &quot;FV&quot;.&nbsp;The 1954 versions of the Facel were fitted with a&nbsp;Chrysler 4.5 litre&nbsp;Hemi&nbsp;V8&nbsp;engine.&nbsp;In 1955 the engine capacity increased to 4.8 litres and 200&nbsp;hp&nbsp;(FV1), which later in the year grew to 250&nbsp;hp&nbsp;(FV2).&nbsp;Subsequently a 5.4-litre appeared (FV2B), with 255&nbsp;hp.&nbsp;For 1958, the engine grew to 5.8 litres (FV4) and 325&nbsp;hp, although the earlier 4.5 and a 4.9 (FV3/FV3B) were also listed as available. The interior was uncommonly luxurious, and of exceptional workmanship. The dashboard was aircraft-inspired, and one of the first to feature a middle console over the gearbox.&nbsp;In total, 357 FVs and FVSs were built.&nbsp;They were replaced by the <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/hk500/">HK500</a> in 1958.

The Facel 'Vega' was launched at the 1954 Paris Salon. By 1956 the cars were called FVS (for Facel Vega Sport), earlier cars often being…

FV & FVS

Facel Vega Excellence

The&nbsp;Excellence&nbsp;is a luxury saloon automobile that was unveiled by&nbsp;Facel-Vega&nbsp;of&nbsp;Paris, France, at the&nbsp;Paris Auto Show&nbsp;in October 1956 to rave reviews by the motoring press. Production started in 1958 and lasted until the company ceased production in 1964. The car was based on an elongated chassis from the&nbsp;Facel Vega FV&nbsp;Coup&eacute;. It was the only four-door model the company ever made. Production ended after only 156 cars had been built.

The Excellence is a luxury saloon automobile that was unveiled by Facel-Vega of Paris, France, at the Paris Auto Show in October 1956 to…

Excellence

Facel Vega Facellia

In 1960, Facel entered the&nbsp;sports car&nbsp;market with the Facellia, a small car similar in size to the then popular&nbsp;<a href="https://www.classic.com/m/mercedes-benz/sl/w121/">Mercedes 190SL</a>. Facellias were advertised in three body styles: cabriolet, 2+2 coup&eacute; and 4-seat coup&eacute; &mdash; all with the same mechanical parts and a 2,450&nbsp;mm (96.5&nbsp;in) wheelbase.&nbsp;With the idea of creating a mass-produced all-French sports car competing with the&nbsp;Alfa Romeos, Facel moved away from American engines. The Facellia had a 4-cylinder 1.6&nbsp;L DOHC engine built in France by Paul Cavallier of the Pont-&agrave;-Mousson company.&nbsp;&nbsp;Despite the experience of Pont-&agrave;-Mousson, the engine suffered from timing problems and frequent failures.&nbsp;The troublesome powerplant was replaced with a&nbsp;Volvo B18 engine&nbsp;in the Facel III, but the damage was done. Production was stopped in 1963 and despite the vision of it being a &quot;volume&quot; car, only 1,100 were produced - still enough to make this Facel&#39;s highest production number.&nbsp; Facel would subsequently shut down in October of 1964.&nbsp;

In 1960, Facel entered the sports car market with the Facellia, a small car similar in size to the then popular Mercedes 190SL. Facellias…

Facellia

Facel Vega Facel II

The&nbsp;Facel Vega &#39;Facel II&#39;&nbsp;was a French&nbsp;grand touring&nbsp;car produced by&nbsp;Facel Vega&nbsp;between the years 1962 and 1964, replacing the earlier <a href="https://www.classic.com/m/facel-vega/hk500/">HK500</a>.&nbsp;By 1962 the Paris-based company&nbsp;was facing bankruptcy and the Facel II was to be the company&#39;s last attempt to create a luxury GT car in the French tradition.&nbsp;It was powered by a Chrysler&nbsp;6.3 litre&nbsp;&#39;Typhoon&#39; engine which produced 355&nbsp;hp&nbsp;in automatic-gearbox form and 390&nbsp;hp&nbsp;in manual. In&nbsp;1964 the Facel company went into receivership, largely due to warranty claims against Facel Vega&#39;s smaller Facellia model with its troublesome &#39;in-house&#39; engine. As a result, Facel II production had to be discontinued with only 180&nbsp;ever built.

The Facel Vega 'Facel II' was a French grand touring car produced by Facel Vega between the years 1962 and 1964, replacing the earlier…

Facel Vega HK500(1958 to 1961)

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