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 created a subsidiary called Facel (acronym of Forges et Ateliers de Constructions d'Eure-et-Loir) in December 1939. After the war, in 1945, by merging with Métallon, Facel began to make short-run special bodies, coupés or cabriolets for Simca, Ford of France, Panhard and Delahaye. 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 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, then in 1937 to Bronzavia as technical director. During WWII he worked in the US with General Aircraft, which was using Bronzavia patents, but he returned in 1945 and took charge of Facel. Daninos merged Facel with Métallon, a tie maintained until January 1953.

;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 and then built around 45,000 examples for Panhard.

Facel entered the automobile business as a supplier of special bodies for Panhard, Delahaye and Simca. The company was headquartered in Paris at 19 Avenue George V, and had the main assembly factory in Colombes at 132 Boulevard de Valmy, with parts supplied from the outskirts of the city in Amboise, Dreux and Puteaux.

Facel Vega FV, HK500 and Facel Vega II

thumb|Facel Vega HK500 1961

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 V8 engines because no French company at the time produced an engine that met the company's objectives. Initially, a DeSoto Hemi engine was installed, while the overall engineering was straightforward, with a tubular chassis, double wishbone suspension at the front and a live axle 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 in just under 10 seconds.

Most cars were two-door hardtops with no centre pillar, but a few convertibles 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 system in France.

With the idea of creating a mass-produced all-French sports car competing with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, the Triumph TR3 and Porsche 356B, 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 chief engineer Carlo Machetti, who won at Le Mans, along with the advice of famed English cylinder-head guru Harry Weslake, 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 updated Facellia F2 was presented at the March 1961 Geneva Motor Show. 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. Race-car driver Stirling Moss would drive his HK500 from event to event rather than fly.

French writer and Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus died in a Facel Vega FV2 driven by his publisher's nephew, Michel Gallimard. 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
  • Facel Vega HK500
  • Facel Vega II
  • Facel Vega Excellence
  • Facel Vega Facellia
  • Facel III
  • Facel 6

References

  • The Facel Véga Home Page
  • Facel Vega Club Germany + Spare Parts!
  • Motorbase profile
  • Facel Vega article on Allpar
  • Retro Website about Facel Vega