1963 Facel Vega Facel II
A total of 184 examples of the Facel II were built between 1961 and 1964, making it one of the rarest French grand tourers of the postwar period.
Priced in Rolls-Royce territory when new (around $11,550 to $13,000 in the US), it attracted a clientele that included Stirling Moss, Ringo Starr, Pablo Picasso, Ava Gardner, Tony Curtis, and the Shah of Iran. Sports Car Graphic memorably described it as a “luxurious brute.”
Introduced at the 1961 Paris Motor Show as the successor to the HK500, the Facel II featured revised styling with thinner pillars, a flatter windshield, and a cleaner roofline that improved visibility over its predecessor.
The wraparound dashboard was fabricated from metal but finished to resemble wood, with instrumentation drawing heavily from aircraft cockpit design.
Power came from Chrysler’s 383-cubic-inch “Wedge” V-8, rated at 355 horsepower when paired with the three-speed TorqueFlite automatic, driving through four-wheel Dunlop disc brakes. Most cars were equipped with the 383, while a small number received the larger 413-cubic-inch unit.
A Pont-à-Mousson four-speed manual was available as an alternative, in which configuration the Facel II was capable of 0-60 mph in the low 6-second range, making it one of the fastest four-seat grand tourers of its era.
Jean Daninos himself considered it the finest car his company produced (a distinction that carried weight given Facel’s output across nearly a decade of hand-built V-8 grand tourers).
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