1964 Facel Vega Facel II Hardtop Coupe

Facel was an acronym for Forges et Ateliers de Construction de d'Eure et de Loire, founded in 1938 by Jean Daninos. The company began with aircraft machine tools, but when the French auto industry revived after World War II, Facel began producing car bodies for Ford, Panhard, and Simca.

Facel's auto credits eventually included the design and production of a body for the Ford Comete coupe and a coupe body for a Bentley MK VI. Daninos took the next step and in 1954, Facel produced the Vega, an elegant four-seat coupe propelled by a DeSoto Firedome Hemi V8 and Chrysler two-speed Torqueflite automatic transmission.

The Vega was expensive, its price tag exceeding competing offerings from Talbot-Lago, Delage, and Delahaye. But by 1959 all three of these prestige makes had disappeared, leaving the Facel Vega as France's only true luxury car. A 6.3-liter Chrysler V8 replaced the earlier 4.5-liter engine in 1948, four-wheel disc brakes became standard in 1960, a restyled Series II coupe rolled out in 1961. Engine displacement was expanded to 6.8 liters, and output for the Series II rose to 390 horsepower.

At this point in history, Daninos was in dire financial straits, owing to attempted expansion into less expensive sectors of the market with the Facellia coupe. Facel went into receivership in 1962, production ground to a halt in 1964, and the company was liquidated in 1965.

This example was one of the last to leave the factory and is one of just 180 Series II Vegas produced.