Facel Vega Facel II
The Facel Vega 'Facel II' is a grand touring car produced by French automaker Facel Vega between the years 1962 and 1964.
By 1962, the Paris-based company was facing bankruptcy. The Facel II was to be the company's last attempt to create a luxury GT car in the French tradition. Jean Daninos, president, said of the Facel II, "The HK500 was the most interesting car we ever made but the Facel II was by far the best. It was totally 'elegant' ."
The Facel S.A. company advertised the Facel II as "Le Coupé 4-places le plus rapide du Monde". Sports Car Graphic described it as a "luxurious brute". Bernard Cahier, a race-driver who tested the car in 1962, said of an early version that "the huge output of the Chrysler engine made it easy to spin wheels at light throttle pressure".
Features
The Facel II was introduced at the 1961 Paris Motor Show, and was powered by a Chrysler 6.3 litre 'Typhoon' engine which produced if equipped with a TorqueFlite automatic-gearbox, or with a manual transmission. Using Chrysler's three-speed automatic gearbox, the 6.3-litre Facel II could reach a top speed of over. With a French Pont-a-Mousson four-speed manual gearbox the full-four-seater 6.3 litre Facel II could reach over and out-accelerate two-seat GTs such as the Aston Martin DB4, Ferrari 250 GT and 'gull-wing' Mercedes-Benz 300SL, to and all except the Ferrari to. Dunlop disc brakes were fitted on all four wheels and Hydrosteer power steering, leather seats, electric windows and radio aerial all became standard during the production run, with Armstrong Selecta-Ride shock-absorbers adjustable from the dash while driving fitted to the right-hand-drive British models. The curvaceous wrap-round dash was in fact metal but meticulously painted to look like wood. Many of the controls were airplane inspired. The later models were fitted with the even more powerful 6.7 litre Chrysler RB "wedge" engine and were faster still.Like its predecessor, the Facel Vega HK500, the Facel II was a heavy vehicle, weighing 'dry' and well over two tons with four passengers and a full petrol tank. There may have been some question about its ride and rear suspension – it used suspension virtually unchanged from the previous HK500 – but certainly none about its speed or glamour.
Contemporary reviews
England's Autocar said of it:To step down into a Facel II and go motoring must be the ambition of many who can never fulfil it. Such an experience is reserved for the few who can afford to buy one and for their friends and acquaintances.
Said Motor:
There are faster sports cars, although very few, and there are more refined and luxurious saloons, but it is difficult to think of a more remarkable combination of these rather conflicting qualities.... its unique combination of qualities left the most vivid impression on everyone who drove it. In particular one remembers the smoothness and silence, the effortless gait of a car which does at only 3,650 rpm. and the acceleration which leaves other fast cars far behind on every straight. One can enjoy the latest refinements of American brute force with European standards of control in an environment of British luxury and French elegance.