If you’ve been restoring classic cars for more than a decade after an unfortunate garage fire kicked off your career, it’s only natural to choose a Facel Vega for a long-distance journey. Allow Petrolucious to explain.
If in the late fifties and early sixties, all the cool people drove Mercedes 300SLs. It’s safe to say that after they got a bit older, fatter, and lazier, the Facel Vega became the next default choice.
The Facel II was the evolution of the HK500 that killed French philosopher Albert Camus. It had a bigger Chrysler Typhoon and a lighter, sleeker body – the true pinnacle of this French-American team effort.
Just ask Ava Gardner (who bought three), Tony Curtis, Pablo Picasso, Christian Dior, Frank Sinatra, Ringo Starr or Stirling Moss. They all had Facel IIs, because while these hand built grand tourers were never on the cheap side, you couldn’t go classier at 150 mph (with the four-speed manual).
The Torqueflite topped out at 135...
Just in case you’re looking for a Facel project for the next few hundred weekends, I highly recommend this Excellence.
Four-door practicality was never this sexy.
Photo credit: Rex Gray
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