Facel Vega Facellia
Jean Daninos came up with the idea of a smaller Facel Vega to compete against other sports cars such as Alfa Romeo, and this would take Facel Vega into mass production. The Facellia was first presented in 1959 and went into production at the end of that year. Facel Vega had rubbed the French government up the wrong way with its use of American engines for its larger V8 cars and so searched around for a French engine for their new smaller sports cars. With no suitable engines available Carlo Marchetti, formerly of Talbot, assisted by Paul Cavalier Chairman of Pont­a­Mousson designed a dohc 1,647cc 4-cylinder engine. With only two bearings for the camshaft, the engine was troublesome and burned pistons. Warranty claims mounted up, and Jean Daninos was forced to resign. Facel Vega brought in Andre Belin and he got engineers Charles Deutsch and Jean Bertin to resolve some of the design flaws for the Facellia F2. Sales were poor, and in 1963 developed the Facellia F2 into the Facel III which used a Volvo engine.
aa Facel Vega Facellia badgeb
aa Facel Vega Facellia badgeb
Facel Vega Facellia - badge on boot lid
aa Facel Vega Facellia F2 badge
aa Facel Vega Facellia F2 badge
Facel Facellia F2 - badge on bootlid. 'F2' was the badging given to the Series II Facellia which had a reworked engine.
ac Facel Vega Facellia F2 head
ac Facel Vega Facellia F2 head
Facel Facellia F2. Launched in 1961, the F2 was an improved version of the Facellia which had been launched in 1960 with some reliability issues. The F2 still used the problematic 1,646cc dohc 4-cylinder engine derived from a six cylinder engine by Carlo Marchetti.
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet frontc
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet frontc
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet. Jean Daninos designed the Facellia which was intended to take Facel Vega down to the less pricey sports cars market
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet fronto
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet fronto
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet. Power was given by the troublesome Pont-a-Mousson 1,646cc dohc engine.
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet rear
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet rear
Facel Vega Facellia Cabriolet. About half of all Facellias were built as Cabriolets
Facel Vega Facellia coupe frontr
Facel Vega Facellia coupe frontr
Facel Vega Facellia. The small Facel Vega intended to sell in volume and make profits for Facel, but a troublesome new engine drove the company onto the rocks instead
Facel Vega Facellia F2 engine
Facel Vega Facellia F2 engine
Facel Facellia F2. The F2 still used the 1,646 cc dohc 4-cylinder engine designed by Carlo Marchetti and produced by Pont-a-Mousson. For the F2 this was reworked by engineers Charles Deutsch and Jean Bertin to resolve some of the design flaws, such as camshafts mounted on two bearings instead of five.
Facel Vega Facellia F2 front
Facel Vega Facellia F2 front
Facel Facellia F2. Launched in 1961, the F2 was an improved version of the Facellia which had been launched in 1960 with some reliability issues.
Facel Vega Facellia F2 frontd
Facel Vega Facellia F2 frontd
Facel Vega Facellia F2. The original Facellia had a troublesome 1.6-litre Pont-à-Mousson engine, which was replaced in the F2 by a re-engineered version of the engine, ahead of a Volvo B18B engine given to the Facel III
Facel Vega Facellia F2 rear
Facel Vega Facellia F2 rear
Facel Facellia F2. Designed by Jean Daninos, 1,045 are made from 1960 to 1963. The small Facel Vega was built on a 96.5-inch chassis, and the body evolved into the Facel III powered by a Volvo engine.
Facel Vega Facellia rearr
Facel Vega Facellia rearr
Facel Vega Facellia. Two closed Facellia bodies were offered, a 2+2 seater coupe and a 4-seater coupe with a smaller boot
s Facel Vega Facellia side
s Facel Vega Facellia side
Facel Vega Facellia. Built on a 96.5-inch wheelbase, the Facellia was 8-inches shorter then previous models and intended to sell in volume.
DB Le Mans 1962 convertible frontr
DB Le Mans 1962 convertible frontr
Deutsch-Bonnet Le Mans 1962 convertible, powered by 954cc Panhard engine and built on a Panhard platform. It carries the same Marchal Mégalux headlamps as the Facellia.