Facel Vega Excellence
Encyclopedia
The Excellence was a luxury saloon unveiled by Facel-Vega of Paris, France at the Paris Auto Show in October 1956 to rave reviews by the motoring press.
Production started in 1958 and lasted until the company ceased production in 1964. The car was based on an elongated chassis from the Facel Vega FV
Coupé. It was the only four-door model the company ever made. Production ended after only 156 cars had been built. The low production figure is a direct result of the car's exorbitant purchase price. When new, it cost about as much as four Citroën DS
saloons, which themselves were hardly to be considered cheap cars. The towering price could still be boosted by ordering optional equipment, which gradually became available over the car's production run, such as power steering, power brakes, electric windows, wire-spoke wheels, and air conditioning.
.
Inside, the car had a lavish interior with seats covered in aromatic leather, a fake walnut dashboard with full instrumentation, and a make up kit located in the back of the centre armrest, consisting of a chrome-handled brush and comb, and two perfume bottles, the latter albeit being supplied empty by the factory. Still, the interior was not nearly as roomy as one would expect from a car with a wheelbase exceeding three metres.
The Excellence was a top performer and could hold its own among the best GTs Europe had to offer. Some high-performance American cars, most notably Chrysler's 300 'letter series'
models, could probably outrun an Excellence in straight-line performance, but they were neither as refined, well built, nor had they the 'panache' of a Facel-Vega. Although the Excellence could match the wheelbase of most full-sized American cars of the time, it was considerably shorter, narrower, and most of all, lower. Its comparatively compact measurements gave it the edge in the handling department, which came in handy, especially under European road conditions.
In an article for the November 1985 edition of Collectible Automobile Magazine, noted automotive historian Richard Langworth stated his opinion that "The Excellence is a large vehicle...better suited as a car of State rather than a daily driver." How he came to this conclusion despite the unanimously positive reviews regarding the roadability of the Excellence from the contemporary motoring press as well as its owners, has been a matter of debate ever since.
, which Chrysler discontinued for the 1958 model year. Facel-Vega continued to use those engines until stocks were depleted in late 1958. From then on, the V8 powered Facel-Vegas packed the Chrysler RB Wedge
big-block engines.
All Chrysler powered Facel-Vegas could either be had with the Pont-à-Mousson built four-speed manual, or the Chrysler built Torqueflite
three-speed automatic. Whereas the American automatic transmission was optional for the Facel-Vegas, the French manual gearbox conversely became optionally available in selected Chrysler high-performance models.
. Facels could either be ordered with the Pont-à-Mousson built four-speed manual, or the Chrysler built Torqueflite
three-speed automatic. Contemporary road tests showed, that they performed equally well with either gearbox. Arguably the most powerful Excellences to ever hit the roads, these were genuine 140 mph cars. Alledgedly a mere eleven 'EX'-series cars were built, seven of which are known to survive.
Be it as it may, a 361 powered Excellence was anything but a slouch. It had the same nominal horsepower output as the Hemi it replaced. The more faint at heart may be pleased to learn, that from late 1959 onwards, an Excellence could be stopped via optional power disc brakes up front.
The 1958 - 1961 Excellences were the most numerous of the bunch with 137 examples being built.
The 'EX2' lost its wraparound windshield and the tailfins were severely clipped, which resulted in a considerably less flamboyant appearance. Despite these measures, the Excellence did not gain significantly more modern looks in general. It rather lost some of its previous elegance. But a complete re-styling of the car would have been prohibitively expensive, especially given its low production figures. Of these "EX2" models, only eight were completed, when production finally ceased for good.
The domestic market price quoted for the car at the EX2's first Paris Motor Show, in October 1961, was 72,500 new francs for a car with automatic transmission. The same money could at that time buy more than twelve Renault Dauphine
s.
based conglomerate wanting to revive the luxurious Packard
brand in 1959, Facel-Vega boss Jean Daninos
entered into negotiations with Studebaker-Packard Corporation
president Harold Churchill. The idea was to badge-engineer the Excellence with Packard nameplates and the trademark Packard "Ox-Yoke" grille, and market it through the more "exclusive" Studebaker-Packard dealers in North America. However, Daimler-Benz
, which already had a marketing partnership with Studebaker-Packard, using Studebaker's dealership network to sell its Mercedes
brand of cars in the United States, objected to the plan. Churchill realized that he could never get the same cash stream from Facel-Vega that he did from Daimler-Benz, and the whole project was abandoned. Despite the Facel-Vega Excellence-come-Packard in fact did make it to the to the planning stage, contrary to popular belief, not a single actual prototype was built. However, a number of Excellences were imported to the USA by private owners.
starring Deborah Kerr
and Maurice Chevalier
. Other Excellences make brief appearances in the 1961 movie Goodbye Again
, the 1963 movies Le temps des copains and Love Is a Ball
, the 1972 movie Slaughter
, and the 1990 movie Dancing Machine
. All of them were non-EX2 versions.
Production started in 1958 and lasted until the company ceased production in 1964. The car was based on an elongated chassis from the Facel Vega FV
Facel Vega FVS
The Facel Vega FV/FVS was a car produced by French car maker Facel Vega from 1954 to 1959. It continued until 1962 as the HK500.-FV:The Facel 'Vega' was launched at the 1954 Paris Salon. By 1956 the cars were called FVS , earlier cars often being referred to as simply "FV"...
Coupé. It was the only four-door model the company ever made. Production ended after only 156 cars had been built. The low production figure is a direct result of the car's exorbitant purchase price. When new, it cost about as much as four Citroën DS
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre, the DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative...
saloons, which themselves were hardly to be considered cheap cars. The towering price could still be boosted by ordering optional equipment, which gradually became available over the car's production run, such as power steering, power brakes, electric windows, wire-spoke wheels, and air conditioning.
Design
The Excellence featured some styling elements usually found on American cars of the era, like tailfins, the wraparound windshield, and the "hardtop" roof without B-pillars. But the overall design was distinctively European, with its stacked quad-headlights and rakishly low profile. Its low beltline and comparatively high greenhouse predicted the automotive architecture that became mainstream in the late Fifties, and lasted throughout the Sixties. The Facel-Vega Excellence also incorporated a pillarless four-door mechanism, allowing the car to be designed with rear-hinged "suicide" styled rear doors for easier access and egress. This layout could also be found on the limited production Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, which was unveiled later in 1956, and on the mass-produced 1961-1969 Lincoln ContinentalLincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...
.
Inside, the car had a lavish interior with seats covered in aromatic leather, a fake walnut dashboard with full instrumentation, and a make up kit located in the back of the centre armrest, consisting of a chrome-handled brush and comb, and two perfume bottles, the latter albeit being supplied empty by the factory. Still, the interior was not nearly as roomy as one would expect from a car with a wheelbase exceeding three metres.
The Excellence was a top performer and could hold its own among the best GTs Europe had to offer. Some high-performance American cars, most notably Chrysler's 300 'letter series'
Chrysler 300 letter series
The Chrysler 300 "letter series" were high-performance luxury cars built in very limited numbers by the Chrysler Corporation in the U.S. from 1955-1965...
models, could probably outrun an Excellence in straight-line performance, but they were neither as refined, well built, nor had they the 'panache' of a Facel-Vega. Although the Excellence could match the wheelbase of most full-sized American cars of the time, it was considerably shorter, narrower, and most of all, lower. Its comparatively compact measurements gave it the edge in the handling department, which came in handy, especially under European road conditions.
In an article for the November 1985 edition of Collectible Automobile Magazine, noted automotive historian Richard Langworth stated his opinion that "The Excellence is a large vehicle...better suited as a car of State rather than a daily driver." How he came to this conclusion despite the unanimously positive reviews regarding the roadability of the Excellence from the contemporary motoring press as well as its owners, has been a matter of debate ever since.
Chrysler connection
Powered by contemporary Chrysler V8 engines, like other Facel-Vega cars, the initial Excellences were fitted with the famed HemiHemi engine
A Hemi engine is an internal combustion engine in which the roof of each cylinder's combustion chambers is of hemispherical form.- History :...
, which Chrysler discontinued for the 1958 model year. Facel-Vega continued to use those engines until stocks were depleted in late 1958. From then on, the V8 powered Facel-Vegas packed the Chrysler RB Wedge
Chrysler B engine
Chrysler's B and RB engines are a series of big-block V8s which in 1958 replaced the first-generation Hemi engines. The B and RB engines use wedge-shaped combustion chambers....
big-block engines.
All Chrysler powered Facel-Vegas could either be had with the Pont-à-Mousson built four-speed manual, or the Chrysler built Torqueflite
TorqueFlite
TorqueFlite is the trademarked name of Chrysler Corporation's automatic transmissions, starting with the three-speed unit introduced late in the 1956 model year as a successor to Chrysler's two-speed PowerFlite...
three-speed automatic. Whereas the American automatic transmission was optional for the Facel-Vegas, the French manual gearbox conversely became optionally available in selected Chrysler high-performance models.
May 1958 – October 1958 (Model 'EX')
While the Paris Show Car of 1956 was fitted with a 331 CID (5.4 Litre) unit, the initial batch of production Excellences was equipped with the monster 392 CID (6.4 Litre) version of the Chrysler Hemi V8, shared, among others, with the Facel-Vega HK 500, and Chrysler's own ImperialChrysler Imperial
The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was the company's top of the range vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced with the Chrysler name until 1954, and again from 1990 to 1993. The company tried to position the cars as a prestige marque that would rival Cadillac and Lincoln...
. Facels could either be ordered with the Pont-à-Mousson built four-speed manual, or the Chrysler built Torqueflite
TorqueFlite
TorqueFlite is the trademarked name of Chrysler Corporation's automatic transmissions, starting with the three-speed unit introduced late in the 1956 model year as a successor to Chrysler's two-speed PowerFlite...
three-speed automatic. Contemporary road tests showed, that they performed equally well with either gearbox. Arguably the most powerful Excellences to ever hit the roads, these were genuine 140 mph cars. Alledgedly a mere eleven 'EX'-series cars were built, seven of which are known to survive.
October 1958 – July 1961 (Model 'EX1')
For model year 1958, Chrysler discontinued the Hemi engines, and after stocks had dried up, Facel-Vega started using the 361 CID (5.9 Litre) Chrysler 'Wedge' head V8 engines. Why Facel-Vega didn't go for the top-of-the-line 413 CID (6.9 Litre) engines remains a mystery, but the French road tax system, which is based on engine displacement, is often cited as an explanation.Be it as it may, a 361 powered Excellence was anything but a slouch. It had the same nominal horsepower output as the Hemi it replaced. The more faint at heart may be pleased to learn, that from late 1959 onwards, an Excellence could be stopped via optional power disc brakes up front.
The 1958 - 1961 Excellences were the most numerous of the bunch with 137 examples being built.
July 1961 - June 1964 (Model 'EX2')
The Excellence received its only significant facelift in 1961. It now came with a bigger 383 CID (6.3 Litre) engine, rated at 390 hp, a mindboggling figure back then, especially for a saloon car. However, no significant gain in performance could be noted in contemporary road tests, and the initial Hemi-powered cars remain the fastest Excellences ever built.The 'EX2' lost its wraparound windshield and the tailfins were severely clipped, which resulted in a considerably less flamboyant appearance. Despite these measures, the Excellence did not gain significantly more modern looks in general. It rather lost some of its previous elegance. But a complete re-styling of the car would have been prohibitively expensive, especially given its low production figures. Of these "EX2" models, only eight were completed, when production finally ceased for good.
The domestic market price quoted for the car at the EX2's first Paris Motor Show, in October 1961, was 72,500 new francs for a car with automatic transmission. The same money could at that time buy more than twelve Renault Dauphine
Renault Dauphine
Renault Dauphine is a rear-engined economy car manufactured by Renault in one body style — a three-box, four-door sedan — as the successor to the Renault 4CV, with over two million examples marketed worldwide during its production from 1956-1967....
s.
Discussions with Studebaker-Packard
Following the proposition of a New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
based conglomerate wanting to revive the luxurious Packard
Packard
Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...
brand in 1959, Facel-Vega boss Jean Daninos
Jean Daninos
Jean Daninos was a Greek- French constructor of luxury cars Facel Vega.The brother of the Pierre Daninos, Jean Daninos had founded the company FACEL in 1939 with hopes of one day designing and manufacturing his own...
entered into negotiations with Studebaker-Packard Corporation
Studebaker-Packard Corporation
The Studebaker-Packard Corporation was the entity created by the purchase of the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, in 1954.Packard acquired Studebaker in the transaction...
president Harold Churchill. The idea was to badge-engineer the Excellence with Packard nameplates and the trademark Packard "Ox-Yoke" grille, and market it through the more "exclusive" Studebaker-Packard dealers in North America. However, Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines; founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest - which was valid until year 2000 - was signed on 1 May 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had...
, which already had a marketing partnership with Studebaker-Packard, using Studebaker's dealership network to sell its Mercedes
Mercedes
Mercedes is a girl's name of Spanish origin, referring to a title for the Virgin Mary, "Our Lady of Mercy". The word may also refer to:Automobile-related...
brand of cars in the United States, objected to the plan. Churchill realized that he could never get the same cash stream from Facel-Vega that he did from Daimler-Benz, and the whole project was abandoned. Despite the Facel-Vega Excellence-come-Packard in fact did make it to the to the planning stage, contrary to popular belief, not a single actual prototype was built. However, a number of Excellences were imported to the USA by private owners.
In popular culture
A Facel-Vega Excellence appeared in the 1959 movie Count Your BlessingsCount Your Blessings (film)
Count Your Blessings is a 1959 drama film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Jean Negulesco, written and produced by Karl Tunberg, based on the 1951 novel The Blessing by Nancy Mitford. The music score was by Franz Waxman and the cinematography by George J. Folsey and Milton R. Krasner...
starring Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
and Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
. Other Excellences make brief appearances in the 1961 movie Goodbye Again
Goodbye Again
Goodbye Again may refer to:Film:* Goodbye Again , a 1933 film directed by Michael Curtiz with Warren William and Joan Blondell** Goodbye Again, the 1928 play written by George Haight and Allan Scott, on which the film was based...
, the 1963 movies Le temps des copains and Love Is a Ball
Love Is a Ball
Love Is a Ball is a 1963 romantic comedy film starring Glenn Ford and Hope Lange. It is based on the book The Grand Duke and Mr. Pimm by Lindsay Hardy.-Plot:...
, the 1972 movie Slaughter
Slaughter
-Animals:* Animal slaughter, killing animals for food** Ritual slaughter, the practice of slaughtering livestock for meat in a ritual manner*** Dhabīḥah, the prescribed method of ritual slaughter of animals excluding camels, locusts, fish and most sea life in Islamic law*** Shechita, the ritual...
, and the 1990 movie Dancing Machine
Dancing Machine
"Dancing Machine" is a 1973 song recorded by The Jackson 5, released as a single in 1974. The group's first US Top Ten hit since 1971's "Sugar Daddy", "Dancing Machine" reached number two on the Billboard pop music charts in May 1974, and number one on the R&B charts...
. All of them were non-EX2 versions.