$21K! 1962 Facel Vega Facellia F2 Sport Coupé
This 1962 Facel Vega Facellia F2 Sport Coupé is on Craigslist with an asking price of $21,000. It’s in Napa County in California wine country. As if a person needed another reason to visit that beautiful area.
For a car that Hagerty lists as having a value of $21,000 in #4 “fair” condition, the $21,000 asking price here seems.. like not as good of a deal as I originally thought it was. When they say that a #1 “concours” car is valued at $46,900, and there would be probably well over that much, or maybe twice or more that amount of money to put in to this car to get it to that condition, you can see the problem. Ok, back to earth, Scotty G! And, for such a rare and desirable car to have been saddled with these photos that look like they were taken with that cardboard camera that you made in 4th grade to look at the sun with, that’s just a crying shame. This is one gorgeous car, though, and I may get in touch with this seller anyway.
Yep, this thing is drop-dead gorgeous, or I think it is, and the body is in almost perfect condition, sans the paint. The seller says that it’s an original car with a clean title and there is no rust! The Facellia was made to compete with smaller cars such as the Mercedes-Benz 190SL and they came in a convertible, a four-seat coupé, and a 2+2 coupé. They were made by Paris-based Facel Vega and they had a 1.6L double-overhead-cam, four-cylinder with 125 hp, and it should look like this. The company wanted an all-French car so they didn’t use an American engine like the bigger Facel Vegas used, but instead used engines made by Pont-à-Mousson company. The problem is that there were only two bearings supporting each camshaft instead of four or five and, as you can imagine, problems were overwhelming, so much so that the company declared the engine a total failure and engines were replaced by a Volvo B18 engine! It was the final nail in the coffin for this company and they closed their doors in 1964. I’m not sure which engine is in this car, the French version or the Swedish version, and there are no photos of it, unfortunately.
Ok, so here’s where things don’t look so hot, but the seller says that this car has a “nice interior”. I wouldn’t say that it’s “nice“, but I’ve seen much worse. That’s a 4-speed which would help with the relatively small amount of power for a 2,400-pound car. Again, there are no engine photos so an interested person would have to call to have a couple of camera phone pics sent, if the seller would be so kind to do that. I think this car would be great fun to own. It’s priced at the top of the game and then add probably $1,000 to $2,000 or more for shipping to most areas of the country east of the Mountain Time Zone line. I would just drive it as it is and maybe fix up the interior as you go along and maintain everything else. The wacky Smurf blue color/colour doesn’t thrill me too much, but I’d leave the body and paint as it is. There’s something cool about a somewhat ratty exotic car that gets to me. Would you fix this one up or is it already priced way above what makes sense?
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Comments
My guess would be that this Facellia has the Volvo engine. I can’t imagine many of the P-a-M-powered cars are still running….
Lovely cars, but you could expect to spend as least as much as the purchase price again to get it in basic decent condition. And it would be a shame not to, as these are quite elegant when shined up!
Certainly, the biggest hassle would be parts. Can’t run down to the nearest F-V dealer and get a pair of taillight lenses, can you?
I’ll confess it, ScottyG: I would really like to have this! But I’d need to get it for a lot less (say $5-7.5K) so I could put the rest into spiffing it up a bit. And, assuming this is a Volvo-powered example, I’d probably slide a hotted-up B20 under the hood. These were not as speedy as they should have been, given the looks.
In 1981, I inherited 2 1962 Facellias, a coupe and a convertible from my Father. It took me 2 years to get a new door for one of them. Parts were just not available for these cars then and even worse now.
in the mid 80s a used carlot had one of these. I never seen one before, but I liked it. Only 499.00.
passed it up for a non running 67 rs Camaro for the same money,I don’t remember these very popular then.
They also had a 62 409 impala ss,no motor $399.
Those where the days! atleast I got a good memory of these when they where cheap.
Ugly. The earlier ones were way better looking. Best part of this car are the Black Cal plates
I’ll spend my $$$ on a C2 Corvette, thanks!
Agree. After selling the 2 Facellias I had, I spent my money on a C5 with 29,000 miles on it.
French cars are definitely a love-hate thing. I owned a Renault Fuego Turbo, which was a grab bag of automotive horrors, and an ’87 Renault GTA, which was probably one he best-handling FWD car I have ever owned. It’s dohc cam engine was a perfect match to its fun-loving personality. Very rare car that shared very little with the body-donor Alliance. I actually worked at a dealer where we sold them new. I also had an R-12 Gordini, but that doesn’t count because it never made it out of the driveway under its own power.
I saw the Nicest one on the planet in COLOR BRG at monterrey car week, then the same car again at the French / Italian show at Woodley Park in Van Nuys. It is stunning in person! ! It was equipped with the Volvo power plant.
With the inch thick seat dust and torn upholstery, this one looks like it was dragged from a tomb and hosed off.
This car is also featured on Bringatrailer.com. It was on BAT a couple of years ago with photos of it with a Toyota twin cam engine and 5 speed in it. This fact is conveniently missing from the current Craigslist post. Run, don’t walk.
I thought I had seen this car somewhere with a Toyota engine. Thanks for reminding me where I had seen it.
Not for everybody, but close to unknown and unique almost anywhere in the country.
Since the seller didn’t show the engine or even mention it, it’s possible that he either knows nothing about these cars or he knows and doesn’t want to disclose a French engine.
If he doesn’t know about the Facellia engine problem, then if it has the French engine maybe someone could negotiate to get the car for a fair price, which would be way under the $21K he’s asking. Then it might be a fairly easy swap to replace the French engine with a Volvo.
Gee, and it’s grown a black plate
If I got this, I would be forever looking at it trying to will it into magically becoming an HK500. Reminds me of the M*A*S*H episode when Col. Potter tells Radar about the roll top desk he bought without cubby holes. Every time he looked at it all he could think of was the lack of cubby holes.
What’s up with the goofy Photoshop work on the pics?
Steve, the images were cropped a bit, a couple of them were lightened a bit, and the background was blurred a bit, just to better show off the car, not to hide or change any facts about the car.
Kind of a coincidence, last week in preparation to list on eBay I took pictures of a 1960 Facel Vega brochure showcasing the HK 500 and Excellence models that were Chrysler V8 powered. Picture is of the beautiful, in my opinion, HK 500. The brochure unfortunately, is not in the best condition so I’m having trouble pricing it. There are no others printed in English like mine, but there is one in German priced at a whopping $250.
Kevin – I had a Facel-Vega Excellence, chassis # 101, These cars looked gorgeous & moving 100mph, even when parked. Very difficult to obtain trim parts, the nice thing about Facel cars is all the bright work is polished stainless steel, no expensive chroming required.
Depending on the serial number, this car should have come from the factory with the Volvo engine [called the A series engine by Facel.] I’m told almost all the 62 Facellia cars came with the A engine. If it had a Volvo engine and was a driving car, it would be more like $30k in value. So while the price is not cheap, it’s not out of line.
Like all French cars of the period, this one needs all plastic and rubber parts replaced. The French were unable to make lasting rubber & plastics for decades. Also, the interior will need lots of work, the door panels are incorrect.
If the “wood” dash needs repair, it’s gonna be expensive, as it’s not real burl walnut veneer, it’s hand painted aluminum, crafted to look like real wood!
Hey Iowa Kevin – that’s a magnificent HK500, and my fave of all the Facel Vega models. In the current case, it seems you are paying for a body which you have to restore and repaint, with the additional opportunity to spend more money to get an engine, whether it be the original, Volvo, or to get rid of what may be a Corolla motor. Then you can start on the interior and drive train. I am with RayT here on availability of things like upholstery, seals, carpets, tail light lenses. On reflection – it appears to me (and I am far from being an expert, so its just an opinion!) that this is a car that will cost $80k and be worth half that when you are finished. Better to save up and buy an HK500 – even if its a project car.
For similar styeling at a fraction of the cost…purchase a MG Midget
Got to be the least attractive FV of its time. And never have the French been great at the mechanics, the Citroens and Bugatti’s excepted, I had a door hinge work loose on a rental Renault with less than 2000 kilometers on it in Europe a few years back. It was good on gas, and did buzz right along, enough to get two camera tickets which Hertz just charged to my credit card plus a $40 processing fee, each, but I could not fully close the driver’s door.
Rear end looks like a Triumph Herald
inflation, these damn french….
now (1/22) it’s $22,500