01
Origins
The Excellence of 1958 extended Facel's formula to the establishment: a full four-door saloon with pillarless construction — both doors opening from a common gap with no central post — creating an uninterrupted glasshouse of astonishing elegance and structural consequence. On smooth boulevards the Chrysler V8 wafted ministers and magnates in France's only domestic limousine of rank; on poor roads the long chassis flexed enough that the rear-hinged doors could bind, a flaw legend has enlarged but never invented. Around 150 were built to 1964, bought by presidents' offices and film stars. The Excellence embodies Facel's glorious overreach — attempting, alone, what whole industries abandon — and its dissolution followed the marque's ruinous venture into building its own engines for the smaller Facellia.
Facel Vega Excellence EX2 · eric from/en Normandiecropped by uploader Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 2.0
