01
Origins
Jean Daninos's Facel company pressed bodies for others until 1954, when the FV announced France's return to grand luxury after punitive taxation had killed Delahaye and friends: a low, wide coupé of transatlantic glamour — wraparound screen, stainless detailing from the family's steel business — powered by Chrysler's hemi V8, because no French engine of adequate size survived. The formula was unapologetic: American reliability and force, Parisian couture, prices at the summit. Ava Gardner, Picasso's dealer and assorted royalty signed up; the FV series matured through rising displacements toward the definitive HK500. Around 350 first-series cars established the marque. For a decade Facel Vega was France's only luxury car — a one-man restoration of national pride, built on Detroit's crankshafts.
Facel-Vega FV Rear-view · Luc106 · Public domain
