CarBrandLogos archive · Simca · 1961

SimcaSimca 1000

A rear-engined family saloon that found a second life as a rally weapon.

Photo: unknown, affiliated with Garage de l'Est, uploaded by User:Bravada · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Simca history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Simca 1000, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The 1000 was Simca's answer to the small-car boom of the early 1960s, developed with Fiat involvement before Chrysler took control of the company. Launched in 1961, it put a small four-cylinder engine behind the rear axle driving the rear wheels, in a crisp three-box four-door saloon body attributed to Mario Boano, at a time when Renault and Fiat were doing much the same thing.

simca · picture by wikimarco for public domain · Public domain

Design and engineering

Engines started at 777 cc and grew through 944 cc and beyond, all with an all-synchromesh four-speed gearbox. The upright body made better use of its length than most rivals, giving four proper doors in a car small enough to be cheap to tax and run, and it sold heavily in France for seventeen years. Production also ran in Spain, Colombia, Chile and Morocco, and Bertone built a handsome coupe version on the same floorpan.

Simca 1000 Barreiros · Antramir · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

What kept the 1000 alive in memory was the Rallye series that arrived from 1970: stripped, more powerful versions of the same rear-engined saloon which became the cornerstone of French club motorsport and one-make racing, cheap enough that a generation of drivers started in one. Production ended in 1978, by which time the badge on the nose had changed twice.

Simca 1150-Abarth · Luc106 · CC0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1961–1978

Engine

777&nbsp

Designer

Mario Boano

Body

4-door saloon

Technical specification

The Simca 1000, in detail.

Production: 1961–1978
Class: Small Family Car (C)/Supermini (B)
Body style: 4-door saloon
Layout: RR layout
Engine: 777 cc Simca Poissy engine#359; type 359 Overhead valve engine; ohv Straight-four engine; I4 ; 844 cc Simca Poissy engine#844 cc; Poissy type ohv I4 (Spain) ; 944 cc Simca Poissy engine#315; type 315/349/1
Transmission: 4-speed manual all-synchromesh
Designer: Mario Boano
Assembly: Poissy, France ; Villaverde (Madrid); Villaverde, Spain ; Bogotá, Colombia (GM Colmotores) ; Arica, Chile (Manufacturas Nun y German S.A.C.I) ; Casablanca, Morocco
Manufacturer: Simca