Forgotten Classic: Facel's Ford Monte Carlo----On the Road to Vegas

The car pictured on the brochure below seems to have some echoes of American style, but will still be a bit foreign to most Americans.  That's because it's a French Ford, a Comete, first bodied by Facel Métallon in 1951, a period when American Fords featured similar rounded  oblong forms, clean flanks, and bullet shapes in their grilles...

Until the Thunderbird arrived in 1955, though, they weren't as low and sleek as the car shown here, and few of them had this car's visual balance.  The firm that built the body, Facel (Forges et Ateliers des Constructions de l'Eure et Loire) was founded in 1939 by Jean Daninos (who had worked on the Traction Avant for CItroen) to produce aviation projects which were soon derailed by the Nazi invasion. After war's end, Daninos and Facel produced cabriolet bodies for the new Dyna Panhards, and sports bodies for Simca, a Fiat affiliate which allowed Facel to expand its automotive production, and also attracted the attention of Ford SAF, which was making cars in a size and price class above Simca.

Facel's sense of style made enough of an impression on Arthur Drexler, curator of the New York's Musuem of Modern Art, that he featured two specimens of their work in MOMA's "Ten Automobiles" exhibit from early autumn 1953, a follow-up to their influential "Eight Automobiles" show from 1951. A Facel-bodied Simca 8 Sport is centered below the Porsche in the photo below, while their Ford Comete is just below the Porsche to the right.  Other cars include a Stablimenti Farina-bodied Siata (left of Porsche), a 1953 Studebaker Starliner, a Nash Healey, a Cunningham C3, an Aston Martin DB2, a Lancia Aurelia B20 coupe, and a Bertone-bodied Arnolt MG*. 

Unlike the previous exhibit which showcased various schools of design, from British "razor edge" to flamboyant teardrops by Figoni, the "Ten Automobiles" show concentrated on the Italian modern school that thrived in the post-WW2 period,  Five of the car bodies were actually designed in Italy, including the Vignale-bodied Cunningham, while others like the Studebaker by Loewy Studios and Frank Feeley's Aston showed off low, sleek shapes with emphasis on sculptural form rather than surface decoration...

The design for Facel's Ford Comete has been credited, like that of the Simca 8 Sport, to Giovanni Farina, older brother of  Battista (Pinin) Farina.  The first example of the Comete appeared in 1951, and featured a 2.2 liter version of the Ford flathead V8.  By 1953, the year of the MOMA show, power had been increased with a 2.4 liter version of this engine.  The bullet shape in the grille references contemporary American Fords, but the low profile and spare use of trim is Italian, and had influence on Daninos' later self-penned designs...

The curve of the roof echoes that of the rear fenders and deck.  Interior upholstery and details were richer and more elaborate than on the French Ford sedans, which is one reason Ford was able to charge 50% to 65% more for the Facel-bodied coupes than for its sedans. 

The next version of the Facel Ford would have only a year and a half to make an impression.  Ford was contemplating the sale of its French factory, even as it was readying a new series of V8 Vedette sedans.  Meanwhile, Simca*, which had ordered new style bodies for sports models from Facel, was considering purchasing Ford's French operation.

For 1954, just as Ford of France was introducing its new series of Vedette sedans powered by a 2.4 liter version of the flathead V8, the company decided to bring the performance of the Comete more into line with its price by powering it with a 3.9 liter V8 from their truck line. This flathead engine made 105 hp compared to 80 on the last Comete version.  Christened "Monte Carlo" and fronted by a new grille the French called the "coupe-frites" (French fry cutter), the car retained the Facel bodies, and continued to be available after Simca took over the Ford SAF factory at Poissy, when Simca bought the license to build Ford's new Vedette sedan, on December 1, 1954...

Despite the fact that postwar French laws basing taxable horsepower on engine displacement made engines over 2.5 liters a hard sell, nearly 700 of the Monte Carlo with the larger V8 were sold. The two-tone blue coupe below belonged to Grace Kelly before she became Princess Grace (and moved to Monte Carlo). Simca continued to offer the Monte Carlo until July 1955, and thereafter deleted the 3.9 liter V8 engine from its lineup.  Simca continued to offer Facel-bodied sport coupes and cabriolets with its 4 cylinder Aronde engines, and produced several versions of the Vedette sedan and wagon (break in French) with the 2.4 liter Ford-derived flathead Aquilon V8 into 1961.

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Meanwhile, back at Facel Métallon, Jean Daninos had noticed that the cars he had built for Ford and Simca had filled a gap in the market for luxury GTs that was being abandoned by French car builders like Delahaye* and Talbot-Lago*. To Daninos, the sale of 700 expensive cars in a year seemed a spectacular success, especially compared with the trickle of sales achieved by the older French specialist makes.  So at the Paris Auto Salon in autumn of 1954, the year Delahaye abandoned car production and a couple of months before the Simca takeover of Ford SAF, Daninos introduced a car called the Facel-Vega.  The prototype FV was powered by a 276 cubic inch (4.5 liter) DeSoto V8 with hemispherical combusion chambers, and featured a Post-a-Mousson 4-speed transmission.  Daninos named the car for Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra.  Facel's bodies for the Vegas expanded on the modern contours and proportions of the Facel Fords, but with bolder and more distinctive details front and rear.  The Facel Fords may seem a footnote to automotive history, but they were an important step on Jean Daninos' road to Vegas, a story for a future episode...

*Footnote:

Another Facel-bodied car, the Simca Weekend, was featured in our previous post, "Stolen Cars and Stolen Kisses", which appeared on Dec. 27, 2020. Delahaye's history was recounted in "Golden Days of Delahayes", posted on June 30, 2018, and Talbot-Lago was profiled in "Talbot-Lago: Darracq by Another Name", on May 22, 2020.  The Arnolt MG saga was retold in  "Forgotten Classics: The Other Arnolts" on October 15, 2016.

Photo Credits: 

Top & 2nd from top:  Ford SAF, posted on facel-vega.com

3rd from top:  zwischengas.com, from Museum of Modern Art, New York

4th thru 7th:   bonhams.com

8th:  Ford SAF

9th:  Wikimedia

10th: techni-tacot.com

Bottom:  en.wheelsage.org

 

Stolen Cars and Stolen Kisses in Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless"

By 1960, Americans were so accustomed to owning cars that they associated different periods In their lives with the different cars they drove.  In Jean-Luc Godard's "A Bout de Souffle" ("Breathless" in the US), released in that year, the male protagonist, Michel, goes through enough cars in a handful of days to last the average American a quarter century.  Fitting into Michel's idea of himself as a tough guy, and into Godard's exploration of freedom shading into anarchy, all the cars are stolen.

Michel needs to get get out of Marseilles.  When a female accomplice in the harbor parking points out two Americans leaving their '56 Oldsmobile, Michel hot-wires the car, bids adieu to his friend, and hits the road.  He provides a running commentary on the scenery, and Godard reminds us we're watching a film by having Jean Paul Belmondo speak directly into the camera while driving.

Soon enough a motorcycle policeman appears and trails the Olds down a side road.  Michel yields to panic and shoots the cop dead... 

General Motors had a different role in mind for that Olds than Michel, and different ideas about the meaning of cars than director Godard.  In the ad below, the same '56 model fits into the postwar dream of endlessly expanding prosperity, with Dad fiddling with exterior lights on the Case Study style rectilinear steel house, Mom polishing the new chariot, and the kids giving the possibly reluctant pup a bath, all under a cloudless blue sky with barely a shadow in sight...

When Michel gets to Paris, he connects with American journalism student Patricia, played by Jean Seberg.  Michel stops to ponder a movie poster of Humphrey Bogart, and after scenes that show the two talking past each other, gives Patricia a ride in another car that is not his own. It's a Facel-bodied Simca Weekend convertible, and this model will appear twice in this film and again in Godard's "Bande a Part". As Godard will eventually make a film called "Weekend', perhaps he likes the name. In general, directors like convertibles because they allow more options in filming the characters, as in this overhead shot...

The film suspends quiet interludes designed to explore the alienation of his characters with bursts of action Michel hopes will advance his goal of scamming enough money to allow him to escape with Patricia to Italy.  In the scene above, he explains he needs to get his car "from the garage" to get Patricia to her work assignment.  In the scene below, he checks out a Triumph TR-2, but the owner shows up at an inconvenient time...

After tailing the owner of this '55 Thunderbird into an apartment building to make sure he gets off at a safely distant floor, Michel steals the car. 

It seems that Michel, a minor-league hood modelling himself on more successful ones in American movies, was attracted to American cars.  And for Godard, they were a connection to the American films noir of the Forties and Fifties, and perhaps a symbol of the brashness and excitement sometimes associated with Americans, as was the film's jazzy score by Martial Solal.

Here Patricia watis at the cafe for her ride.  You may wonder by this point whether Patricia suspects Michel of being an unsuccessful used-car salesman, or something more sinister...

In the scene below, Michel delivers Patricia to a reporting assignment focused on interviewing a famous writer.  The newspaper salesman on the left is significant, as the edition of France Soir he sells Michel features a story about the pollice search for him.  

In the scene below, the fates of our protagonists diverge.  As Patricia reflects on the encounter with the writer and other journalists, Michel drives the stolen Ford to a shady wrecking yard where he will try to collect a payment for it.  Patricia's face is superimposed over the speeding car at this inflection point in the story...

The effort to fence the car collapses into more violence, and  the urgency of MIchel's plight tightens.  

Raoul Coutard's gritty black and white cinematography avoids supplemental light, and the night scenes are especially murky, even for film noir.  It seems merciful that Godard had no inclination (and no budget) for filming in color, because the cheery pastel shades of Fifties American cars like the aqua Thunderbird below would've subtracted from the mood... 

The couple escapes to a movie theater, and night falls.  By now Patricia has been approached by the police at her workplace, and knows what's going on.

Still, when Michel acquires a Peugeot 403, she goes with him.  At the Peugeot dealer / service depot they take the sedan upstairs to a parking garage where they intend to "trade" the car.

They leave the Peugeot and Patricia notices a Cadillac, which Michel identifies as an Eldorado.  It's actually a 1954 Series 62, and it's a convertible...

Patricia takes the wheel, and the couple drive off to a meeting with Michel's friend Antonio and some other mobsters at La Pergola, a night spot...

Everything now hinges on collecting some cash quickly enough for the escape to Italy. The car speeds through darkened streets with only the parking lights for illumination.  That may have been the cinematographer's choice...

Antonio makes some promises about delivering cash, but the couple leaves La Pergola empty-handed.  As they are now well aware that Michel's face is plastered on the front pages of the newspapers, the elect to hide out at a photographers studio.  The photo below shows a Cadillac Eldorado from 1954; there are only minor trim differences; both Caddies share similarly powerful V8s, great for escaping the black Citroens of the gendarmerie.

The couple parks the Cadillac at the photography studio and waits.  Eventually Patricia tells Michel that she has Informed the police of his whereabouts.  

Michel rushes down to the street when his friend arrives with the bag of cash. He chases the car down the street.  It's a Facel-bodied Simca Weekend like the one he and Patricia shared earlier in the story.

He gets the cash, but not the girl, and stays on the run.

Francois Truffaut, who authored the script with the uncredited Claude Chabrol, said the original ending had the MIchel character running down the street under the stares of recognition by all the bystanders.  With capture by the police certain, the movie was to end there.  But Godard preferred the violent climax that was filmed.  Michel would not be stealing any more cars...

The Simca Weekend prototype above, Number 001, was built by Facel Metallon In 1954 and then gified to Brigitte Bardot, who drove the car for seven years.  Facel would also supply a convertible for use in Godard's 1967 film, "Weekend", but it was not a Weekend.

After the inevitable and fatal dashing of Michel's scheme to escape, you may find youself wishing he'd just hitchhiked from Marseilles to Paris instead of hot-wiring that Oldsmobile, and taken cabs with Patricia once there. Sitting in the comfy Simca Versailles taxi, they could've ignored Paris traffic and concentrated on each other, and maybe imagined a sweeter future for themselves than the one that came crashing down.  But that would've been a far different movie than the quirky classic that Godard delivered...

*Footnote:  A photo essay on cars featured in American and French film noir productions appeared in these posts on March 21, 2020, entitled "Speeding Into Darkness: The Cars of Film Noir."

Color Photo Credits: 

1956 Oldsmobile Ad:  Oldsmobile Division of General Motors

1955 Thunderbird:  Wikimedia

1954 Cadillac Eldorado:  Barrett Jackson Auctions

1954 Simca Weekend prototype:  Lane Motor Museum

Monochrome Photo Credits:  

With the single exception of the monochrome photo of the 1956 Simca Weekend cabriolet, from simcafacel.levillage.org, all monochrome images are from Jean-Luc Godard's "A Bout de Souffle", released in English-speaking countries as "Breathless" by Sociéte Nouvelle de Cinématographie.     

Alfa Romeo TZ2 and Canguro: Two for the Road

In 1963, the Zagato-bodied TZ* revived Alfa Romeo's road racing fortunes in the 1600 cc class. Though it was considered an extension of the popular Giulia series, the TZ featured a unique space frame chassis and independent rear suspension to go with the Series 105's rev-happy, 1570cc twin cam four, and of course disc brakes all around.  In order to keep ahead of the competition, by 1964 Alfa had come up with a lower, lighter TZ2 based on a dry sump, twin spark version of the Giulia engine that appeared first in the last few of the 112 TZ1s  built. The dry sump engine permitted a lower hood line, and Zagato's switch to fiberglass for the tightly contoured body got the weight down to 1,370 pounds, promising for a 175 hp racer...

The close-up of the tail below shows what most of the TZ2's competitors saw on the track. The car's performance fulfilled the promise of its purposeful, all-business look. In 1965, TZ2s took class wins at the 1000 Km of Monza, the Sebring 12 Hours, the Targa Florio, and the Nurburgring 1000 Km, as well as at Melbourne, the Giro d'Italia, and the Criterium des Cevennes.  

The photo below shows the class-winning car at the Nurburgring in 1965.  Alfas repeated their class win there in 1966, as well as at Monza, Sebring and the Targa Florio...

As Autodelta was moving forward with the racing program, Alfa released a TZ2 chassis to Bertone, where Giorgetto Giugiaro took advantage of the low profile to sketch out a prototype for a disappearing breed: the dual-purpose sports car that could be raced on weekends and then driven home. The Canguro (Italian for kangaroo) was first shown at the Paris Salon in autumn of 1964. A couple years before the designer began to explore wedge shapes, he managed a masterful harmony of curved contours tightly enclosing the space frame chassis. The row of air extractors on the front fenders emphasizes their curved section, and repeats the  arc of the roof section.

At the front, the trademark Alfa shield grille was stated as a simple bright metal outline, while headlights were blended into the fender contours with plastic covers.  As on the E-Type Jaguar from 3 years earlier, the fenders and engine cover were formed into a single unit thich titled forward for access. Unlike that car, the designer didn't even bother with token bumpers.  Also, unlike the case with the E-Type, the manufacturer did not take the enthusiastic crowd that mobbed their show car as a sign they needed to put it into series production... 

The rear three-quarter view shows how the door windows curve into the roof, repeating the curved section of the fender forms which wrap inward at the base, exposing the wheels which fill wells repeating the same ovoid shape. The wraparound backlight arcs down slightly toward the Kamm tail with raised center section, with a lower overall profile than on Zagato's TZ or TZ2.  Overhangs are tight, front and rear. 

The Canguro's interior features situated it somewhere between the stark, stripped down TZ2 and Alfa's GT cars. The passenger, unable to roll down a window (the curvature into the roof prevented that) or tune the radio (there was none) was given a speedometer to study, perhaps in alarm...

Air extractor vents, useful for a cockpit where only the small windows at the front of the doors could pivot open, were cleverly concealed in the quadrifoglio, the four-leafed clover that had served for decades as the symbol of Alfa's racing teams.

In the photo above, the Canguro wears cast magnesium wheels like the racing TZ2s, unlike the wheels for the Paris debut, shown below. The car was crashed when under test by a journalist, and sat behind Bertone's factory for years until the forlorn wreck was purchased by an enthusiast for the equivalent of $36.00.  It needed an engine and a complete restoration, and after receiving these it traveled to various car shows, where it served as a reminder of one of Alfa Romeo's great moments and also one of its lost opportunities, the car that got away...

We mentioned that there were a dozen TZ2 chassis, with ten bodied by Zagato as road racers and one bodied as the Canguro by Bertone. Alfa sent one of the last chassis built to Pininfarina, where Aldo Brovarone styled the 1965 Giulia 1600 Sports Coupe in an elongated form with swooping fenders echoing his prototype Dino from the same year. The large overhangs and embryonic bumpers front and rear hint at touring rather than racing intent.  Overall, the design lacked the tight focus and clarity of Giugiaro's design for the Canguro, which remains one of the most perfectly proportioned cars Alfa (or any manufacturer) failed to put into production.

*Footnote:

The TZ2 and its predecessor, the TZ (now sometimes called the TZ1) are discussed in "Bodied by Zagato Part 2: Five Decades of Alfa Romeos", which was posted on May 6, 2020. 

Photo Credits: 

Top & 2nd from top:  the author

3rd from top:  Alfa Romeo Automobilismo Storico

4th from top:  Wikimedia

5th thru 7th:   Carrozzeria Bertone

8th:  en.wheelsage.org

9th:  imcdb.org

10th (Bertone Canguro in color):  Alfa Romeo Automobilismo Storico

11th:  Pininfarina, on en.wheelsage.org