Car collector's fantasy.....

davismanLV

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Holy $HIT, Pascal!! What a treasure trove that is!!! Just amazing. Threw all those cars in there and just welded the doors shut once it was full. I had trouble finding any article to go along with the video. It says there is one but it just links to general youtube vids about cars. Would love to read more about this..... :shock: :shock:
 

twocorgis

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bluesypicky said:
What a jackpot to whomever inherits this!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywOfiI2h3Us

Those old Alfa Romeos just stir my car guy soul, Pascal. In fact, owning an old GTV has always been on the bucket list

c8fa9b98014503db1ae50bfb291a2857.jpg


Perhaps the most beautiful car ever made IMO.
 

davismanLV

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Thanks, Bruno. It's a fun story although it's not really clear what actually happened. There's tons of speculation and not really very much information that's concrete. Still..... amazing to read about it and what an amazing collection!! That it exists or at least existed once is for real. You can't fake photos like that.....
 

rampside

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I think anyone who loves old cars, dreams about stumbling upon a barn like that, even if there's only one car inside. :shock:
 

davismanLV

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I remember when I was about 16 years old, people bought the place across the street from us. It was pretty rural and lots of land so "across the street" is .... up the road a ways. They somehow hauled in this old car and covered it up. The house was up on top of the hill and this old covered up car sat down in the space where the horse used to live, underneath a huge oak tree. Never paid it any mind. After a particularly stormy night I noticed the cover had come off so I hopped on my horse and rode over there. Lo and behold, what would it be? A 1961 Facel Vega HK500!! What an amazing car!

1961facelvega.jpg


I kept expecting them to come down and replace the cover and they just hauled the cover away and let that poor thing sit out in the Southern California sun and rain day after day after day...... Eventually someone came and hauled it away. That was years later.

Not too many of those around, I'd think.
 

SouthernSounds

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davismanLV said:
Not too many of those around, I'd think.
Just what I was going to ask...

What a beautiful car. I'd love to own one someday...

How expensive it can be?...

All the best,
B.

P.S. Never mind: I researched a little and I think I decided to keep my bike :roll: :D
 

bluesypicky

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Tom: I'm with you. That barn is as fascinating as the story behind it.

Sandy, you gotta to hand it to the Italians, they had the design thing down didn't they? I have so many favorite cars from that era, I couldn't name one, but for having traveled a lot in one of these as a kid, I have a soft spot for it:

334osif.jpg
 

davismanLV

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Facel was a French car company and they were only in existence from 1954 to 1964, so only ten years. They made very few cars. Pascal may be able to tell us more, although they were probably way before his time. Possibly they were more common in France than here in the states, I'd imagine......

I loved the split taillights and the through the bumper exhaust!!

1961facelvegarear.jpg


Pascal, those old Citroens are just about the swoopiest and funnest looking cars EVER!! I love the steering wheel the BEST!! Single spoke......
 

SouthernSounds

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Yep, I read that Tom. Somewhere on the net I read 500 as a production number for HK500 but I doubt it, 'cause it was in production between 1957 and 1961, I think, and the production number for those years is around 60. So maybe, the 500 is for the whole production of Facel. Nonetheless these cars were quite expensive then, almost 10000 dolars (¿? - Internet is not really accurate), and they were used by famous people like Picasso. Albert Camus died in a crash in one of these cars... Lots of stories behind them!

Thanks Tom!

All the best,
B.

P.S.

Specific data:

  • Production Years: 1959 - 1962
  • Production: 490 or 548
  • Price: $9795 (Euros maybe?)

Source: http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/558/ and http://www.supercars.net/cars/475.html
 

bluesypicky

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Yeah Facel was short lived as explained here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facel
The impact they took with the Facellia disaster was fatal.... unlike Citroen which experienced a similar fiasco with the early DS models pictured above (hydraulic system failures), Facel didn't have the backbone to overcome the financial blow, partly because they were only catering to a very marginal part of the French population at the time: The rich. :lol:
 

twocorgis

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bluesypicky said:
Tom: I'm with you. That barn is as fascinating as the story behind it.

Sandy, you gotta to hand it to the Italians, they had the design thing down didn't they? I have so many favorite cars from that era, I couldn't name one, but for having traveled a lot in one of these as a kid, I have a soft spot for it:

334osif.jpg

I've always had a thing for the Citroën DS too, Pascal. My parent's best friends growing up had one, and had a round tail light BMW 2002tii as well, which ignited my love affair with the Blau Mit Weiss. I remember vividly that the Citroën had the most amazing front seats that you literally sank into, and when the Bogens scrapped that car (about the time the stopped selling Citroëns here in the states), they kept the seats and used them in their basement!
 

bluesypicky

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twocorgis said:
they kept the seats and used them in their basement!

Yes Sandy, my living room recliners have nothing on a pair of DS front seats.... you didn't feel like you were on the road in a DS, you felt you were sailing on calm seas.

Season shot:
2z3z5ad.jpg


They made a convertible version in very limited numbers, worth a fortune today as pictured on a 60's French magazine ad:
yfy8.jpg


:D
 

killdeer43

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twocorgis said:
Hitchhiking in Europe in the 60s (!), I was treated to a several rides in the big Citroens and let me tell you, I was in hitchhikers' heaven! :wink:

One ride was with a woman in her 30s near Avignon, but that's an entirely different story.... 8)

Joe
 

twocorgis

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killdeer43 said:
twocorgis said:
Hitchhiking in Europe in the 60s (!), I was treated to a several rides in the big Citroens and let me tell you, I was in hitchhikers' heaven! :wink:

One ride was with a woman in her 30s near Avignon, but that's an entirely different story.... 8)

Joe

Do tell Joe! Was it the proper shade of "French Blue" like the one above? :wink:
 

coastie99

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davismanLV said:
I remember when I was about 16 years old, people bought the place across the street from us. It was pretty rural and lots of land so "across the street" is .... up the road a ways. They somehow hauled in this old car and covered it up. The house was up on top of the hill and this old covered up car sat down in the space where the horse used to live, underneath a huge oak tree. Never paid it any mind. After a particularly stormy night I noticed the cover had come off so I hopped on my horse and rode over there. Lo and behold, what would it be? A 1961 Facel Vega HK500!! What an amazing car!

1961facelvega.jpg


I kept expecting them to come down and replace the cover and they just hauled the cover away and let that poor thing sit out in the Southern California sun and rain day after day after day...... Eventually someone came and hauled it away. That was years later.

Not too many of those around, I'd think.

One of The Beatles once had one of those. I'm fairly certain that it was Richie.
 

killdeer43

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twocorgis said:
killdeer43 said:
Hitchhiking in Europe in the 60s (!), I was treated to a several rides in the big Citroens and let me tell you, I was in hitchhikers' heaven! :wink:

One ride was with a woman in her 30s near Avignon, but that's an entirely different story.... 8)

Joe

Do tell Joe! Was it the proper shade of "French Blue" like the one above? :wink:
It was black, as I well remember.
Looked a little like one of de Gaulle's fleet. :wink:

Joe
 
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