Lot 123: 1961 Facel Vega HK500

During its short 10 year history as a motor car manufacturer Facel earned a reputation for producing beautifully built, elegant and expensive high performance coupes. The most powerful options yet, however, became available in 1959 in the form of the HK500 with 6.3 litre variants of the Chrysler hemi-headed V8; 360Bhp on hand, maximum speed of the 3,8851b HK500 was 145Mph with 0-60 reached in around 8.5 seconds. The considerable power, hand-built quality and exclusivity of Facel Vega V8 models ensured their popularity. Notable celebrity owners included Ava Gardner, Stirling Moss, Ringo Starr, Maurice Trintignant, Pablo Picasso and Tony Curtis to name but a few. This 1961 Facel Vega HK500 is presented here in left hand drive configuration. Originally imported from Canada and finished in popular colour combination of silver with a red leather interior. It is very rare to find a car in this useable condition, they are usually either complete restoration projects or perfectly restored concours winners. The car is taxed, Mot'd and in regular use with the preferred Chrysler Torqueflight automatic gearbox mated to a 5 litre Chrysler engine. The Red leather interior is in excellent shape with no rips or tears. All the carpeting is good and all the dials and gauges appear to work. The wonderful original painted wood effect dashboard is in superb shape and it is generally considered one of the most luxurious interiors ever produced. Being an older restoration from the 1990's, the actual quality of the paint is superb with a deep lustrous shine and chromework also good. The chrome wire wheels are about 5 years old but also present are the original reconditioned wheels. This example has always been looked after well and mechanically is in fine shape. She starts first time and drives well, the previous owner has even installed harder springs on the rear to improve the handling. What better transport for Le Mans this year!