Lot 415: 1960 Facel Vega HK500 Coupé Chassis no. HK1 BY4 Engine no. TY7 4731

From being chiefly engaged in the supply of car bodies to Panhard, Simca and Ford France, Facel branched out into automobile manufacture in its own right in 1954 with the launch of the Vega. A luxurious Grand Routier, the Vega featured supremely elegant coupé bodywork welded to a tubular steel chassis. The power unit chosen was Chrysler’s 4.5-litre, 180bhp V8 and there was the option of push-button automatic or manual transmission. An improved model, the HK500, appeared in 1957. Maximum power was now around 360bhp courtesy of the latest - 5.9-litre - version of Chrysler's 'hemi' V8 and top speed rose to around 140mph. Power steering became an option, and Dunlop disc brakes were adopted as standard equipment in 1960. Capable of effortless and completely silent 120mph cruising, the HK500 possessed, according to The Motor magazine, a 'brilliant combination of good comfort and quite exceptional roadholding.' HK 500 production amounted to just 500-or-so units between 1958 and 1961, and today this rare Franco-American classic is highly sought after.
Right-hand drive chassis ‘HK1 BY4’ was supplied new in the UK by Woking Motors Ltd and sold to a Mrs Newman of Danesfield Cottage, Woking, Surrey and first registered ‘4 SPH’ on 1st December 1960. Finished in Brunswick Blue with grey interior, the car was delivered with body number ‘770’ and engine number ‘TY7 4731’ (383ci/6,286cc) and was equipped with power steering, automatic transmission and the customary 3.31 rear axle ratio. The Facel’s 2nd owner, from February 1965 at 23,000 miles, was Stafford Patents & Holdings Limited, 6 Justice Walk, London SW3. Reregistered ‘7959 PE’, it was next owned by one P S Beale, of Burwood Park, Walton-on-Thames and later, in the early 1970s, by a Mr Edwards of Thistleton, Rutland.
In the mid-1970s the car passed through various UK dealers before being shipped to Los Angeles, where it resurfaced in the mid-1980s owned by one Mark Morgan. Morgan traded it to West Coast Facel expert Roger Spaulding, who undertook a partial restoration. The car returned to the UK circa 1988 when Roger Spaulding sold it to Nigel Cooper in London. Nigel Cooper carried out a more extensive restoration and the car was allocated the age-related registration ‘CSK 524’ before being sold to one Ray Barrett of Chiswick, who reputedly paid a UK-record price for an HK500. During Mr Barrett’s ownership the car appeared on the BBC’s Top Gear television programme. Accompanying invoices issued by Nigel Cooper Restorations, Solent Vintage Engineering and coachbuilder Rod Jolley total over £100,000.
Correspondence on file shows that by January 2000 ‘CSK 524’ was in the ownership of Mr Colin Smith of Whiteshill, Gloucestershire from whom it was purchased by Barry Burnett in 2007. Shortly afterwards, the Facel was damaged by fire and classed as an insurance write-off. The damage, however, was mainly cosmetic and the car is running and would require relatively little work to make it roadworthy. It will, of course, need to be inspected and approved by the DVLA before a new V5C registration document can be issued. Last MoT’d to December 2008, the car comes with (copy) owner’s manual and is sold strictly as viewed. No reserve.