Exner Jr's concept car was somehow still within Chrysler's perimeter. Simca
was a french carmaker company started by an italian in the 30's willing to
build a Fiat car in France under license. After WWII, as Chrysler began to
be interested in expanding outside the USA (like GM and Ford did in the 30's
already) they started buying some stock of Simca from 1958 on. Until circa
1969 they took control of the company so that it was called Chrysler-Simca.
As Chrysler collapsed in the late 70's, all european subsidiaries were sold
to Peugeot, and Simca became Talbot, only to die in the mid 80's.
The most successful thing in that Chrysler-Simca buyout must have been the
Horizon, which was sold in the USA until early 90's. But you might also have
known the Simca 1100 which, much to my surprise, was also sold briefly in
the US. The other way around, almost all US Chrysler products were sold
through the Simca network in Europe.
As an insider at Peugeot, I can tell you an interesting story. When Chrysler
collapsed in the late 70's, Peugeot was considering two options :
1. Buy Chrysler's european subsidiaries to gain strenght in the european
market or
2. Buy ALL Chrysler (including north american operations) to become a world
carmaker
Well, they chickened out, and bought only the subsidiaries. Of course,
Chrysler at the time was pretty much dead, or so everyone thought ...
Vincent Van Humbeeck (France)
'58 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe
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