To add a little more to the Simca-Chrysler story :
In 1955 Simca bought Ford of France, and with it the newly-redesigned Ford
Vedette that used the small Ford flathead V8. Part of the deal was that
Ford acquired a 25% interest in Simca. And that was how Chrysler bought
into Simca - in 1958 Chrysler purchased Ford's 25% interest in Simca.
Chrysler did import the Simca Vedette to the U.S. and Canada in 1959-1960,
which by then had gained a 1955-56 Dodge-looking grille and 1956 Dodge fins
and taillamps. (The Sunbeam Tiger with its Ford V8 was Chrysler's second
acquisition of a Ford-powered vehicle.)
In the mid-1960's, Simca stopped production of the Vedette and Chrysler
shipped the tooling to Brazil. Every once in a while you read about
Chrysler's little hemi V8-powered cars in Brazil. That's not a hemi under
that spruced up Ford/Simca/Chrysler hood - that's a Ford flathead V8!
(My apologies for the four letter swear word in the previous paragraphs.)
We in North America got the rwd Simca 1000 before the fwd Simca 1204 (aka
1100 -the predecessor to the Horizon).
Bill
Vancouver, BC
> 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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