For anyone who's interested, I have several models of these
"Forward-Looking" V-8 Simcas, one of which is pictured on page 7 in the
'Forward Look in Miniature' section of my website. These Simcas were
fascinating cars!
Here's the link: http://www.geocities.com/finsnchrome/finsnchrome.html
Happy collecting,
Ross Klein
'Life's too short to drive 'ordinary' cars"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Watson" <wwatson@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Simca whereabouts
> 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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