There’s a lot of action in the Facel market at the moment. Two recent right hand drive Facel 11s have come up for sale with differing results, and there’s more for sale in the coming months or so – including a left hand drive HK500 this weekend, October 2, here in the UK.
It is lot 230 in Dore & Rees’s sale at Frome in Somerset, a car certainly not in pristine condition but could be useable with a little light recommissioning. It is said to have one or two minor dings, but has been in the same family for many years. It is English registered – KFF560 – burgundy with a black interior and has an estimate of £70-£88,000. For further details, click on the link below.
There are two earlier left hand drive Facels coming up in Bonhams’ Knokke Le Zoute sale in Belgium on October 10. One is an excellent and rare FV1 Cabriolet, the fourth of only seven built, with a long and known history, including a couple of ‘celebrity’ owners.
The FV1 is the second Facel Vega made and this is a four seater with 4.8 litre Chrysler De Soto V8 engine and a two speed automatic gearbox, made in 1955. It is lot 38 in the sale, Belgian registered with the appropriate FV1 registration, and it was restored in the eighties. The estimate is £300-£380,000. Click here for more: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26997/lot/38/
The second car for sale at Knokke Le Zoute is an English registered – 647UYW – but left hand drive Facel FV2, lot 49. It is one of thirty made in 1956 and is powered by the 4.5 litre but 250bhp De Soto engine with automatic transmission. It looks in excellent condition, originally sold to the USA but in the UK since 2017. It is estimated at £110-£120,000. More details and pics here: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26997/lot/49/
Finally, a Facel 11 and an Excellence are coming up for sale at Jean Guikas’s sale at Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, on November 19. Guikas is a racer/collector/dealer who is based at nearby Marseille and he seems to be having a clear-out! There are a lot of desirable road and race cars on offer, none of them with reserves!
The Facel 11 is a 1963 car which originally went to Greece and seems to have American spec headlights, and the Excellence is from 1959 in its original black. No details are yet available but the sale is being handled by RM Sotheby’s; pics are available on their website: https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/jg21/the-guikas-collection/lots/r0019-1963-facel-vega-facel-ii/1074460
The Excellence, B052, has also been British registered, 771UYK. It is available in black with red interior and looks in excellent condition. More pics here: https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/jg21/the-guikas-collection/lots/r0020-1959-facel-vega-excellence/1074452
Finally, I announced the sale of two Facel 11s earlier in September – well, the offer of Facel 11s for sale because they had rather different outcomes. They were both right hand drive, a restored example for sale in the UK, the other, ex-Charlie Drake car at Rouen. The barn-find Rouen car sold for €75k which, with commission, worked out at nearly €90k. Several UK bidders were interested, one saying it was the worst auction he’d ever used. There was no guarantee all the parts were present; several could have been missing which would have been expensive.
The other Facel 11 came up at Bonhams auction at Goodwood. This is a car that was bought a couple of years ago in poor condition and has since been restored, not, from a distant examination, entirely efficiently but from what can be seen, it wouldn’t be expensive to put right. The car had an estimate of £210-£260k but didn’t sell.
Facel Vega Car Club 