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The Facel Vega II is a rare classic car, this being one of just 26 right-hand drive examples built.
But few of those 26 can have lived a life as dramatic as this – and few can have come so far in just two years.
In 2019 it was a barn-find wreck, crying out for love and attention. Now it is ready to return to the limelight. Here’s its incredible story.
History repeating?
This car is going under the hammer with Historics Auctioneers at its Ascot Racecourse sale this Sunday, 18 April – almost 58 years to the day since it was first registered on 16 April 1963.
It is also just over two years since, on 2 March 2019, it was sold, again with Historics at Ascot Racecourse, as a barn-find project. Then its guide price was £130-165,000 – now it is £260-310,000.
A sorry state
Here’s what this Facel, nicknamed the ‘Villainous Vega’ by Historics, looked like just two years ago.
This once-prestigious, high-speed grand tourer had seriously fallen from grace and, it turns out, in more ways than one.
The star of the show
Blending the American performance of its 383cu in Chrysler V8 with chic French style, it was here in the UK that this particular Facel Vega II made its debut.
And what a debut it was, under the bright lights at the London Motor Show, no less.
A dazzling debut, then, but things soon took a turn for the worse.
Celebrity appeal
Facel built around 180 Vega IIs between 1962 and 1964 and, as we said, just 26 were RHD like this.
Celebrities including The Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr, Sir Stirling Moss, Rob Walker, Maurice Trintignant and Ava Gardner were Facel owners.
The twist of fate
Following its premiere under the bright lights at Earls Court in 1963, this car was sold to a JM Bellord.
But it was with John Bellord that the fortunes of ‘2900 PJ’ went from fame to infamy.
The end of the line?
It is reported that Bellord and Jim ‘Sydney’ Miller, and this car by association, were caught up in a pretty significant Hire Purchase scam.
In a book recounting the – by all accounts extraordinary – story of Bellord and Miller, the pair ended up in hiding on a remote Scottish island for several months, before at last being caught and jailed.
Time to settle down?
This Facel Vega wasn’t quite ready for a peaceful life, though.
Fast-forward to 1972 and its then-owner was a Mr Jon Wilson, an inmate at HM Prison in Cardiff, from where it is thought he issued instructions via a friend that his car should be sold.
The sound of silence
So, at Wilson’s request, Mr Angelo Papacosta sold the Facel on his behalf.
And it’s at this point that the trail goes dead – or at least it did for around a quarter of a century.
Gentle slumber
That’s right, it is thought that for the next 25 years, this 1963 Facel Vega II was stored in barn.
It was however, pretty complete. Clearly it needed a lot of work to be returned to its former glory, but it was no basket case.
Lying in wait
It is thought that its red-leather interior, as seen here, was original, if rather tired, and that the Facel’s dramatic dashboard was intact.
Its rare chromed disc wheels, Chrysler V8 and TorqueFlite automatic gearbox were all still present, too.
Fingers crossed
This former show star needed someone with the skills, experience, energy and enthusiasm required to bring it back from the brink.
After all, as we’ve said, these are rare cars and this one has done fewer than 50,000 miles.
Salvation secured
Pleasingly, when this Facel Vega II crossed the block with Historics Auctioneers back on 2 March 2019, it found the person it had been waiting for.
That person was Robert Taylor, who is an experienced classic car collector.
Colour swap
As you can see, the car is now longer that rather bright shade of red.
That’s because, during the restoration, it was returned to its original shade.
Wow-factor entrance
Open those doors and this classic’s hide interior has been lovingly restored to its former glory.
The dashboard, too, with its myriad dials, looks better than it has for decades.
No stone left unturned
Every aspect of this Facel required Taylor’s expert touch to revive it.
And he has done so completely, the car brought back to how it was when new, inside and out.
Painstaking process
Taylor says that 125 hours of work were invested in the paintwork alone!
And we have to agree that this grey suits the Facel Vega II’s sleek lines much more than the rather sudden red it had been repainted.
Getting the details right
We can’t bear to even consider how long the work on the interior took.
As well as reviving the wooden-trimmed dash, we can see eight dials and six levers to get presentable and working, and then there’s the power steering.
Wheely good
Every inch of this restored classic car is gleaming.
Its chromed disc wheels have been swapped for more familiar, but no less chic, well-polished wires, simply because the owner prefers them. The rare, original – restored – items will be sold with the car, so its next keeper can decide what the Facel wears.
The beating heart
Of course, key to this restoration was getting the Facel Vega II’s 383cu in Chrysler V8 singing again.
The engine bay is significantly tidier, too, as you’d expect following a ground-up restoration.
Worth the wait
Every little detail had to be attended to in waking ‘2900 PJ’ from its 25-year slumber.
But we’re thrilled that the car finally received the professional pampering it so deserves.
Quite the transformation
In fact, flicking through this gallery, it is hard to believe that it is just two years ago that it was in such a dreadful state.
And we bet it drives as well as it looks.
All present and correct
As well as a fabulous, rare and elegant classic car, Sunday’s winning bidder will also get the Facel’s V5C registration certificate, an early duplicate buff logbook, correspondence from October ’72, an MoT test certificate from 1973, British marque sales data and an article about the car by the owners’ club, plus more information about its previous infamous custodians.
Interesting reading, we’re sure.
Tales to tell
If this car could talk, imagine the secrets it could disclose, from basking in the glory of the 1963 London Motor Show to hearing snippets of dubious goings-on.
It has lived quite a life!
A job very well done
Inside and out, Taylor really has worked his magic – by which we mean put a lot of hard work into this classic.
He said: “One of only 26 right-hand drive Facel Vega II models produced, this surely has the most colourful history of them all! Restorations are always challenging, but all the more rewarding when they have unique provenance such as this in their DNA. It’s been a delight to bring this car back to its former glory.”
Back for more
So it is back to Ascot Racecourse and another Historics Auctioneers sale, this time on Sunday 18 April 2021.
As we said before, its 2019 estimate was £130-165,000 but now this has, quite understandably, increased to £260-310,000.
Let’s hope this history-rich, 49,988-mile Facel Vega II finally finds the long-term care it has waited so long for.