Help Facel Vega, Facel 2
Discussion
facelman said:
The non availability of original new french connectors may be a reason.It may be possible to persuade either James Radley or Colin Close to make new looms for owners who need them.Both of these gentlemen have made them before.Colin has made at least four new looms for me.James made the new loom for the ex Nick Barker FV2 convertable.If I am not mistaken James worked on the loom in your Facel II before you bought it and whilst it was with me in Mitcham.I still have the original drawings and also the various connectors etc for making new looms.Of course this may not help the owner of 612 if this car is still in the states....Although both james and colin like travelling.
HiEdited by facelman on Friday 13th January 11:52
Have PMd you
Many thanks
Peter
Spellbound said:
Hi, fantastic thread. The body came off our right hand drive manual HK500 on Tueasday (612/ 643DXR) Heres a piccy 
Engine is now coming apart, gearbox next!
PHers are very welcome to drop by and take a look in Farnham in Surrey!
Peter
Just a note, car is in Farnham in Surrey!Engine is now coming apart, gearbox next!
PHers are very welcome to drop by and take a look in Farnham in Surrey!
Peter
It is unusual for facels to be in accidents today.... even more unusual for facels to hit other facels..... ..........even more unusual when neither car had a driver at the wheel. This week at a secret location. 
Edited by facelman on Friday 13th January 16:00
Edited by facelman on Thursday 19th January 17:14
Edited by facelman on Thursday 19th January 17:16
Many thanks Facelvega and Facelman for your responses. The door card pictures are really helpful and confirm that I'm on the right track. I'll also get the stub axles crack tested.
I'm off to see the finished body of my car tomorrow, hopefully resplendent in its new black paint, complete with new aluminium sill covers.
Good luck Spellbound with your car. I agree it looks amazingly complete...most unrestored cars tend to have large chunks of bodywork missing down each side (or are full of filler).
I'm now beginning to wonder how many HKs are actually being restored in the UK at the moment. I went for several years thinking I was the only person mad enough! However, I think there might be quite a few of us!
For a start there are Spellbound, Facelvega and me.
There are the three cars at a business near Brooklands, unless they have since been sold. I doubt they'd make three cars though as I'm not sure how much of the third one was there.
There is another one I came across that was being turned into a classic racer. There were pictures of this on the web some time ago. It would be great if this really does make it onto the track.
Then there are the cars that have been sold as projects over the last few years. I can think of five or six of these straight away.
I'm sure there are others as well.
Anyway, good luck to anyone else who has one of these cars 'on the go'. It would be great to see more of them 'out and about'.
I'm off to see the finished body of my car tomorrow, hopefully resplendent in its new black paint, complete with new aluminium sill covers.
Good luck Spellbound with your car. I agree it looks amazingly complete...most unrestored cars tend to have large chunks of bodywork missing down each side (or are full of filler).
I'm now beginning to wonder how many HKs are actually being restored in the UK at the moment. I went for several years thinking I was the only person mad enough! However, I think there might be quite a few of us!
For a start there are Spellbound, Facelvega and me.
There are the three cars at a business near Brooklands, unless they have since been sold. I doubt they'd make three cars though as I'm not sure how much of the third one was there.
There is another one I came across that was being turned into a classic racer. There were pictures of this on the web some time ago. It would be great if this really does make it onto the track.
Then there are the cars that have been sold as projects over the last few years. I can think of five or six of these straight away.
I'm sure there are others as well.
Anyway, good luck to anyone else who has one of these cars 'on the go'. It would be great to see more of them 'out and about'.
There is another one I came across that was being turned into a classic racer. There were pictures of this on the web some time ago. It would be great if this really does make it onto the track.
Then there are the cars that have been sold as projects over the last few years. I can think of five or six of these straight away.
I'm sure there are others as well.
Anyway, good luck to anyone else who has one of these cars 'on the go'. It would be great to see more of them 'out and about'.
[/quote]
I remember selling an HK 500 to a customer who took it on to the track.He asked me how I thought it would do.I told him that it would never win,but he would get his picture in every old car magazine,I was right.He was pictured going sideways,backwards,and in fact in every direction except straight ahead.He eventually sold it and bought a capri.He did better with that.In all honesty you would have to change so much to make it suitable for a job for which it wa never designed that it would no longer be an HK 500.So one has to ask why bother?
sCi[/url]
Then there are the cars that have been sold as projects over the last few years. I can think of five or six of these straight away.
I'm sure there are others as well.
Anyway, good luck to anyone else who has one of these cars 'on the go'. It would be great to see more of them 'out and about'.
[/quote]
I remember selling an HK 500 to a customer who took it on to the track.He asked me how I thought it would do.I told him that it would never win,but he would get his picture in every old car magazine,I was right.He was pictured going sideways,backwards,and in fact in every direction except straight ahead.He eventually sold it and bought a capri.He did better with that.In all honesty you would have to change so much to make it suitable for a job for which it wa never designed that it would no longer be an HK 500.So one has to ask why bother?
sCi[/url]Edited by facelman on Sunday 15th January 19:05
Edited by facelman on Sunday 15th January 19:06
Edited by facelman on Thursday 19th January 17:16
facelman said:
tonyvid said:
It certainly is, I was looking at it on Christmas Eve 
Hi all you Facel boys
You were looking at the facellia or the HK ? Hi all you Facel boys
The Facellia - he's doing all the body at the moment, it's completely stripped and being lovingly carressed with a tiny gas nozzle in the places that need it! It's suprisingly solid but has been essentially dry stored for 40 years.
tonyvid said:
Hi John, apologies for the delay, I've been away.
The Facellia - he's doing all the body at the moment, it's completely stripped and being lovingly carressed with a tiny gas nozzle in the places that need it! It's suprisingly solid but has been essentially dry stored for 40 years.
Do you have any photos?The Facellia - he's doing all the body at the moment, it's completely stripped and being lovingly carressed with a tiny gas nozzle in the places that need it! It's suprisingly solid but has been essentially dry stored for 40 years.
Seeing all these Facel Vegas being used in competition reminds me that sometime Grand Prix driver, team owner and Le Mans winner Jackie Oliver used his father's HK500 at least once in a sprint or hillclimb.
Jackie's father Fred Oliver was a wealthy Essex businessman with a penchant for fast cars which he would lend to his son for sprints, hillclimbs etc. Thus, when Fred Oliver bought the first righthand drive HK500 from Clifford Johnson, young Jackie (he must have been about 18 at the time, and not being very tall, could scarcely see over the steering wheel) duly purloined it for what Martin Buckley, in the Facel book, calls a hillclimb at the Herts and Essex Airfield! Oliver recalls doing a 360 at the second corner before continuing to set a time. He doubts he even had a competition licence at the time.
He later raced a Marcos which he destroyed at Snetterton, turning its wooden chassis into matchwood which filled air on impact. When he clambered from the car, a marshal shouted 'look out mate, it's still coming down.'
He went on to race in 50 Grands Prix, starting the 1968 British Grand Prix from the front row and finishing third in two GPs. He then ran the Shadow team and started the Arrows team which he ran for nearly twenty years. He's still racing classic cars as he approaches his 70th birthday this year.
Incidentally, having seen the HK in the previous thread on the Carrera PanAmericana, I remember seeing a pic of an outrageous HK which had been turned into a convertible on the same event. Anyone got that pic?
PS: Can anyone explain to me why page 14 fits my computer and page 15 doesn't?
Jackie's father Fred Oliver was a wealthy Essex businessman with a penchant for fast cars which he would lend to his son for sprints, hillclimbs etc. Thus, when Fred Oliver bought the first righthand drive HK500 from Clifford Johnson, young Jackie (he must have been about 18 at the time, and not being very tall, could scarcely see over the steering wheel) duly purloined it for what Martin Buckley, in the Facel book, calls a hillclimb at the Herts and Essex Airfield! Oliver recalls doing a 360 at the second corner before continuing to set a time. He doubts he even had a competition licence at the time.
He later raced a Marcos which he destroyed at Snetterton, turning its wooden chassis into matchwood which filled air on impact. When he clambered from the car, a marshal shouted 'look out mate, it's still coming down.'
He went on to race in 50 Grands Prix, starting the 1968 British Grand Prix from the front row and finishing third in two GPs. He then ran the Shadow team and started the Arrows team which he ran for nearly twenty years. He's still racing classic cars as he approaches his 70th birthday this year.
Incidentally, having seen the HK in the previous thread on the Carrera PanAmericana, I remember seeing a pic of an outrageous HK which had been turned into a convertible on the same event. Anyone got that pic?
PS: Can anyone explain to me why page 14 fits my computer and page 15 doesn't?
Edited by Bob CD on Thursday 19th January 14:43
facelman said:
bosscerbera said:
It's the uploaded photos.
I might have guessed it would be my fault....
Sorry - didn't realise they were all/only your uploads!I think if you put a line space between each image it will stop some browsers widening to try and accommodate the images next to each other.
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