Help Facel Vega, Facel 2
Discussion
I love Spykers, especially those earlier ones with the airbag-free steering wheel!
Pistonheads article
Pistonheads article
As a previous owner of both HK 500 and Facelia ,I am very surprised that anyone can justify praising the interior of the current Spyder . All the Oohs and aahs are ill conceived, just look in all honesty at some of the features and think again !! To sit on a pedestal in a show is OK , but too actually use this car on the street must present a problem !!. Plus while we continue to tolerate design standards like this nothing will improve. This just might suffice in the kit-car market but this car is supposed to be very much upper echelon example of the latest technology .
A few observations :-
A. The backing metal on the facia panel looks like scrap- metal cut-offs retrieved from under the bench, cheap nasty, no style (kit-car methods ) held on with “self- tapping “ screws (even on the door escutcheons- Ugh!!)
B. Victoriana curtain-rail gearshift. Possibly very effective but a massive heat -sink from strong sunlight in markets such as Dubai , California and Florida with temperatures of 90 to 100 +degrees .
Step out of an ice- cream parlour in a T shirt in the blazing sun and drop into your waiting Spyder and sustain a severe and painful blister on your forearm (or your GF’s) . I did !!
C. Those exposed brake pedals might be fine and dandy in a race car but what happens when a “dozy” GF or OH decides to risk a trip to the manicurists in stilettos . Plus the very shiny pedal heel plate, with the slightest moisture on your shoes , the accidents begin !!
D. The amount of reflective surfaces, metal centre trim, (another blister maker) chrome switch covers on the steering column ,including the shiny steering wheel (possibly off a 1920’s motor steam launch ) which will be an enormous annoyance while driving round Monaco in the evening under mercury-vapour overhead street lamps , probably creating great difficulty with the line of sight to the rather small instruments, have you tried focusing on the tiny odometer figures on a white back-ground ?
Come on , budding designers give us your real opinions ? Forget the glitz !!
A few observations :-
A. The backing metal on the facia panel looks like scrap- metal cut-offs retrieved from under the bench, cheap nasty, no style (kit-car methods ) held on with “self- tapping “ screws (even on the door escutcheons- Ugh!!)
B. Victoriana curtain-rail gearshift. Possibly very effective but a massive heat -sink from strong sunlight in markets such as Dubai , California and Florida with temperatures of 90 to 100 +degrees .
Step out of an ice- cream parlour in a T shirt in the blazing sun and drop into your waiting Spyder and sustain a severe and painful blister on your forearm (or your GF’s) . I did !!
C. Those exposed brake pedals might be fine and dandy in a race car but what happens when a “dozy” GF or OH decides to risk a trip to the manicurists in stilettos . Plus the very shiny pedal heel plate, with the slightest moisture on your shoes , the accidents begin !!
D. The amount of reflective surfaces, metal centre trim, (another blister maker) chrome switch covers on the steering column ,including the shiny steering wheel (possibly off a 1920’s motor steam launch ) which will be an enormous annoyance while driving round Monaco in the evening under mercury-vapour overhead street lamps , probably creating great difficulty with the line of sight to the rather small instruments, have you tried focusing on the tiny odometer figures on a white back-ground ?
Come on , budding designers give us your real opinions ? Forget the glitz !!
So many people swoon over them that I hesitate to say it for fear of ridicule 
Come on guys! Perhaps it would be best to keep this thread to Facel Vega stuff?
It doesn't feel right to me to denigrate something a fellow petrolhead has just bought and is obviously delighted with. Facelvega...just get out there and enjoy it (before the British summer arrives and we all get wet)!
It doesn't feel right to me to denigrate something a fellow petrolhead has just bought and is obviously delighted with. Facelvega...just get out there and enjoy it (before the British summer arrives and we all get wet)!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/t/Y5S4O8yZ.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/zRlosSjE" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/t/zRlosSjE.jpg[/img]</a>[url][img]http://thumbsnap.com/t/P2GkYevk.jpg)
facelman said:
There is a project to produce new bumpers for Facel II and Facel III/6 and Facellia F2B.In order to test the market I am asking interested parties to make themselves known to me.cheers John
Since this afternoon,we have orders for five bumpers.Sadly nobody reads anything ! We are starting with the fronts only ! As we have the original tooling for the over riders we will be making a run of these as well.Facelvega said:
There was a rumour that Hans would be be producing a run of HK500 door handles. I need a pair? Anybody else?
I may still have some castings here somewhere.I made a batch in bronze years ago to make two for a customer who disliked Mazak.They were a bit of a sod to machine as there are few ways to hold them in the mill due to the curves everywhere.I would cast them differently today with a square bit to hold them with to be cut off after machining.Facelvega said:
There was a rumour that Hans would be be producing a run of HK500 door handles. I need a pair? Anybody else?
I think that rumour has been around for some time! I was after a pair 8-10 years ago and Hans was considering it then. The problem he has is the cost involved for such low numbers (unless things have changed)...they were going to be hideously expensive.I ended up sourcing a pair for renovation from Roger Spaulding in California. Mark Morgan helped facilitate the process as Roger is not easy to get hold of! (Thanks again Mark, if you've found this forum!)
theadman said:
I think that rumour has been around for some time! I was after a pair 8-10 years ago and Hans was considering it then. The problem he has is the cost involved for such low numbers (unless things have changed)...they were going to be hideously expensive.
I ended up sourcing a pair for renovation from Roger Spaulding in California. Mark Morgan helped facilitate the process as Roger is not easy to get hold of! (Thanks again Mark, if you've found this forum!)
"hideously expensive" I would be interested to know what you regard as expensive.A bronze sandcasting is about £30 each.There is little machining to do say £60.Then chrome plating at probably £30 makes around £120.You would need old units for the locks etc but as it can be almost impossible to rechrome old Mazak I don't regard this as expensive.The job could be greatly simplified by adding square machining aids to the casting which would be cut off later.The very best way to make them would be lost wax castings.These as we have found almost need no machining.It is quite surprising how much cheaper things have become since I started in the 1970's with facel.With modern resins for pattern making,the need for an expensive old boy skilled at wooden patterns is gone.Lost wax gives a very much better finish than sand casting and the initial increase in cost is well worth it. I ended up sourcing a pair for renovation from Roger Spaulding in California. Mark Morgan helped facilitate the process as Roger is not easy to get hold of! (Thanks again Mark, if you've found this forum!)
facelman said:
"hideously expensive" I would be interested to know what you regard as expensive.A bronze sandcasting is about £30 each.There is little machining to do say £60.Then chrome plating at probably £30 makes around £120.You would need old units for the locks etc but as it can be almost impossible to rechrome old Mazak I don't regard this as expensive.The job could be greatly simplified by adding square machining aids to the casting which would be cut off later.The very best way to make them would be lost wax castings.These as we have found almost need no machining.It is quite surprising how much cheaper things have become since I started in the 1970's with facel.With modern resins for pattern making,the need for an expensive old boy skilled at wooden patterns is gone.Lost wax gives a very much better finish than sand casting and the initial increase in cost is well worth it.
The advent of 3D laser scanning and resin cast SLA prototyping should make doing this sort of thing viable.Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff