Facel Vega HK500. A childhood dream or a nightmare?
Discussion
theadman said:
HWM, or rather the wholely owned offshoot called Intercontinental Cars that was the Facel Importer, often worked towards the edge of the envelope of what was legal. For instance, there was only one set of trade plates. This was a bit of an issue when they went down to Lydd in Kent to pick up cars off the 'Silver City' air ferry. The plane could carry four cars and so for the journey back to the workshop the cars had to be driven in convoy with a trade plate on the front car and the other one on the last car!
They weren’t alone in doing thatIn the mid 80’s I used to help out a car dealer locally who started up a business selling ex fleet cars sourced from an auction place in London - He’d go down and purchase five cars and then drive back - five of us would drive down on the Saturday in whatever sheddy car had been recently part ex’d (that would be left there to auction in the next one) and bring them all back one trade plate on the front car and the other one on the rear car and we’d come back in tight convoy - if the front car went thro a set of lights we all would
Not sure I’d play that game these days but back then it was a fun way to earn a few extra quid on a weekend
Following on from my post about the HK being used as a development car and then as a demonstrator, I thought a couple of references to it in books might be of interest.
Published in 1990, Fred Hobbs' 'A Life with HWM' was about the only English language book that covered Facel Vega at that time. (There was a 'Cars in Profile' pamphlet penned by Michael Sedgewick that predated it.)
Fred Hobbs writes:
'The first batch (of HK500s) sold at once but, as before, we kept one for demonstrations, Abecassis' personal use and to use as a 'guinea pig'. This car did 25000 miles in our hands (actually much more) and was exemplary. We carried out numerous experiments with such things as plugs, brake pads, dampers etc and the car, when sold carried on to a mileage of 52000 when I last saw it in November 1962. Its present whereabouts is unknown.'
(Fred Hobbs/Foulis Publishing/Haynes Publishing)
The additions in parenthesis in the copy are mine.
Then in 2007 Martin Buckley wrote 'Facel Vega; Grand Luxe Sportif' for Palawan Press. Finally, there was a decent book covering Facel.
In it Martin Buckley mentions 500 HPA a couple of times. Apparently Mr Abecassis would visit the dealership most days. When it was time to leave, the workshop staff at the adjacent garage would stop to watch him wheelspin his way out, as he did it every day!
There is also an anecdote about one particularly hairy test drive that ended in a purchase plus a boast that the buyer would break his car within 6 months. Apparently it took two years, but he eventually managed to strip the teeth off third gear! That test drive would have been in my car.
As a preview of things to come, the piston tops bore the scars of that and similar encounters...
Ouch!
Published in 1990, Fred Hobbs' 'A Life with HWM' was about the only English language book that covered Facel Vega at that time. (There was a 'Cars in Profile' pamphlet penned by Michael Sedgewick that predated it.)
Fred Hobbs writes:
'The first batch (of HK500s) sold at once but, as before, we kept one for demonstrations, Abecassis' personal use and to use as a 'guinea pig'. This car did 25000 miles in our hands (actually much more) and was exemplary. We carried out numerous experiments with such things as plugs, brake pads, dampers etc and the car, when sold carried on to a mileage of 52000 when I last saw it in November 1962. Its present whereabouts is unknown.'
(Fred Hobbs/Foulis Publishing/Haynes Publishing)
The additions in parenthesis in the copy are mine.
Then in 2007 Martin Buckley wrote 'Facel Vega; Grand Luxe Sportif' for Palawan Press. Finally, there was a decent book covering Facel.
In it Martin Buckley mentions 500 HPA a couple of times. Apparently Mr Abecassis would visit the dealership most days. When it was time to leave, the workshop staff at the adjacent garage would stop to watch him wheelspin his way out, as he did it every day!
There is also an anecdote about one particularly hairy test drive that ended in a purchase plus a boast that the buyer would break his car within 6 months. Apparently it took two years, but he eventually managed to strip the teeth off third gear! That test drive would have been in my car.
As a preview of things to come, the piston tops bore the scars of that and similar encounters...
Ouch!
OK. Let's complete the history and then get back to the story of the restoration.
The car came with both a buff and a green log book. Interestingly, a replacement buff log book was issued in January 1962 at just the time HWM/Intercontinental Cars were selling my car. All reference to its first owner being HWM and its use as a demonstrator were therefore deleted.
2nd owner: D H Adams, 20th January 1962.
I wonder if the second owner, D H Adams was aware of its history when he bought the car? It was a company purchase for D H Adams (Investments) Ltd, obviously for Mr Adams himself as he signed the log book. The car was registered at the company address of 11, Royal Crescent Mews, London W11. Interestingly, his address is now home to Palawan Press which publishes investment quality, limited edition books. The Facel Vega tome pictured previously is one of their offerings. A further coincidence is that the owner of Palawan has a couple of Facels. What are the chances of his business premises having once been the registered address of a Facel in period?
I couldn't find any record of Mr Adams on line and D H Adams (Investments) Ltd is no longer trading.
Mr Adams didn't keep the car very long and by October it moved on to its next keeper.
3rd owner: Edward George Wace, 19th October 1962.
Mr Wace was from the other side of the City, based in Farringdon Road, EC1. He kept the car until late 1966. Again, good old Google came up with nothing on Mr Wace.
4th owner: William Leslie Morgan, 8th December 1966.
At the end of 1966 the Facel left the city behind and took up residence in Exmouth with Mr Morgan. On a visit to see the car in Cornwall I made a detour to Exmouth on the way home. I was keen to see where my car had been in the late 1960s. This is Alma House today (like so many large properties it is now split into flats). It's quite an imposing place...
No traces on the web of Mr Morgan either, although there are a couple of military references from WWII that could be him.
In 1969 the Morgans moved from Devon to Rugby in Warwickshire. At some stage in 1972 I assume Mr Morgan sadly died as ownership passed to his wife.
5th owner: Hilda Morgan, 23rd May 1972.
The house the Morgan's were living in in Rugby is now a solicitor's offices, so the trail goes cold. I suspect Mrs Morgan used the car very little, if at all. In December 1973 the road fund license was cancelled, suggesting the car was laid up.
There was a new green log book issued in May 1976 which still showed Hilda Morgan as the keeper and showed the car was licensed again.
6th owner: Steve Horsley, late 1970s.
At this point the paper trail runs out, but conversations kick in! I managed to trace Steve Horsley to a garage in north Northamptonshire and eventually made contact. Steve wasn't sure quite when he'd bought the car, but he purchased it at an auction at Castle Ashby as part of the estate of Hilda Morgan.
Steve bought the car intending to restore it, as he was in the motor trade and used to like unusual cars. He stored the car in a unit somewhere locally and started to strip it down. I don't think he got very far. At some stage the windscreen was broken (smashed would be a better word) and after that another resident of the unit decided to do some shot blasting right next to the Facel. As a result one side of the car was peppered with shot. The paintwork was rough anyway, so that didn't matter too much. What did matter was all the glass down one side was pitted along with the irreplaceable stainless trims that run the length of the car.
This was too much for Steve and with a heavy heart he sold it to the local restoration company run by Geoff Pugh and his partner. I'm not sure when the sale took place, but as Geoff told me he had had the car for about twelve years I guess it was around 1987.
7th owner: GB Car Centre, around 1987.
We are now back to where this thread began!
Next I'll pick up the restoration story in 2006, around seven years in.
The car came with both a buff and a green log book. Interestingly, a replacement buff log book was issued in January 1962 at just the time HWM/Intercontinental Cars were selling my car. All reference to its first owner being HWM and its use as a demonstrator were therefore deleted.
2nd owner: D H Adams, 20th January 1962.
I wonder if the second owner, D H Adams was aware of its history when he bought the car? It was a company purchase for D H Adams (Investments) Ltd, obviously for Mr Adams himself as he signed the log book. The car was registered at the company address of 11, Royal Crescent Mews, London W11. Interestingly, his address is now home to Palawan Press which publishes investment quality, limited edition books. The Facel Vega tome pictured previously is one of their offerings. A further coincidence is that the owner of Palawan has a couple of Facels. What are the chances of his business premises having once been the registered address of a Facel in period?
I couldn't find any record of Mr Adams on line and D H Adams (Investments) Ltd is no longer trading.
Mr Adams didn't keep the car very long and by October it moved on to its next keeper.
3rd owner: Edward George Wace, 19th October 1962.
Mr Wace was from the other side of the City, based in Farringdon Road, EC1. He kept the car until late 1966. Again, good old Google came up with nothing on Mr Wace.
4th owner: William Leslie Morgan, 8th December 1966.
At the end of 1966 the Facel left the city behind and took up residence in Exmouth with Mr Morgan. On a visit to see the car in Cornwall I made a detour to Exmouth on the way home. I was keen to see where my car had been in the late 1960s. This is Alma House today (like so many large properties it is now split into flats). It's quite an imposing place...
No traces on the web of Mr Morgan either, although there are a couple of military references from WWII that could be him.
In 1969 the Morgans moved from Devon to Rugby in Warwickshire. At some stage in 1972 I assume Mr Morgan sadly died as ownership passed to his wife.
5th owner: Hilda Morgan, 23rd May 1972.
The house the Morgan's were living in in Rugby is now a solicitor's offices, so the trail goes cold. I suspect Mrs Morgan used the car very little, if at all. In December 1973 the road fund license was cancelled, suggesting the car was laid up.
There was a new green log book issued in May 1976 which still showed Hilda Morgan as the keeper and showed the car was licensed again.
6th owner: Steve Horsley, late 1970s.
At this point the paper trail runs out, but conversations kick in! I managed to trace Steve Horsley to a garage in north Northamptonshire and eventually made contact. Steve wasn't sure quite when he'd bought the car, but he purchased it at an auction at Castle Ashby as part of the estate of Hilda Morgan.
Steve bought the car intending to restore it, as he was in the motor trade and used to like unusual cars. He stored the car in a unit somewhere locally and started to strip it down. I don't think he got very far. At some stage the windscreen was broken (smashed would be a better word) and after that another resident of the unit decided to do some shot blasting right next to the Facel. As a result one side of the car was peppered with shot. The paintwork was rough anyway, so that didn't matter too much. What did matter was all the glass down one side was pitted along with the irreplaceable stainless trims that run the length of the car.
This was too much for Steve and with a heavy heart he sold it to the local restoration company run by Geoff Pugh and his partner. I'm not sure when the sale took place, but as Geoff told me he had had the car for about twelve years I guess it was around 1987.
7th owner: GB Car Centre, around 1987.
We are now back to where this thread began!
Next I'll pick up the restoration story in 2006, around seven years in.
BerrisfordMotors said:
Ours took a step forward today,headlights,bumpers and grills in,different restoration company taken over now after previous company's stalled,and we are moving forward quite quickly now??
OK, so much for the car's history. I hope you agree that it has an interesting past and can see why I have persevered over the years!
Now back to the story...
By the end of 2007 the car was making some progress.
Firstly, I had found someone to have another go at the dashboard painting. They came recommended through a friend who was thinking really left field. He had a friend who worked at Shepperton Studios painting sets for various productions. His reasoning was that she spent her life painting things to transform them into something else (usually items that were prohibitively expensive to purchase within the film budget).
Carol was intrigued with the idea of painting metal to look like wood. She had completed some projects like this on set, but they were never going to be subjected to any real scrutiny as they weren't the focus of attention. Painting a dashboard would need to be at a completely different level.
She read up on the subject and then agreed to 'have a go'. This time around money was not the only motivator, professional pride and the opportunity to prove she could turn her hand to anything were both high on the list.
With some trepidation I delivered the dash.
Carol put in a lot of hours...there are 16 layers of paint in some areas! Unlike the artists at the Facel factory who created dashboards that gave the impression of wood (look closely at an original panel and you'll see the 'grain' is actually nothing like wood), Carol went the whole nine yards. She even imitated the 'book ending' of veneers you would see on typical Rolls Royce dashboards where each side of the dash is a mirror image of each other in terms of the grain.
Not great pictures I'm afraid...
The overall effect
The 'book ending' on the centre console where the 'grain' is mirrored down the centreline
More of the detail...
Whilst this might not be true to the fairly heavy handed factory approach seen on many cars, my original dashboard finish was more like burr walnut, so perhaps customers could chose what type of wood they wanted? What you see here isn't a million miles away from the style used on my dash.
Early 2007 saw a concerted effort by an old school auto electrician to get to grips with connecting the wiring loom back up to the various electrical components with varying degrees of success! The indicators, which operate in the most complicated way known to man via an intricate 50 year old Bakolite confection that is as brittle as anything, refused to play ball. However, after a bit of perseverance most of it started showing signs of life.
By August we had the semblance of a car that moved under its own steam. One day that month I actually got to drive it across the yard, very slowly as the brakes needed bleeding. 30 yards in first gear.
First impression? I need a leg transplant...that clutch is monumentally heavy!
Subsequent impressions? Well, there aren't any...that's still the only time I have been behind the wheel!
Here are pictures taken on that day...
(I drove the car as far as the fence!)
This felt like real progress, but something was bothering me...
Up to this point the aim of the project was simply to get the car back on the road in good usable condition. To achieve this there was still a lot to do. The most expensive task would be painting the car.
In my book there is only one way to paint a car...and that's properly. Cut corners and it will only come back to bite you. So, assuming I commissioned a decent paint job, I was going to end up with a car that had reasonable bodywork, good mechanicals, excellent paint and interior. The stainless trim was a bit battered and the glass quite poor. I feared the really good bits would just make the rest look even more shonky.
In the meantime, along with other classic cars, Facel prices had been rising. Given the expenditure to date, this was a very good thing! However, proper restoration was beginning to become viable. At that time the very small UK stock of roadworthy HK500s were generally survivors rather than fully restored cars. Somehow, even the few that had been brought up to a high standard by Nigel Cooper in the late 1990s seemed to have lost some of their lustre. I didn't know of anyone at that time undertaking a full restoration that would result in a top notch UK RHD car. If any car deserved it, then mine did.
At the point I was thinking about this, most of the interior wasn't finally fitted and much of the glass wasn't in the car or was missing/damaged. Although it might not look like it from the pictures above, the car was little more than a rolling shell.
The car was in the capable hands of 586 Sports in Brackley, so I talked to Steve Black about how much extra it would cost to change tack and begin a full chassis off, ground up restoration.
As with all restorations, the answer turned out to be wildly different from the reality! However, with what we knew then and the assumptions we made, it seemed like a good idea. Cars for sale at the time highlighted the huge difference in price commanded by the best examples, evidence that a full scale restoration might be the better financial route, as well as being more satisfying.
So, in 2008 Steve began the strip down.
Now back to the story...
By the end of 2007 the car was making some progress.
Firstly, I had found someone to have another go at the dashboard painting. They came recommended through a friend who was thinking really left field. He had a friend who worked at Shepperton Studios painting sets for various productions. His reasoning was that she spent her life painting things to transform them into something else (usually items that were prohibitively expensive to purchase within the film budget).
Carol was intrigued with the idea of painting metal to look like wood. She had completed some projects like this on set, but they were never going to be subjected to any real scrutiny as they weren't the focus of attention. Painting a dashboard would need to be at a completely different level.
She read up on the subject and then agreed to 'have a go'. This time around money was not the only motivator, professional pride and the opportunity to prove she could turn her hand to anything were both high on the list.
With some trepidation I delivered the dash.
Carol put in a lot of hours...there are 16 layers of paint in some areas! Unlike the artists at the Facel factory who created dashboards that gave the impression of wood (look closely at an original panel and you'll see the 'grain' is actually nothing like wood), Carol went the whole nine yards. She even imitated the 'book ending' of veneers you would see on typical Rolls Royce dashboards where each side of the dash is a mirror image of each other in terms of the grain.
Not great pictures I'm afraid...
The overall effect
The 'book ending' on the centre console where the 'grain' is mirrored down the centreline
More of the detail...
Whilst this might not be true to the fairly heavy handed factory approach seen on many cars, my original dashboard finish was more like burr walnut, so perhaps customers could chose what type of wood they wanted? What you see here isn't a million miles away from the style used on my dash.
Early 2007 saw a concerted effort by an old school auto electrician to get to grips with connecting the wiring loom back up to the various electrical components with varying degrees of success! The indicators, which operate in the most complicated way known to man via an intricate 50 year old Bakolite confection that is as brittle as anything, refused to play ball. However, after a bit of perseverance most of it started showing signs of life.
By August we had the semblance of a car that moved under its own steam. One day that month I actually got to drive it across the yard, very slowly as the brakes needed bleeding. 30 yards in first gear.
First impression? I need a leg transplant...that clutch is monumentally heavy!
Subsequent impressions? Well, there aren't any...that's still the only time I have been behind the wheel!
Here are pictures taken on that day...
(I drove the car as far as the fence!)
This felt like real progress, but something was bothering me...
Up to this point the aim of the project was simply to get the car back on the road in good usable condition. To achieve this there was still a lot to do. The most expensive task would be painting the car.
In my book there is only one way to paint a car...and that's properly. Cut corners and it will only come back to bite you. So, assuming I commissioned a decent paint job, I was going to end up with a car that had reasonable bodywork, good mechanicals, excellent paint and interior. The stainless trim was a bit battered and the glass quite poor. I feared the really good bits would just make the rest look even more shonky.
In the meantime, along with other classic cars, Facel prices had been rising. Given the expenditure to date, this was a very good thing! However, proper restoration was beginning to become viable. At that time the very small UK stock of roadworthy HK500s were generally survivors rather than fully restored cars. Somehow, even the few that had been brought up to a high standard by Nigel Cooper in the late 1990s seemed to have lost some of their lustre. I didn't know of anyone at that time undertaking a full restoration that would result in a top notch UK RHD car. If any car deserved it, then mine did.
At the point I was thinking about this, most of the interior wasn't finally fitted and much of the glass wasn't in the car or was missing/damaged. Although it might not look like it from the pictures above, the car was little more than a rolling shell.
The car was in the capable hands of 586 Sports in Brackley, so I talked to Steve Black about how much extra it would cost to change tack and begin a full chassis off, ground up restoration.
As with all restorations, the answer turned out to be wildly different from the reality! However, with what we knew then and the assumptions we made, it seemed like a good idea. Cars for sale at the time highlighted the huge difference in price commanded by the best examples, evidence that a full scale restoration might be the better financial route, as well as being more satisfying.
So, in 2008 Steve began the strip down.
Not sure what stage you are at at this time,but I guess/hope you have a finished car by now,we will find out as the story continues,ours is certainly getting there now it is safer hands on the restoration side,so we should have two very nice HK500's on the road soon,it's my brother's car,he is in the Facel Vega club in the UK,I'm sure you could have a very interesting conversation together about almost identical long term Facel restoration,let me know if you would like his contact numbers,we should be traveling down to Maidstone to check on progress of ours in the next couple of weeks
BerrisfordMotors said:
Not sure what stage you are at at this time,but I guess/hope you have a finished car by now,we will find out as the story continues,ours is certainly getting there now it is safer hands on the restoration side,so we should have two very nice HK500's on the road soon,it's my brother's car,he is in the Facel Vega club in the UK,I'm sure you could have a very interesting conversation together about almost identical long term Facel restoration,let me know if you would like his contact numbers,we should be traveling down to Maidstone to check on progress of ours in the next couple of weeks
I think it might turn into a very long commiseration, but I've sent you an email!My car is a probably a few days of work away from being MOTed, assuming all the things that were fixed early in the restoration choose to cooperate! The problem is persuading the restorer to find those few days...and that is turning into a real issue.
theadman said:
OK, so much for the car's history. I hope you agree that it has an interesting past and can see why I have persevered over the years!
Now back to the story...
By the end of 2007 the car was making some progress.
<snip>
So, in 2008 Steve began the strip down.
And so the slippery slope was found and down you slid Now back to the story...
By the end of 2007 the car was making some progress.
<snip>
So, in 2008 Steve began the strip down.
Of course it's not intentional it just happened - it was an accident
I have a 1972 Opel in bits for a similar reason - it will get finished one day but I keep finding reasons not to make some progress
Current reason - Not as pretty as a Facel Vega HK500
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