Editing Facel Vega (section)

===Facel Vega FV, HK500 and Facel Vega II===
{{main|Facel Vega FV}}
{{main|Facel Vega Excellence}}
{{main|Facel Vega Facel II}}
[[File:Facel Vega 1961 Castle Hedingham 2008.JPG|thumb|Facel Vega HK500 1961]]
The Vega production cars ([[Facel Vega FV|FV]], later and more famously the HK500) first appeared in October 1954 at the [[Paris Motor Show|Salon de l'Automobile Paris]] using [[Chrysler]] V8 engines because no French company at the time produced an engine that met the company's objectives. Initially, a {{cvt|276|cuin|L|1|order=flip|adj=on}} [[DeSoto (automobile)|DeSoto]] [[Chrysler Hemi engine#DeSoto|Hemi engine]] was installed, while the overall engineering was straightforward, with a tubular chassis, [[double wishbone suspension]] at the front and a [[Beam axle|live axle]] at the back, as in standard American practice. They were also as heavy as American cars, at about {{convert|1800|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}. Performance was brisk, with a top speed of around {{convert|190|km/h|mi/h|0|abbr=on}} and 0 to {{convert|100|km/h|mi/h|0|abbr=on}} in just under 10 seconds.

Most cars were two-door [[hardtop]]s with no centre pillar, but a few [[Convertible (car)|convertibles]] were built for special customers (including Daninos' wife: eleven of the FV series and a single HK500 were drop tops, out of 842 built in total) in spite of Daninos' dislike of the bodystyle due to its lack of structural rigidity.<ref name=Retro0850>{{cite magazine | title = Un parcours limpide | trans-title = A clear course | language = fr | page = 50 | ref = GB08 | first = Gilles | last = Bonnafous | magazine = Rétroviseur | date = October 2008 | number = 238 | publisher = Éditions LVA | location = Fontainebleau, France | issn = 0992-5007 }}</ref> Fully 77 percent of the production was exported, due to the punitive [[Tax horsepower]] system in France.<ref name="cars-in-profile"/>

The 1956 model was improved with a bigger {{cvt|331|cuin|L|1|order=flip|adj=on}} [[Chrysler Hemi engine#Chrysler and Imperial|Chrysler Hemi engine]] and updated transmission and other mechanicals. In the same year, production began of a four-door model, the ''Excellence'', with rear-hinged doors ([[suicide door]]s) at the back and no centre pillar. The pillarless [[design]] unfortunately made it less rigid and the handling was thus poorer than that of the two-door cars, and surviving examples are rare.

1959 models had even bigger engines, a {{cvt|5.8|L|cuin|0|adj=on}} and later a {{cvt|6.28|L|cuin|0|adj=on}} [[Chrysler B engine#383|Chrysler Typhoon engine]], and were quite a bit faster despite their extra weight. The final evolution of the V8 models came in 1962 with the [[Facel Vega II]], which was lighter, with sleeker, more modern lines, substantially faster, and famously elegant.