Ford Comète

Ford / Simca
Simca Comète Monte-Carlo 1954 - Identical to the Ford of the same name
Comète Monte Carlo
Production period:	1951-1955
Class :	Sports car
Body versions :	Coupe
Engines:	Gasoline engines : 2.2–3.9 liters (50–78 kW)
Length:	4620 mm
Width:	1740 mm
Height:	1420 mm
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :	1290 kg

Rear view

The Ford Comète was one of the Ford Societe Anonyme France ( Ford SAF ) in the automobile plant Poissy near Paris from 1951 to 1954 produced cars of the luxury class.

The new president of Ford SAF, François Lehideux , was looking for a more elegant model than the Ford Vedette . Jean Daninos suggested making one on the basis of the series model, as he had already done at Simca , and presented Ford with the design created by Stabilimenti Farina. The body of the Comète, which is aimed at the luxury model market, was manufactured by Facel Métallon in a small series in the Dreux , Amboise and Colombes plants, which later produced the luxury vehicles known under the name Facel Vega . The original engine was a side-steered 2.2-liter V8 engine, which Ford France also used in the Ford Vedette . However, while the Vedette was equipped with an electromagnetic Cotal transmission , the Comète used a fully synchronized, manual Pont-à-Mousson four-speed transmission.

The original model featured a single, horizontal transom above the grille with a chrome shield or sphere in the center, not unlike contemporary Studebaker vehicles. In addition, the whitewall tires were mounted on steel rims with chrome-plated hubcaps. In September 1951, the graceful model was presented to the interested public in posh Biarritz on the Atlantic coast of southern France. Although the sight, the equipment and the workmanship aroused admiration, the small machine, which made the heavy Comète appear powerless and unreliable, disappointed.

Ford Monte Carlo nameplate

In 1953, a new Comète Monte Carlo model was equipped with a 3.9-liter V8 engine. This machine came from the Ford truck , developed 105 hp (78 kW) and had enormous torque . She had already done her job in the Ford Vendôme . The equipment has been significantly improved, but the new machine did not ingratiate itself with the customers; it was not only known as a truck engine, but its large cubic capacity meant for its owners that the 22 “tax CVs” calculated from cubic capacity and power made it very expensive. The new version of the model was equipped with wire-spoke wheels, false hubcaps and an oval radiator grille, in which the crossbeam had been dispensed with in favor of a wide-meshed grille. The French called the grill "coupe-fritte" (French fries knife).

During the Comète's manufacturing period, Ford France was sold to Simca in 1954. So the Comète was offered as the Simca Comète in the last year of the model .

Web links

Commons : Ford Comète  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• History, technical data, photo
• Ford Comète brochure reproduced by Facel Vega

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ford Comète - Vernunft, Charme, Grazie Article with historical pictures on Zwischengas.com , accessed on October 26, 2016.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Gloor, Roger: Post-War Car - Passenger Cars 1945–1960; Benedikt Taschen Verlag Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-8228-8994-X , p. 164.