Facel Vega restoration | FerrariChat

Facel Vega restoration

Discussion in 'General Automotive Discussion' started by ralfabco, Sep 19, 2019.

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  1. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    ralfabco, Sep 19, 2019
    #1
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  2. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

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    Chrysler Hemi?

    Depends what year, I think...
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2019
    Tcar, Sep 19, 2019
    #2
  3. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    The early FV was available with the Hemi.
     
    ralfabco, Sep 19, 2019
    #3
  4. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    Looking good! FV's are really neat classic cars! (until the eol Volvo cars....) Very finicky to restore; if a part is missing, you may have to recreate it from scratch; lots of not-invented-here. Some mechanical stuff though is very simple Detroit-sourced.....
    Have you done the dash yet? :p
    More pix would be fun......
     
    tritone, Sep 19, 2019
    #4
  5. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    The Jaeger gauges are all restored and the dash has been painted correctly. A marque specialist is doing the work.
     
    ralfabco, Sep 19, 2019
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  6. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    Any updates? (pix.......hint, hint........):D
     
    tritone, Nov 17, 2019
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  7. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    Christmas party on the 7th of December, for the Facel customers. I will hopefully post pictures after.
     
    ralfabco, Nov 17, 2019
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  8. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    ralfabco, Jan 23, 2020
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  9. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    tritone, Jan 23, 2020
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  10. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    The artisano claims 90 more days to completion. The car is being restored in Narco, CA. Yes, Mark Morgan ( who now resides in Plano, TX ) provided to us the original factory livery. I never asked about any notable PO.

    The car spent considerable previous time in CA. I believe the immediate PO inherited the car and wanted to restore the vehicle. The car was in Alaska when I arranged to purchase the vehicle. It was a driver painted in the wrong colors. Will look sharp with the original Nardi wood steering wheel. We are trying to faithfully restore the car to it’s original factory built configuration.
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2020
    ralfabco, Jan 23, 2020
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  11. ross

    ross Three Time F1 World Champ Owner Silver Subscribed

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    nice car.
    didnt know you owned a facel vega
     
    ross, Jan 23, 2020
    #11
  12. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    It’s my father’s car. Mine is located on top of Haris’s lift. love your car.
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    ralfabco, Jan 23, 2020
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  13. ross

    ross Three Time F1 World Champ Owner Silver Subscribed

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    ha! its a small world isnt it!
    we should meet at some point.
    i will be going to see haris on saturday morning
     
    ross, Jan 24, 2020
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  14. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    My wife and I are currently in Vegas for a few more days. Let’s meet up soon. I have a friend in the Woodlands with a red 512 TR and other toys. The local FCA events are also fun.
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2020
    ralfabco, Jan 24, 2020
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  15. absent

    absent F1 Veteran Lifetime Rossa

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    The one thing I could not understand about these cars was the dashboard trim.
    Painted fake wood on metal, feels and looks inappropriate for that kind of car.
     
    absent, Jan 25, 2020
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  16. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    This is what was offered with the car in the late 50’s. La differance !
     
    ralfabco, Jan 25, 2020
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  17. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    Not so much maybe; Jean Daninos looked on the Facel as a very avant garde product. Perhaps he viewed wood as being inappropriate to his vision of a gentleman's touring car. Think about all those British cars with sadly delaminated and checked wood dashes; tres maintenance! Not least might have been cost considerations; sourcing the correct burlwood in the required amounts, then the time issues to shape, finish, and install the wood (I know a bit about this, doing restoration/new construction of burlwood panels), maybe this was too much 'hand-crafted' for a (limited) production car. Anyway, when done properly, the burl-painted metal panels are pretty cool in their own right.....(I haven't mastered that craft yet......)
     
    tritone, Jan 25, 2020
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  18. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    For your sake, I hope that's Norco.......
     
    tritone, Jan 25, 2020
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  19. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    Update. The car will also have a period correct Nardi wood steering wheel.

    O/T My father is 90 y/o and works full time, by choice. He is working while we all face Corona Virus conditions. This week he wants to make physical outside sales calls. He is the polar opposite of a lazy slug.
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    Last edited: Mar 31, 2020
    ralfabco, Mar 31, 2020
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  20. randkin

    randkin Formula 3 BANNED

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    Nice car always FVs
     
    randkin, Mar 31, 2020
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  21. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    Beautiful work they're doing in nArco! :cool:
    Looks like the driving tests will begin soon.......conditions allowing......

    Please get pix of Dad in the drivers seat for us!
     
    tritone, Mar 31, 2020
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  22. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    The Brody's (Norco, CA) are the specialist artisanos for these cars. Just two people restore these cars. The other qualified shop, is in The Netherlands.

    I found the car for my father - with the help of the classifieds from the Facel Club. The car was garaged and sitting in Alaska. I 'believe' the owner inherited the car from a long time CA owner and the driver was delivered, to AK. We had the car trucked from AK to TX about fifteen years ago. Approximately five to six years ago we shipped the car to Norco, CA for the restoration.
     
    ralfabco, Mar 31, 2020
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  23. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    tritone, Apr 1, 2020
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  24. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa

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    No problem.

    The Facel is still in Norco. I would guess another 120-180 days to complete the car.

    The little stuff will take some time to complete.
     
    ralfabco, Apr 1, 2020
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  25. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran Silver Subscribed

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    To do it really right, it's that last 10% that takes 50% of the total time........(that's how it works with my mahogany Rivas anyway......):D
     
    tritone, Apr 1, 2020
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