Rare Facel Vega ‘garage find’ heads to auction

A rare, right-hand drive 1960 Facel Vega HK500, which has been tucked away in a north Wales garage for almost 50 years, is going under the hammer with ‘no reserve’ at H&H’s classic car auction on 26 April at The Pavilion Gardens, Buxton.

Originally finished in Brunswick Blue with Grey leather upholstery, the same combination it pleasingly sports today, the Facel Vega was first registered as ‘WO 2’ on 15 July 1960. Supplied new to W.E. O’Shay Esq. of the car accessories giant Magnatex, the HK500 later belonged to Londoner Kevin Silcock Esq. Last MOT tested during 1972 at a recorded 55,000 miles, the four-seater accompanied Mr Silcock when he relocated to Flintshire that August. In need of some TLC by the time that it entered the current (deceased) ownership in 1976, the Grand Routier has been kept garaged for the past five decades.

Originally introduced in 1958, the most famous of the various Facel Vaga models, the HK500, was originally designed to compete in the same league as the Ferrari 250 GTE, Maserati 3500GT and the Aston Martin DB4 and was parked in the garages of notable celebrities such as Pablo Picasso, Sir Stirling Moss and François Truffaut. One of the fastest cars of its generation, Autocar found a manual HK500 to be capable of 0-60mph in 8.4 seconds, 0-100mph in 19.1 seconds and a theoretical 140mph.