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Ford Comète - Reason, charm, grace

Name: Ford Vedette 1952
Brand: Ford

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Created on October 21, 2016

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

Artcurial

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Daniel Reinhard

Artcurial

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Ford Comète (1953) - the design later lived on in the Facel Vega

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Ford Comète (1953) - elegance from France

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Ford Comète (1953) - not a racing car, but an elegant touring coupé

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Ford Comète (1953) - guaranteed a lot of overtaking prestige

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Ford Comète (1953) - certainly one of the most elegant coupés of the early fifties

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Ford Comète (1953) - one of the fastest cars at the time

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Ford Comète (1953) - not only at home on the straights

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Ford Comète (1953) - tall passengers sit relatively high up

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Ford Comète (1953) - with dual exhaust system

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Ford Comète (1953) - relatively low waistline

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Ford Comète (1953) - large windows, not a matter of course at the time

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Ford Comète (1953) - in perfect, restored condition

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Ford Comète (1953) - a symbiosis of American and French ideas

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Ford Comète (1953) - an extremely elegant coupé

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Ford Comète (1953) - spacious and bright interior

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Ford Comète (1953) - no ordinary plastic

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Ford Comète (1953) - View into the beautiful cockpit

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Ford Comète (1953) - elegant steering wheel

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Ford Comète (1953) - the control unit of the Cotal gearbox

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Ford Comète (1953) - when windows were still opened with a crank handle

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Ford Comète (1953) - relatively good space in the back seat

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Ford Comète (1953) - longitudinally mounted V8 engine

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Ford Comète (1953) - the V8 has American roots

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Ford Comète (1953) - the accessibility of the V8 engine could be better

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Ford Comète (1953) - relatively small V8 engine

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Ford Comète (1953) - independent arrangement of the lights

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Ford Comète (1953) - yellow lamps, as usual in France

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Ford Comète (1953) - Type lettering on the hood

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Ford Comète (1953) - filigree door openers

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Ford Comète (1953) - Ventilation slots in the hood

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Ford Comète (1953) - three-part rear window

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Ford Comète (1953) - large trunk, upright spare wheel

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Ford Comète (1953) - Indicator in the bumper horn

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Ford Comète (1953) - tail light integrated in the bumper horn

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Ford Comète (1953) - the 1954 Ford Vedette is reflected in the wheel cover

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Ford Vedette (1954) - and Ford Comète from 1953

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Ford Vedette (1954) - looks less elegant than the Coupé

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Ford Vedette (1954) - always with a bench seat at the front, so there was room for three people

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Ford Vedette (1954) - two-tone dashboard

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Ford Vedette (1954) - huge steering wheel

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Ford Vedette (1954) - large labeled displays

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Ford Vedette (1954) - Loudspeaker in the center

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Ford Vedette (1954) - V8 engine in the front

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Ford Vedette (1954) - V8 sign on the nose

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Ford Vedette F 22E (1954) - reference to the V8 engine

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Ford Vedette F 22E (1954) - the Paris dealer who sold the car

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Ford Comète (1953) - there was a lot to do during the restoration

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Ford Comète (1953) - the old hood that could no longer be restored

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Ford Comète (1953) - Dimensions on the old hood for the new model

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Ford Comète (1953) - Restoration in progress

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Ford Vedette (1948) - first presented at the 1948 Paris Motor Show

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Ford Vedette (1954) - perfected with further improved details - Geneva Motor Show 1954

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Ford Vedette (1953) - Hatchback variant with practical two-piece trunk lid

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Ford Vedette (1952) - charmingly presented as a 1953 model

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Ford Vedette (1952) - charmingly presented

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Ford Vedette (1953) - as a convertible sedan at the 1953 Geneva Motor Show

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Ford Vedette (1953) - as a coupé at the Paris Motor Show

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Ford Vedette (1953) - as a coupé, lacks the elegance of the Comète

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Ford Vedette (1953) - at the London Motor Show?

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Ford Vedette (1953) - on an advertising illustration

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Ford Vedette (1953) - not inelegant, but not a classic beauty either

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Ford Vedette - Ford production convertible as a two-seater with retractable top - Geneva Motor Show 1951

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Ford Vedette (1953) - the convertible on the lake

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Ford Vedette (1954) - as a four-door sedan

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Ford Comète (1951) - the body looked faster than the car could run with the Vedette engine

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Ford Comète (1953) - exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in 1953

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Ford Comète (1952) - the elegant body was built by Facel

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Ford Comète (1953) - at the Geneva Motor Show

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Ford Comète (1953) - Presentation at the Motor Show, probably Paris

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Ford Comète (1953) - the Facel company built the elegant bodywork

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Ford Comète (1953) - Bodywork by Facel-Metallon

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Ford Comète (1953) - the 2.2 liter V8 engine came from the Vedette

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Ford Comète (1953) - ravishingly elegant coupé

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Ford Comète Facel Convertible (1953) - only two convertibles were built

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Ford Comète (1953) - Brochure illustration

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Ford Comête Monte Carlo (1954) - one of the most appealing French touring cars with a good dash of sportiness (photo was retouched by hand at the time) - Geneva Motor Show 1954

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Ford Comète (1954) - the Monte-Carlo model with 3.9-liter V8 engine

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Ford Comète (1954) - the 3.9-liter V8 version 'Monte Carlo' at a Concours d'Elegance

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Ford Comète (1953) - Excerpt from the manual

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Ford Abeille (1953) - commercial version

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Ford Vedette (1953) - view of the chassis (taken at a car show, chassis painted white by hand at the time)

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Ford Vendome (1953) - at the Paris Motor Show

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Ford Vendome (1953) - the V8 engine as installed in the Comète and Vedette

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Ford Vedette (1953) - with license plates of the Canton of Geneva

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Ford Comète (1952) - extremely elegant shape for the times

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Ford Comète (1952) - made it into the Museum of Modern Arts in New York

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Ford Comète (1952) - the "French fry knife" grille was not actually used until the more powerful follow-up model "Monte Carlo"

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Ford Comète (1952) - small rear lights, well-shaped rear end

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Ford Comète (1952) - few ornaments, low waistline, large windows - that was very innovative in 1951

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Ford Comète (1952) - Stabilimenti Farina provided the elegant shape

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Ford Comète (1952) - the Italian design genes are immediately visible

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Ford Comète (1952) - wide seats at the front, gearshifting at the steering wheel

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Ford Comète (1952) - elegance and class inside too

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Ford Comète (1952) - speedometer up to 160 km/h, but around 135 km/h was hardly possible

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Ford Comète (1952) - rev counter - 6000 rpm should not be expected of the engine, however

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Ford Comète (1952) - opulent rear bench seat, but the space was narrower than the exterior length would suggest

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Ford Comète (1952) - Inner door lining, the windows were of course rolled up by hand

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Ford Comète (1952) - Explanations of operation, attached to the car

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Ford Comète (1952) - eight cylinders in V-shape

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Ford Comète (1952) - just over two liters of displacement, manageable power output

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Ford Comète (1952) - stamped engine number

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Ford Comète (1952) - Chassis badge from 766

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Ford Comète (1952) - type designation on the nose

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Ford Comète (1952) - front lamps arranged one above the other

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Ford Comète (1952) - recessed door handles

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Ford Comète (1952) - the car was also labeled at the rear

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Summary

The Ford Comète, the result of a collaboration between Ford France, Facel Métallon and Stabilimenti Farina, is certainly one of the rarest and most elegant production cars of the French post-war period. With just over 3000 examples produced, it remained a marginal figure, but at least one that made it into the Museum of Modern Art. This report describes the history of the elegant and future-oriented coupé, illustrated with historical and current pictures, as well as contemporary sales literature.

This article contains the following chapters

Ford in France
A limousine called the Vedette
Robust technology
French captain
The comet in the evening sky
Artistic highlight
More power and a new radiator grille
From Ford to Simca
Facel Vega as a natural successor
Once completely renewed
Further information

Estimated reading time: 6min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Ford not only built cars in the USA, but also in Germany, Great Britain and many other countries, but especially in France, even if few people remember this era. The most elegant and sensational vehicle from that era was probably the Ford Comète, a hybrid of American, French and Italian genes. The first Fords were assembled in France even before the Second World War; these were T and A models. In the 1930s, the company joined forces with Emile Mathis, a marriage that resulted in the various Matford models. In the years after the Second World War, a separate subsidiary was founded, called Ford SAF, with a state-of-the-art assembly plant near Paris (Poissy). After the pre-war models had initially continued to be built in a slightly modified form, Ford France boss Maurice Dollfus presented a completely new car called the Ford Vedette at the 1948 Paris Motor Show.

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