A luxury Chrysler Simca middle class with MPS
And that multiple personality disorder was perhaps not so strange either. Because apart from the fact that this large middle class was known as Chrysler, Simca and Talbot, his history was, to say the least, rather unclear. La pauvre enfant was and remained a bastard.
French. No, it's British
At the end of the sixties, both the Rootes Group in the UK and the French company Simca were busy developing a model in the upper middle class. The Routes Group worked steadily and stoically on their C-Car, the joyous French enjoyed the Project 929. That sounded rather mysterious, but it was nothing more than the development of the successor of Simca's large model, the earlier Vedette, and an addition to the already running 1501. Until then, that was Simca's top model, but parent company Chrysler wanted more. And bigger. Downsizing was still far away.
Limp on two thoughts
Chrysler Europe finally abandoned the idea of bringing both models to market simultaneously. Wise. A place at the top of sales statistics was not their natural habitat anyway, they realized that themselves. Perhaps also whispered by the British branch, with some self-mockery. So a choice had to be made. It fell on the design of the British Roots Group, which was renamed Chrysler UK, and the concept was transferred to Simca, which now continued as Chrysler France. For example, the Chrysler 1970 and 160 were introduced in 180 by the resulting Chrysler Europe. With clear American styling influences, to make the confusion about the newcomer even bigger. Because what was the intention?
Best of both worlds
That was the intention. The idea was not bad: a European driving car with an American appearance. The practice proved more difficult. American styling enthusiasts ... ... bought an American. They almost never went for a compromise. The same applies to those who follow the European way of driving. They also bought European ones. So it was no blunder that this multi-cult Chrysler was not a hit in sales statistics. He had a bad start and later adjustments and upgrades to Chrysler Simca 1609 / 1610, Talbot 1610 / 180 / 2 liters or Talbot Simca 2 liters meant no flattened doors at the relevant dealers. They were already too busy anyway with the almost continuous adjustment of the facade advertising.
Unknown, unloved. Except in Spain
The best-selling market for this nice bastard was probably the Spanish one. In the Mediterranean oasis flooded by pale elderly people, relatively many of this top Chrysler were still sold. And that multiple personality disorder was perhaps not so strange either. sold even in a diesel version. This was of course mainly due to the fact that Chrysler had moved the production of the unsuccessful model from the French Poissy to the Spanish Barreiros. It was not the proverbial sweet sandwiches, but partly due to the diesel version and locally manufactured station wagon variants, quite a reasonable number were sold.
A silent death
In the rest of Europe, Chrysler Simca's top spot remained. It remained a worry. Despite all plans, in the concept phase there was even a thick six-cylinder version. But he never got going, people didn't know what to do with it. He was certainly comfortable, but again not American comfortable. His driving characteristics were okay, but again not at European top level. He really did not excel in anything, it was neither meat nor fish. European production finally stopped in 1981, for the Spanish home market it was produced for another year until the last one rolled off the line in 1982 and still nobody knew exactly what was meant by this extremely sympathetic schizophrenic.
My father has had three: 10-94-VP, 01-BK-24 and 19-ER-13. He made a lot of KM and drove on LPG: the latter passed to me at 260.000km. I went to Greece with it. Vending machine. Great cars.
a magnificent car and not an option for automatic transmission but had to be an 2000 cc
however I once almost crashed with it there was after all a single braking system built in a flexible jump broken and luck could still brake with handbrake.
My father has had 2, an 180 and an 2 liter, nice cars.
I now have an 2 liter, still a nice car.
We had the 07-75-VN, a golden brown from 1973. What a fantastic car I thought.
For a while a six-cylinder engine was produced in Australia with the same bodywork under the name Chrysler Centura.
One of the best cars I've ever owned. My father, who has worn three, also thought it was a fantastic car. Disposed of at 260.00km, on LPG, 80 liters.
At a friend's house they always drove Simca at home and that is how at one point a Chrysler was placed in the driveway. Nice car and since I looked up to everything American at the time, very impressive. I don't know if they have happy memories of this car.
Nice article was my first car an 2 liter automatic and I would like to buy it again a very nice car with that luxurious velor upholstery, but there aren't that many anymore.
Oooo, how sad really….
Well written!
My father once had a gold and black vinyl roof and sliding roof! WoW: what a car that was! I still remember the license plate 12-62 RA: was exchanged for a new VW Golf in 1974, as a 9 year old car crazy, I never understood that….