In its relatively short life, the French firm of Facel Véga produced approximately 2,900 cars, all of which were stylish, luxurious and fast.

At the very pinnacle of these was the Excellence, a glamorous, high-performance and extremely expensive luxury saloon that cost almost 4,000,000 francs, or roughly as much as four Citroën DS saloons.

Facel Véga’s only four-door model, the Excellence was based on a lengthened FV coupé chassis and featured striking, low-slung, pillar-less coachwork, the rear ‘suicide’ doors being hinged at the rear.

After the first ten cars had been completed with Chrysler’s legendary high-performance 6.4-litre ‘Hemi’ V8 engine, the succeeding versions were equipped with the ‘Wedge’ unit, production of the ‘Hemi’ having ceased.

There was a choice of either the Pont-à-Mousson four-speed manual gearbox or Chrysler Torqueflite automatic transmission, and as time progressed the Excellence could be ordered with options such as power-assisted steering, power brakes, ...