SIMCA (France) 1935 to date

The Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile was founded by Henri Théodore Pigozzi, who started by assembling Fiat cars like the Topolino 500 (sold under the name of Simca 5) and the 508 (Simca 8).

After the war, Simca returned with the pre-war models and soon presented the ohv Simca 6. The year 1949 saw the Simca Sport, and in 1950 the 1100 Simca 8 was enlarged to 1200cc. The following year the 1200cc Aronde appeared. Simca had grown to the extent that it could now take over Unic, Ford France, Saurer and Talbot. In 1954, Simca continued production of the Ford V-8 at the newly acquired Poissy factory with the Versailles, Chambord and Présidence. In 1956 they presented the Aronde "Montlhéry", and the Ariane the following year. In 1958 Chrysler bought their way into the company, and by 1963 had taken over Simca. In 1960 the Aronde was given an 1 l00cc five-bearing engine. But a new generation of Simca cars appeared the following year, with the 944cc rear-engined Simca 1000 designed to challenge Renault: a coupé version subsequently appeared. After the end of the Aronde in 1964 came the 1301 and 1501. The first fwd Simca was the 1100 presented in 1968, though the "Sim 4" (a detuned version of the 1000) was unsuccessful. From 1970, Simca has been offìcially known as Chrysler France, and the 1501 has given way to the Chrysler 160 ( 1639cc) and 180 ( 1812cc). The 160l was presented in 1977 as a Simca-Chrysler.

1957 Simca Oceane Cabriolet