Facel Venta sold by HWM in 1963 is up for auction!
We are delighted to see this 1963 car come to market. Facel Vega forms an interesting part of HWM’s heritage. Mike Harting, our Chairman, fondly remembers attending the 1963 Earls Court Motor Show and indeed selling these beautiful cars when new. They made a real statement in terms of style and design. It was a car that caused quite a stir wherever it was driven. This particular car has fantastic history:
- It was displayed with the UK importer – Intercontinental Cars on the Facel Vega stand at the 1963 London Motor Show.
- It was one of 26 RHD cars imported to the UK
- It was sold by HWM in 1963 at first registration to John Bellord
- John Bellord and partner in crime Jim aka ’Sydney’ Miller were car enthusiasts but indulged in major criminal activity through an HP scan concerning churches and church organs.
- The intensely religious pair owned Honeywood House nursing home in Horsham but were HP fraudsters who later went to jail for their part in the Southern Organs HP scam, a tale excellently told by Geoff Green in his book ‘Paying for the Past’
- Green helped the pair escape to a remote island in Scotland where they stayed for some months. Green later ‘shopped’ them and they were found and imprisoned.
- The Facel Vega was sold, and at some point bought by a nightclub bouncer called Jon Wilson ….who was later imprisoned for GBH and gave instructions to a colleague from his cell to sell the car
- It subsequently spent 25 years neglected in a barn before coming to sale with Historics requiring total restoration, in March 2019.
- The buyer and current owner – a classic car collector - then spent two years restoring it from the ground up to perfection and is now selling it in wonderful condition at Historics sale on April 17th at Ascot Racecourse.
