Simca 1000: The Italian car that France passed off as its own.

On October 4, 1961, at the Paris Motor Show, Henri Théodore Pigozzi presented his new sedan as the product of pure French genius. He was lying. This car was born in Turin, and he himself chose it from among six clay models of Fiat's Project 122, in the design offices of Dante Giacosa.
This is the true story of the Simca 1000, the story of a Turin scrap metal dealer who became Mr. Simca, a friend of Giovanni Agnelli for 23 years, who went to find the future French people's car at his own Italian shareholder's company. The story of Count Mario Revelli de Beaumont, the Roman stylist who worked simultaneously for Fiat in Turin and for Simca in Poissy. The story of a man who demanded a 4-speed gearbox with Porsche-style bushings on a worker's sedan, solely to humiliate the future Renault 8. A meteoric success: 163,952 units in 15 months, the Grand Prix for Art and Industry, the Rallye 1, 2, and 3 which became icons of French popular rallying, the Abarth adventure and its 1288cc coupé, the millionth car on February 25, 1970, and a total of 1,939,283 units until 1978.
But also a tragedy. In December 1962, Fiat sold its shares to Chrysler. On May 31, 1963, Pigozzi was dismissed from the company he had built. On November 18, 1964, his heart gave out. In July 1970, the Simca name disappeared, replaced by Chrysler France. And his last creation outlived them all.
Music used in this video: Eyes of Glory - Aakash Gandhi, When Johnny Comes Marching Home - Cooper Cannell.

The photographs are from the archive.org website and are royalty-free, in the public domain.