Facel Vega HK500
French tailoring wrapped around American V8 muscle
1958 France Facel Vega HK500 · Brian Snelson · CC BY 2.0
What did this one sell for?
Make a guess, then reveal one identity-matched completed auction result. It is a comparison point, not a price promise.
Reveal the auction result
Based on a completed sale at RM Sotheby's, an estimated value for this vehicle is €207,000.
Why this sale: Exact 1958 Facel Vega HK500, chassis HK P9, with the first-year 5.9-litre Chrysler V8 and three-speed TorqueFlite automatic. It is not a manual car or the later 6.3-litre HK1 specification. The car was delivered new in New York and French-registered at sale. Fresh nut-and-bolt restoration by Carrosserie Paulo Antunes after more than €130,000 of work from 2017 to 2020, with only 32 km since restoration. RM's addendum says further fine-tuning may be required.
RM Sotheby's primary result page displays €207,000 and sold status but does not label the displayed figure as hammer or all-in; buyer-premium treatment is therefore unknown. Taxes, registration, transport and later work are excluded. One auction result is a reference, not an appraisal; condition, history, options, location and market timing can change value. Accepted after exact year, engine, automatic gearbox and completed-sale status were verified on RM's primary lot page. This bounded review found later HK500 results only for later 6.3-litre cars or non-sales; it does not claim a globally latest sale. The exceptional restoration and transatlantic market history materially limit comparison with unrestored or manual HK500s.
More than a set of wheels.
Facel began as a supplier of bodies and components before creating complete luxury cars in the 1950s. Introduced in 1958 as a development of the FV4 grand tourer, the HK500 kept Jean Daninos's pillarless coupe idea and paired French coachbuilt style with a Chrysler-sourced V8. The first-year car used the 5.9-litre engine; the better-known 6.3-litre version came later. RM Sotheby's estimates that only 71 HK500s were produced in 1958, while the marque's own site places the HK500 among Facel Vega's defining models.
Look a little closer.
A French-built luxury coupé hid a large American Chrysler V8 beneath its long bonnet.
Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.
Why a French flagship used an American engine
Facel's value lay in proportion, finish and the character of the whole car, not in insisting that every component be French. A Chrysler V8 gave the small manufacturer dependable high power without funding an engine programme of its own. The transatlantic mixture was therefore practical and expressive at once: American torque provided effortless distance speed, while the body, cabin and visual identity remained distinctly French.
Source: Facel Vega marque history ↗The danger of calling every HK500 a 6.3
Most retellings focus on the later 383-cubic-inch car because it produced the headline numbers. That shortcut erases the first-year HK500. The 1958 car carried over the 5.9-litre V8, and its quoted output depends on transmission, carburation and whether a source uses bhp, hp, PS or SAE-gross conventions. Treating the year and gearbox as part of the identity is essential if the profile is to describe an actual car rather than a greatest-hits composite.
Source: 1958 Facel Vega HK500, chassis HK P9 ↗Read the HK500's small dials
In the representative cabin photograph, bilingual EAU/WATER and ESSENCE/GAS labels identify coolant temperature and fuel. The oil and charging gauges sit beside a clock, while the large speedometer carries two concentric scales. Follow the individual needles rather than treating every small dial as an engine gauge. This photographed car's year and equipment are unverified; its trim and controls do not prove the configuration of every 1958 example.
Source: Triple-green · HK500 interior, CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗Do not confuse first-year count with type total
The marque club separates 263 early type-HK cars from 227 later HK1 cars across the full 1958–1961 run. That is a production-type split, not a claim that 263 cars were built in calendar 1958. It can coexist with RM Sotheby's estimate of about 71 first-year examples and helps keep the 5.9-litre HK distinct from the later 6.3-litre HK1.
Source: Amicale Facel Véga · HK500 production by type ↗Where these facts come from
- 1958 Facel Vega HK500, chassis HK P9
- 1958 Facel-Vega HK500 range specifications
- 1958 Facel-Vega sales archive entry
- Facel Vega marque history
- Amicale Facel Véga · HK500 production by type
- Wikimedia Commons · 1958 Facel Vega HK500 coupe
Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed October 2, 2026.