page_title: Facel Vega Excellence
section_title: 1961–1964 (Model 'EX2')
hierarchical_section_title: Facel Vega Excellence / 1961–1964 (Model 'EX2')
caption_attribution_description: Facel Vega Excellence EX2, in front of earlier Excellence with more pronounced tailfins.
context_page_description: The Excellence is a luxury saloon automobile that was unveiled by Facel-Vega of Paris, France, at the Paris Auto Show in October 1956 to rave reviews by the motoring press.
  Production started in 1958 and lasted until the company ceased production in 1964. The car was based on an elongated chassis from the Facel Vega FV Coupé. It was the only four-door model the company ever made. Production ended after only 156 cars had been built. The low production figure is a direct result of the car's exorbitant purchase price. When new, it cost about as much as four Citroën DS saloons, which themselves were hardly to be considered cheap cars. The towering price could still be boosted by ordering optional equipment, which gradually became available over the car's production run, such as power steering, power brakes, electric windows, wire-spoke wheels, and air conditioning.
context_section_description: The Excellence received its only significant facelift in 1961. It now came with a bigger 383 CID (6.3 Litre) engine, rated at 390 hp (291 kW) , a mindboggling figure back then, especially for a saloon car. However, no significant gain in performance could be noted in contemporary road tests, and the initial Hemi-powered cars remain the fastest Excellences ever built. 
  The 'EX2' lost its wraparound windshield and the tailfins were severely clipped, which resulted in a considerably less flamboyant appearance. Despite these measures, the Excellence did not gain significantly more modern looks in general. It rather lost some of its previous elegance. But a complete re-styling of the car would have been prohibitively expensive, especially given its low production figures. More importantly, the chassis was updated, incorporating advancements introduced on the HK500, meaning that the EX2 flexed considerably less than earlier models. The door handles were also changed to better latching turn-down units.
  The domestic market price quoted for the car at the EX2's first Paris Motor Show, in October 1961, was 72,500 new francs for a car with automatic transmission. The same money could at that time buy more than twelve Renault Dauphines. Of these "EX2" models, only eight were completed, when production finally ceased for good.
caption: Rear view of restyled Excellence EX2, showing the more muted tailfin design.
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