There was no investment by Ford, it was the other way around: Simca (which started as a French subsidiary of Fiat in the 1930s, was bought by Chrysler in the 1960s and was ultimately sold off, with all of Chrysler Europe) to Peugeot in the 1980s) bought Ford's French subsidiary in 1954.
Mind you, 1950s and early 60s Simcas, including those not derived from the V8 Ford Vedette, had rather flamboyant, US-influenced styling, with lots of chrome , OTT tailfins, and so on, sometimes to the point of caricature.
At the time, Simca's marketing very strongly targeted France's "nouveau riche" and upwardly mobile middle classes which, in the postwar era, idolised everything American. In short, Simcas were to cars what Johnny Hallyday was to music.
Apparently Ford did have a stake, this is from Wikipedia: “In 1958, the American car manufacturer Chrysler, which wanted to enter the European car market, bought 15% of Simca from Ford in a deal which Henry Ford II was later reported as having publicly regretted”
djscoots10@reddit
Neat
Horror-Raisin-877@reddit
Similar in appearance to the Futura. And thereby also to the Batmobile. So making such references in a humorous vein is allowable :)
Rc72@reddit
There was no investment by Ford, it was the other way around: Simca (which started as a French subsidiary of Fiat in the 1930s, was bought by Chrysler in the 1960s and was ultimately sold off, with all of Chrysler Europe) to Peugeot in the 1980s) bought Ford's French subsidiary in 1954.
Mind you, 1950s and early 60s Simcas, including those not derived from the V8 Ford Vedette, had rather flamboyant, US-influenced styling, with lots of chrome , OTT tailfins, and so on, sometimes to the point of caricature.
At the time, Simca's marketing very strongly targeted France's "nouveau riche" and upwardly mobile middle classes which, in the postwar era, idolised everything American. In short, Simcas were to cars what Johnny Hallyday was to music.
Horror-Raisin-877@reddit
Apparently Ford did have a stake, this is from Wikipedia: “In 1958, the American car manufacturer Chrysler, which wanted to enter the European car market, bought 15% of Simca from Ford in a deal which Henry Ford II was later reported as having publicly regretted”
Rc72@reddit
Ah, I forgot about that stake. I believe that at least part of the payment for Ford's French subsidiary was in Simca shares, hence the stake.
Still, late 1950s Simcas were gaudy enough without any input from Dearborn stylists...
therealSamtheCat@reddit
Does the center roof slide down on rails over the rear Window?
weebu4laifu@reddit
From the side you can see frpm the windshield back kinda looks like a fastback mustang.
PersonoFly@reddit
The lines clash a bit too much for my eyes.
MourningRIF@reddit
It's basically a cartoon spaceship car that a kid might draw.
coolcarvideo@reddit
well it sure looks super cool
Illustrious-Set-9230@reddit
A bit over the top IMHO. Designer seems to have lost their mind