Simca
Henri Pigozzi's Simca stood for Societe Industrielle de Mecanique et Carosserie Automobile, initially building the Fiat 508 and 518's. Postwar the Simca 5 and Simca 8 appeared, rivalling the Fiat Topolino and 1100. By 1951, when the hugely successful Aronde was introduced Simca was the 4th largest car manufacturer in France, which led Pigozzi to buy the Ford factory at Poissy, where the Ford Vedette had been made, so the new V8 Simca was called the Vedette. A few years later a version of the Vedette, but with a the smaller economical engine of the Aronde fitted, was called the Ariane. The original Aronde was continually evolved from 1221cc to 1290cc with additional power output by improved tuning. By 1958 a newer more powerful 1290cc was put in the Simca P60. Chrysler had previously started buying up shares in Simca and finally took control, so for 1961 the totally new Simca 1000 appeared with rear engine and modern styling, while the final Aronde models were sold out in 1963 to be replaced with the Simca 1300 and 1500, both with new engines. With front wheel drive in vogue, the new Simca 1100 of 1967 came with 944, 1118, 1204 or 1294cc engines. Slowly the name Simca was removed in favour of Chrysler, and the company later became Talbot-Simca.
