1960
Simca Aronde P60
In 1934 Henri Pigozzi founded Simca (la Société Industrielle
de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile)
lit. Industrial company for Automobile mechanicals and bodywork)
at Nanterre, France. Initially the company built Fiat cars under
license, with the odd "special" being constructed (indigenous
body with Fiat engine and mechanicals).
The Simca Aronde debuted on 31st May 1951. It did the French
proud as it was Simca's breakaway from being an assembler of
Fiats. Proudly an indigenous all-French model, it enabled Simca
to buy out Ford of France, "Ford-Poissy".
The new model was immediately successful and production quickly
reached 1,15,646 in 1955. Besides being fast, brilliant and
convenient, the Aronde also proved robust and efficient. With
45 bhp on tap, the Aronde could reach 130 km/h.
The
Aronde (it means Swallow in French) went through three generations
between 1951 and 1964 during which time 1.4 million Arondes
were sold.
In
1953, a random selection of delivery ready Arondes drove non-stop
around the Montlhéry race track for forty days and nights, covering
1,00,000 km averaging above 100 km/h! Back then petrol car engines
had but three bearings. Only racing engines and diesels had
five-bearings. Simca's five-bearing crankshaft set a new standard
of smoothness. The competitor Peugeot would not have a five-bearing
crankshaft until the 1964 Peugeot 404.
The
Aronde P60 was launched with a bewildering array of choices
at the Salon de Paris in October 1958. With the Aronde P60,
Simca pioneered data processing in the auto factory. A punched
paper tape on a central processor dictated body paint and interior
color. While the competing Peugeot 203 was restricted to 4 factory
colors, the Simca buyer had the luxury of choice between 25
colors (solid and two-tone), choice of radio, choice of manual
clutch or Simcamatic clutch, head-rests, whitewall tires and
trailer hook.
The last Aronde bearing serial number 1,425,329 left the assembly
line on 22nd May 1963.
