The word ‘elegant’ is overused these days: it’s a superlative tacked on to machinery as mundane as toasters and vacuum cleaners in modern advertising, and I for one think that’s a crime against the English language. Elegance should be part of a design philosophy in which less is more – every styling feature there to serve a purpose; each decoration used for a reason, and not merely to serve as a trinket to massage the ego of insecure owners. In short, elegant is simply beautiful. The Facel Vega FV2B is elegant; your stainless steel premium toaster isn’t.

I feel pretty special wafting through the English countryside in this Facel, one of 11 convertibles based on
the FV coupé between 1955 and ’57 (seven FV1s, one FV2, two FV2Bs and an FV3). Rural Nottinghamshire on a damp morning might not be this car’s natural stamping ground, but the super-tourer copes tremendously well, and its compactness comes as a surprise to someone like me who’s never spent time behind the wheel of France’s top car.

As national flagships go, the Facel Vega is an unlikely one. Unlike Bentley or Bugatti, the company’s history doesn’t stretch back to the dawn of the motoring age, and it certainly hadn’t proved itself in competition. In fact, it was formed on the eve of World War Two to machine tools for an aircraft industry gearing itself up for the approaching hostilities.

Originally known as FACEL (Forges et Ateliers de Construction d’Eure-et-Loir) and based in Paris, the company made gas generators for the automotive industry during the war, before returning to the aircraft industry in 1946. The link with the car industry strengthened in the following years as the company’s expertise with stainless steel was put to good use, with Simca, Panhard, Bentley and Ford retaining Facel for the manufacture of car bodies.

In the post-war boom years Facel became a French success story, and such was its expansion that by 1950 the company employed 2000 workers across a number of factories. Panhard and Simca were buying in more than 100 bodies per day.

But the body supply gravy train wasn’t going to last forever, as the bigger players would begin to bring this aspect of their businesses in-house. Sure enough, in 1953 Panhard dropped out. Seeing the writing on the wall, Facel’s founder Jean Daninos had already begun to investigate the possibility of producing his own cars. The talent was clearly there within the company – Facel chief engineer Jacques Brasseur helped define the Ford Comète coupé – and, given a blank canvas by Daninos, he’d be able to express himself even more fully for Facel’s first production car.

In 1954 Facel showed its first car at the Paris Salon, the Vega saloon. The crowds loved the combination of Daninos’ styling concept and V8 De Soto Firedome power, and from a standing start the company shifted 46 Vegas during the first two years of production. It wasn’t without problems, but the tubular-frame chassis car won respect within the industry as well as with France’s well-heeled and patriotic buyers, swayed by the advertising slogan ‘For the few who own the finest’.

Confidently the company moved forward, with Brasseur’s work being rewarded with the rebranding of the company to Facel Vega. It moved further up the price scale into the grand touring market with the arrival of the Chrysler-powered FV coupé, a dramatic-looking car that shared its signature roofline with Daninos’ earlier work, the Comète.

By the time the FVS had been upgraded with an updated roofline, additional power from its Chrysler Hemi V8 and more luxurious equipment to become the HK500, it was a massively expensive rival for Europe’s finest cars.

During their four-year production run from 1954, 352 FV coupés were built, putting the company firmly on the map. Facel Vega ensured it used the most powerful Chrysler engines available, and that culminated with a 325bhp Hemi.

All manner of celebrities fell under the Facel Vega spell: Danny Kaye, Tony Curtis, François Truffaut, Brian Rix, Ringo Starr, Lionel Bart, Joan Fontaine and Ava Gardner. For car enthusiasts, the fact that Grand Prix drivers Maurice Trintignant and Stirling Moss, and team owner Rob Walker, used HK500s to waft between European races made these cars a compelling choice for those who could afford one.

For the ultimate in exclusivity, Facel Vega’s convertible was the one to go for. Outrageously priced, and not liked by Daninos, who considered it inferior to the coupés, it slipped quietly onto the market after the tin-topped cars.

It’s a shame more weren’t made, because what we’re left with is a magnificent-looking creation. Shorn of its roof, the FVS seems even purer, almost as if it was designed to be that way from the outset. ‘Elegant’ really is the best way of describing how it looks, especially when the details are brought into focus on a closer examination. Why have ugly exhaust pipes projecting below the bumper when they can exit through it? The wraparound windscreen, shared with the HK500, adds still more character.

Inside it’s just as glorious. The abundant leather, high-quality veneered wood-over-steel dashboard and peerless build quality go a long way towards justifying its price when new (£4726 in 1954, when a top-of-the-line Jaguar XK120 cost £1609). Equipment levels are top-drawer, too – electric windows and power hood would have been just the thing for impressing the paparazzi on the Riviera. But what really impresses is the snugness of it all. Once inside, you are cocooned in a grandiose car that feels surprisingly compact.