The junkyard is a bittersweet place for car lovers. On one hand, it’s an almost never ending photo opportunity, and it’s like playing the license plate game on vacation: who can spot the next Edsel? On the other, it’s a painful reminder that you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time; there’s usually no saving an old car once it hits the yard (Dirty Dart excepted). Therefore, on my last trip to Hilliard’s in Vestaburg, MI, last fall, I made sure to take as many pictures as possible to commemorate the event, and some involve memorable oddballs.
One of the most fascinating cars in the yard is this Simca Ariane, probably a ’60 model. It’s one of the few cars in the yard I couldn’t immediately identify, so I spent a little extra time with it.
As evidenced by its badge, this one had a four-cylinder, labeled “Flash,” uh…something. But Simca had something else up its sleeve.
The Vedette V8 was a simultaneous offering, which I proved in a Simca advertisement I had found in an old magazine. This promotional video for the Vedette seems to showcase a driverless car long before Google could make that claim.
This one appears to be a Simca Elysee, perhaps a 1959 model. Is that an Opel sitting behind it?
It appears to be a wagon. Unfortunately, my wife and I didn’t get any more closeups of it, probably because I was hooked on Simcas at that moment.
Nearby was the unforgettable outline of a Ford Anglia, with its reverse angled rear window that influenced (or was influenced by) late 1950s Lincoln Continentals and later Mercury Breezeways. In England, and probably Canada, these would have been a very common sight, but in rural Michigan they’re a sight to behold. I think I’ve seen one other in my travels.
This one seems to have suffered from a collision with a solid object of some sort, or maybe just an American car. Either way, the smashed windshield gave me an uneasy feeling, which is another reason why wandering a junkyard is an emotional experience. You’re on hallowed ground for myriad reasons.
The Anglia’s engine, the well-known “Kent,” lived on in any number of Formula Fords in future decades, and it all started here, in the 1959 Anglia. If anybody can pin down a specific year for this one, feel free to leave a note in the comments. I have a few advertisements for British Fords in my collection, however, and the greatest push for American sales seemed to be for 1959 models, right before the Falcon was introduced. Therefore, the Anglia must have been a Beetle-fighting stopgap until reinforcements could arrive.
To end where I began, let us not fail to mention two American underdogs of the 1950s, the Packard and the Hudson. By the time of the “highpockets” Packard and the Step-Down Hudson, both companies were in dire straits, shadows of their former selves. In this company, however, they looked positively common. But it’s just another day in the junkyard.
Yes, behind the ’59 Simca is an early 1970s Opel 1900.
My parents briefly owned an Anglia, and it was probably either a 1958 or 1959 model. They were among the cohort of young people who briefly took part in that late 50s import boom when their two cars were the Anglia and a Karmann Ghia. The Ghia was remembered fondly, the Anglia not so much.
What a neat junkyard. Those do like well past it (especially the Anglia). The Simcas are a fantastically neat cars with great styling.
Another bittersweet wrecking yard experience is finding their parts cars are actually better than the vintage heap one is actually driving.
Yards do make more money parting out decent vehicles, but it hurts to see these go untouched for months, then get crushed, even after making an offer to buy the whole thing.
No truer words!
That looks like the Weasley Anglia after its encounter with the Whomping Willow.
The “Opel” is more likely a Canadian Vauxhall Victor or Envoy Sherwood. Both were sold thru 1970.
The Opel 1900 wasn’t introduced in this body style until 1971.
Its appears to be a 4 door wagon with quad headlights, Opel never sold a 4 door wagon in the US. Vauxhall sold one in the US only thru 1961 so that’s why I think its a Canadian Vauxhall/Envoy
Definitely not a Vauxhall, they never made a two-door wagon with the quarter windows split by an extra pillar.
Opel 1900/Sports Wagon/Ascona; definitively!!
I’m with Paul – Opel Ascona A wagon. A pretty decent car in 1970
Interesting quartet of continental compacts to find there. I wonder if the two Simcas were scrapped by the same person? Or perhaps it was near a town that had a dealership.
Nice finds either way. I’ve never heard the nickname “highpockets” for that generation of Packard but it seems fitting!
The term “High Pockets” is new to me as well and my first legal over-the-road car was a 1953 Packard 200 4 door sedan that belonged to my father. The one pictured above has the same missing right side trim spear on the front fender with the dirt outline ghost of the missing piece. Some interesting notes on this car are: it had a power antennae (went from a 4 inches all the up to full height); the glove box pulled straight out from the dash on roller bearings like a chest of drawers; the starter was under the gas pedal (forcing a carb prime before starting); it had a straight 8 flat top engine that ran so smoothly and quietly one tended to not know if it was running at all at idle. Nice ride, but was susceptible to rust in the rocker panels.
The Vivaldi Four Seasons excerpt in the Vedette commercial is a nice touch.
The Simca Arianne was the four cylinder version of the Vedette New Zealands only surviving example lives about a hundred yards from me along with a dozen others of its whanau that other is a Etoile/Aronde from the early 60s. Those little Angle boxes were incredibly popular here when I was a teen the underpowered 998 Kent was easily swapped for a 1500 Cortina engine and thus modified those little bombs really fly quite rare cars nowdays most were thrashed and crashed many years ago, The Anglia wasnt the debut of the immensely tuneable Kent it appeared first in the 107E Prefect/Anglia replacing the venerable sidevalve used since 1934.
My brother’s first car project was a home brewed hot rod Anglia, he yanked the tired smoking engine out & put in a Cortina 1500 GT(I think). Wolfrace wheels & wide arches & sprayed it go faster red. Had a real turn of speed & Dad often borrowed it while his new Allegro was having problems. Quite popular with teenage boy racers of the early 70s in the UK until the Mk1 Escort came into their price range, also many Anglias were thrashed,crashed & monstered.
Lots of Ford Anglia’s in Canada in the early to mid 60’s……
There were lots of the small Simca Arondes in Australia when i was growing up, and I saw many Vedettes, but never an Ariane. Not sure they were ever sold here – IIRC they were basically an Aronde engine in a Vedette body, so who would buy one in Australia?
The Anglia was very popular here too, but like the Simcas they had all faded away by the mid-seventies.
I would love to have that Ariane4 script badge. Beautiful.
My late great-Uncle bought a Vedette new here in New Zealand in 1959ish. Yellow with a white roof, and long gone (traded on a new Wolseley 6/110 I think) by the time I was born in the 1970s, but a couple of old family photos show it and my grandparents’ ’59 Plymouth Belvedere together. As a child I was amused that the smaller Simca had the V8 and the monstrous Belvedere had the 6…
Anglias are still popular here – I’ve passed two in the last fortnight. None flown by bespectacled teenagers though… 😉
Only ever saw one Vedette while on holiday in Holland in the 60s, Dad went to visit Dutch Pete & his family, a mate from the RAF. I was most surprised to hear a V8 from a small French car, the only V8 French car I knew of at the time was the beautiful Facel Vega.
They had the flathead Ford engine one guy has put a Vedette motor in a Hillman Husky it goes well too he reckons and he knows about this site as does Ivan the Simca guy nearby
Simca had a complex relationship with Ford & Mopar, over here the Ford V8 wasn’t ever going in the Sunbeam Tiger when Mopar took over Rootes & it was axed.
I forgot about this great entry from Rubens from last year. It talks about Simca in Brazil and the V8 Vedette.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-simca-chambord-brazils-first-v8-from-flathead-to-hemihead/
I know a guy who has a collection of similarly odd vehicles in slightly similar condition (many are in better shape than this, but a few appear to have been DOA for 40+ years). I reealy need to find my photos off this guy’s place.
First thing that comes to my mind is how did these oddities find their way to Vestaburg? My theory is they were all hoarded by one eccentric who moved to the boonies after retiring. I don’t recall ever seeing a Simca on the streets of Kalamazoo, and Kazoo had it’s share of oddities, Renault Dauphines, R10s and an R16, the odd Citroen, one very rusty Opel Rekord.
On a different note: what day is your Model T class? If I’m bored, I might like to buzz over to the Gilmore so you would have a cheering section.
I think we’re going June 29th in the afternoon.
One of my eBay/Craigslist kind of close calls was a Renault R10 that was only a few miles away from me. I talked myself out of it without much regret, but it was touch and go for a minute.
I think we’re going June 29th in the afternoon.
Nothing else on my schedule for that day, so far, so, if the weather is nice, I might head over to supervise the proceedings. It would be interesting to watch Ts hot lapping the Gilmore’s racetrack.
One of my eBay/Craigslist kind of close calls was a Renault R10
With the arrival of spring, I have been having a fight with myself about getting a ragtop: current gen Beetle convert. Fortunately, having a one car garage and the Jetta being too new to boot out into Michigan weather has made me hesitate enough that the one I was looking at has been sold.