Exner Special logo
Simca Special
designed by Virgil Exner, jr.

Simca logo

At the University of Notre Dame, Virgil Exner jr. created his dream-car as master-thesis.

front view

Thanks to Paul Farago, a sports car dealer in Detroit,
he found a cheap base for his project, a 1950 Fiat chassis, and some mechanical parts of a Simca.

Simca Special with owner
Simca Special with Beau Hickory

The glassfibre body was moulded by Exner himself, at the Dual-Ghia assembly plant.

side view

"Road & Track" featured the car in the issue of April 1959,

Exner's Simca Special

Simca showed the car at the International Motor Show of Paris of the same year.

Simca Special, designed by Virgil Exner, jr.

Later, the car was sold to a Chrysler dealer, and in 1965, the car was bought by Beau Hickory.
Under his hands, the car was converted from a show-car to a daily driver,
adding the panoramic windscreen (coming from an Opel), and the T-Bar-roof.

rear view

Years later, the car was sold to a friend of Beau Hickory,
he did some additional work on the car, for example, the engine was replaced by a Datsun one.

interior

In 1984, Beau Hickory heard that the car was neglected at a service-station,
so he had to act, and was the owner of this prototype, again.

Simca Special at Era of Exner Event

In 2004, the car is back in good condition,
and Mr. Hickory is searching for a new home for his Exner-Show-Car.
The car was listed for the Scottsdale (Arizona) auction, January 28-29, 2005.
The car got a high-bid of $ 185,000.00, but didn't meet the reserve-price!

These photos were taken at the "Era of Exner Event"

Literature:
Road & Track, April 1959 (3 pages, 6 photos)
Classic & Sports Car, May 2004 (4 pages, 13 photos)

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