Simca Aronde
Encyclopedia
The Simca Aronde was a family car
manufactured by the French
automaker
Simca
from 1951 to 1963. It was Simca's first original design (earlier models were all to a greater or lesser extent based on Fiat
s), as well as the company's first unibody car. "Aronde" means "swallow
" in Old French and it was chosen as the name for the model because Simca's logo at that time was a stylized swallow.
, fuel feed being provided by a Solex
32 carburetor. Power was delivered to the rear wheels via a traditional four speed manual gear box incorporating synchromesh on the top three ratios. The car had independent suspension at the front using coil springs, with a live axle at the rear, suspended using using semi-elliptic leaf springs. Hydraulically operated 9.85 in (250 mm) drum brakes were used all round.
Body styles consisted of a four-door saloon and a three-door estate (branded initially as the "Aronde commerciale" and later as the "Châtelaine") with a horizontally split tailgate. There was also a two-door coupé
coachbuilt
by Facel. The Facel-built coupé was replaced for 1953 by a coupé based on the saloon Aronde body, called Grand Large, featuring a large three piece wrap-around rear window and a "pillarless" side window effect when both side windows were wound down.
A 2-door cabriolet conversion, prepared by the coachbuilder Figoni, was presented to the public for the 1953 model year in a display involving ballerinas, but it proved impossible to confer sufficient structural rigidity on this car without unacceptable cost and weight penalties, and Figoni's Aronde cabriolet was never produced for sale.
The 1952 Motor Show saw several manufacturers attempting to broaden the appeal of mainstream ranges with stripped down versions offered at a reduced price. The trend seems to have been started by Renault
with their 4CV Service
, and they were quickly followed by other automakers in including Rosengart
and Simca. Simca's "Aronde Quotidienne" was offered from January 1953 with an advertised price of 630,000 francs, which was a saving of 45,000 against the previous base model (confusingly branded, even then, as the "Aronde Berline Luxe"). The interior of the Quotidienne was simplified and the heater disappeared, as did most of the exterior trim. Nevertheless, chrome headlight surrounds remained in place: importantly, too, buyers of the "Aronde Quotidienne" could still choose from the full range of body colours offered on the "Aronde Berline Luxe". The company was keen to stress that the stripped down Aronde was not as fully stripped down as the Renault Frégate Affaires
(available only in black), the Renault 4CV Service
or the Rosengart Artisane
(these last two being offered only in grey).
The 9 Aronde was well received, especially in France. It took only until 17 March 1953 before total production of this model at the Nanterre plant passed 100,000.
The company's flamboyant boss. Henri Pigozzi
, was keenly aware of the publicity that could be gleaned from the craze for record breaking runs. In May 1952 an Aronde broke five international records by covering a distance of 50000 km (31,068.6 mi) at an average speed of 117 km/h (73 mph), and in August 1953 another Aronde, selected at random from the production line, returned to the Montlhéry circuit for a new record attempt whereby during the course of forty days and forty nights the car covered 39,242 laps which represented 100000 km (62,137.3 mi) at an average speed of more than 104 km/h (65 mph). This achievement, which involved breaking more than 30 international records, was undertaken under the supervision of the ACF
.
A car tested in France by the British Motor
magazine in 1951 had a top speed of 73.9 mph (118.9 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (96.6 km/h) in 30.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of 34.1 mpgimp was recorded. The test car was reported to cost 970 Francs on the French market. It was not at the time available in the UK but the price was converted to £657.
) appeared. In October 1957, two new versions joined the Aronde range: the Océane, a two-door convertible
, and Plein Ciel, a hardtop
coupé, both with bodies by Facel. In January of the same year, the 500,000th Aronde was made, and the cars were now exported even to the USA.
An Aronde Elysee was tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1956 and was recorded as having a top speed of 82.6 mph (132.9 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (96.6 km/h) in 23.9 seconds. A fuel consumption of 32.6 mpgimp was recorded. The test car cost £915 including taxes on the UK market. In 1960 they also tested one of the Montlhéry models. This had a slightly higher top speed of 83.6 mph (134.5 km/h), faster acceleration from 0-60 mph (96.6 km/h) in 19.6 seconds and a better fuel consumption of 35 mpgimp. The test car cost £896 including taxes on the UK market.
), but retained the earlier rear. A new coupé joined the range - the Monaco - while a new, inexpensive version of the Elysee, powered by a 1090 cc engine, was added under the name Etoile. A new engine, the famous Rush 1.3 L unit with a five-bearing crankshaft
, was fitted to the Arondes beginning from October 1960. A 70 hp
version of the engine, called Rush Super, debuted in September 1961 in two models - the Montlhéry Speciale saloon and Monaco Spéciale coupé.
from 1956 by Northern Star Engineering which, along with Continental and General Distributors, had been contracted to assemble the model from CKD
kits, using local content. In July 1959, Chrysler Australia
announced that future production of the Aronde would be undertaken at its factories in Adelaide
. In late 1959 the P60 was introduced, selling alongside the 90A well into 1960, and a five door P60 station wagon
was introduced in late 1961. The wagon, which was unique to Australia, was based on the four door sedan and featured an extended roof-line and a tail-gate fitted with a wind-down window. Australian production of the Aronde ceased in 1964.
Family car
A family car is a car classification used in Europe to describe normally-sized cars. The name comes from the suitability of these cars to carry a whole family locally or on vacations. Most family cars are hatchbacks or saloons, although there are MPVs, estates and cabriolets with the same structure...
manufactured by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
automaker
Automaker
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
Simca
Simca
Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat. It was directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by the Italian Henri Théodore Pigozzi...
from 1951 to 1963. It was Simca's first original design (earlier models were all to a greater or lesser extent based on Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
s), as well as the company's first unibody car. "Aronde" means "swallow
Swallow
The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding...
" in Old French and it was chosen as the name for the model because Simca's logo at that time was a stylized swallow.
Generations
There were three generations of the model: the 9 Aronde, made from 1951 to 1955, the 90A Aronde, made from 1955 to 1958, and the P60 Aronde, which debuted in 1958 and continued until the model was dropped in 1964. Some 1.4 million Arondes were made in total, and this model alone is largely responsible for Simca becoming the second-biggest French automaker at the end of the 1950s.9 Aronde
The first Aronde debuted in the Spring of 1951 but was available for sale only from October 1951. It was fitted with a front mounted 1221 cc 44.5 bhp engine from the previous Simca model, the Simca 8Simca 8
The Simca 8 was a French car built between 1938 and 1951 , available as a sedan, coupé or cabriolet. It was a rebadged Fiat 508C "nuova Balilla" made at Fiat's Simca plant in Nanterre France.-The engine:...
, fuel feed being provided by a Solex
Solex
Solex was a French manufacturer of carburetors and the powered bicycle VéloSoleX.The Solex company was founded by Marcel Mennesson and Maurice Goudard to manufacture vehicle radiators...
32 carburetor. Power was delivered to the rear wheels via a traditional four speed manual gear box incorporating synchromesh on the top three ratios. The car had independent suspension at the front using coil springs, with a live axle at the rear, suspended using using semi-elliptic leaf springs. Hydraulically operated 9.85 in (250 mm) drum brakes were used all round.
Body styles consisted of a four-door saloon and a three-door estate (branded initially as the "Aronde commerciale" and later as the "Châtelaine") with a horizontally split tailgate. There was also a two-door coupé
Coupé
A coupé or coupe is a closed car body style , the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...
coachbuilt
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...
by Facel. The Facel-built coupé was replaced for 1953 by a coupé based on the saloon Aronde body, called Grand Large, featuring a large three piece wrap-around rear window and a "pillarless" side window effect when both side windows were wound down.
A 2-door cabriolet conversion, prepared by the coachbuilder Figoni, was presented to the public for the 1953 model year in a display involving ballerinas, but it proved impossible to confer sufficient structural rigidity on this car without unacceptable cost and weight penalties, and Figoni's Aronde cabriolet was never produced for sale.
The 1952 Motor Show saw several manufacturers attempting to broaden the appeal of mainstream ranges with stripped down versions offered at a reduced price. The trend seems to have been started by Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
with their 4CV Service
Renault 4CV
The Renault 4CV was an economy car produced by the French manufacturer Renault from August 1947-July 1961. The first French car to sell over a million units, the 4CV was ultimately superseded by the Renault Dauphine....
, and they were quickly followed by other automakers in including Rosengart
Automobiles L. Rosengart
-The founder:Lucien Rosengart was a gifted engineer and businessman who had established a successful engineering business by the time he was 24. In the mid 1920s, he saw the opportunity to produce a very small car for a segment of the market in France that he believed was not being properly...
and Simca. Simca's "Aronde Quotidienne" was offered from January 1953 with an advertised price of 630,000 francs, which was a saving of 45,000 against the previous base model (confusingly branded, even then, as the "Aronde Berline Luxe"). The interior of the Quotidienne was simplified and the heater disappeared, as did most of the exterior trim. Nevertheless, chrome headlight surrounds remained in place: importantly, too, buyers of the "Aronde Quotidienne" could still choose from the full range of body colours offered on the "Aronde Berline Luxe". The company was keen to stress that the stripped down Aronde was not as fully stripped down as the Renault Frégate Affaires
Renault Frégate
The Renault Frégate is a full-size or executive car produced by the French automaker Renault between 1951 and 1960.-Origins:The Frégate was conceived in the years immediately following World War II...
(available only in black), the Renault 4CV Service
Renault 4CV
The Renault 4CV was an economy car produced by the French manufacturer Renault from August 1947-July 1961. The first French car to sell over a million units, the 4CV was ultimately superseded by the Renault Dauphine....
or the Rosengart Artisane
Automobiles L. Rosengart
-The founder:Lucien Rosengart was a gifted engineer and businessman who had established a successful engineering business by the time he was 24. In the mid 1920s, he saw the opportunity to produce a very small car for a segment of the market in France that he believed was not being properly...
(these last two being offered only in grey).
The 9 Aronde was well received, especially in France. It took only until 17 March 1953 before total production of this model at the Nanterre plant passed 100,000.
The company's flamboyant boss. Henri Pigozzi
Henri Pigozzi
Henri Pigozzi , a car merchant and industrialist, was born as Enrico Teodoro Pigozzi in Turin, Italy....
, was keenly aware of the publicity that could be gleaned from the craze for record breaking runs. In May 1952 an Aronde broke five international records by covering a distance of 50000 km (31,068.6 mi) at an average speed of 117 km/h (73 mph), and in August 1953 another Aronde, selected at random from the production line, returned to the Montlhéry circuit for a new record attempt whereby during the course of forty days and forty nights the car covered 39,242 laps which represented 100000 km (62,137.3 mi) at an average speed of more than 104 km/h (65 mph). This achievement, which involved breaking more than 30 international records, was undertaken under the supervision of the ACF
French Automobile Club
The Automobile Club of France is a men's club founded on November 12, 1895 by Albert de Dion, Paul Meyan, and its first president, the Dutch-born Baron, Etienne van Zuylen van Nijevelt....
.
A car tested in France by the British Motor
The Motor (magazine)
The Motor was a British weekly car magazine founded on 28 January 1903....
magazine in 1951 had a top speed of 73.9 mph (118.9 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (96.6 km/h) in 30.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of 34.1 mpgimp was recorded. The test car was reported to cost 970 Francs on the French market. It was not at the time available in the UK but the price was converted to £657.
90A Aronde
The second-generation Aronde debuted in October 1955. Externally it had an updated 9 Aronde body, with restyled front and rear ends. More importantly, the new Aronde was powered by the 1290 cc Flash engine. New trim levels, marketed as Elysée and Montlhéry (named after the Autodrome de MontlhéryAutodrome de Montlhéry
Autodrome de Montlhéry is an automobile racetrack, officially called L’autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, located across the towns of Linas Bruyères-le-Châtel and Ollainville, outside Paris in the southside....
) appeared. In October 1957, two new versions joined the Aronde range: the Océane, a two-door convertible
Convertible
A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...
, and Plein Ciel, a hardtop
Hardtop
A hardtop is a term for a rigid, rather than canvas, automobile roof. It has been used in several contexts: detachable hardtops, retractable hardtop roofs, and the so-called pillarless hardtop body style....
coupé, both with bodies by Facel. In January of the same year, the 500,000th Aronde was made, and the cars were now exported even to the USA.
An Aronde Elysee was tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1956 and was recorded as having a top speed of 82.6 mph (132.9 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (96.6 km/h) in 23.9 seconds. A fuel consumption of 32.6 mpgimp was recorded. The test car cost £915 including taxes on the UK market. In 1960 they also tested one of the Montlhéry models. This had a slightly higher top speed of 83.6 mph (134.5 km/h), faster acceleration from 0-60 mph (96.6 km/h) in 19.6 seconds and a better fuel consumption of 35 mpgimp. The test car cost £896 including taxes on the UK market.
P60 Aronde
The P60 Aronde saloons, presented in September 1958, had an all-new, modern-looking body. The estate was also updated with the new front end(with a resemblance to the 57 Ford ThunderbirdFord Thunderbird
The Thunderbird , is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States over eleven model generations from 1955 through 2005...
), but retained the earlier rear. A new coupé joined the range - the Monaco - while a new, inexpensive version of the Elysee, powered by a 1090 cc engine, was added under the name Etoile. A new engine, the famous Rush 1.3 L unit with a five-bearing crankshaft
Crankshaft
The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...
, was fitted to the Arondes beginning from October 1960. A 70 hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
version of the engine, called Rush Super, debuted in September 1961 in two models - the Montlhéry Speciale saloon and Monaco Spéciale coupé.
Australian production
The 90A Aronde was produced in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
from 1956 by Northern Star Engineering which, along with Continental and General Distributors, had been contracted to assemble the model from CKD
CKD
A knock-down kit is a kit containing the parts needed to assemble a product...
kits, using local content. In July 1959, Chrysler Australia
Chrysler Australia
Chrysler Australia is the importer of Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles for sale in the Australian marketplace. However, there had previously been a "Chrysler Australia Ltd" which had operated as a vehicle manufacturer in Australia from 1951 until 1980....
announced that future production of the Aronde would be undertaken at its factories in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. In late 1959 the P60 was introduced, selling alongside the 90A well into 1960, and a five door P60 station wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...
was introduced in late 1961. The wagon, which was unique to Australia, was based on the four door sedan and featured an extended roof-line and a tail-gate fitted with a wind-down window. Australian production of the Aronde ceased in 1964.