AUTOCULT - SIMCA - ARONDE PLEIN CIEL FRANCE 1957

For the French car manufacturer Simca, 1951 marked a major step towards independence. This year, the company presented its first own development, the type ‘9 Aronde’. At the same time the designers were already working on the successor, which was initially presented to public under the designation ‘Aronde (90A)’ in October 1955. The second representative of the Aronde line successfully following in the footsteps of its predecessor and soon the production of the half-millionth model could be announced. While Simca may have given itself the best testimony to have established itself as an independent car manufacturer, thoughts matured to use the Aronde type as a basis for further offshoots. In a short time, this idea was implemented to the effect that from October 1956 two exclusive offshoots called ‘Océane’ and ‘Plein Ciel’ were offered. Both had a similar finish, the bodyline was executed with a sweepingly straightness and showed some associations with American designs. The wide radiator grille and the strongly curved windshield were often mentioned for this purpose. The roof design was ultimately the big difference between both Aronde offshoots. The ‘Océane’ was designed as a convertible and the ‘Plein ciel’ (French for ‘big sky’) was equipped with a hardtop. From the very beginning, both offshoots were regarded as sporty variants, which appealed to only a small fan base and therefore only rolled in small numbers off the production line. A large-scale production manufacturer, such as Simca, could not integrate such a special edition into the conventional assembly process and commissioned the production of the car body to the small series manufacturer ‘Facel’. The exclusive production, which was largely done by hand, of course had its price, which Simca also passed on to its customers. With a total production of approximately 6,000 units within six years, the criterion of an exclusive model for a large-scale car manufacturer may well have been met.