Every Simca deserves a place in this section. After all, the brand has not been with us for decades and cars of the brand often exchanged the Dutch roads for the scrap heap at a relatively young age. However, this 1000 is still there!
For some Simca will be an active (youth) memory, younger people must have something with cars if the name Simca still means something to them. It has been a while since new Simcas were sold and there are not many remaining copies. The Aronde is one of the best-known Simca’s, because a lot of them were sold and it was the first Simca that was no longer based on a Fiat. This 1000 was the smaller model under Aronde successor 1500 and became a huge success. Fiat had come into play again: the design is almost 1 on 1 from Fiat. Simca CEO Henri Pigozzi maintained good ties with the Agnelli’s and took home an early prototype for the successor to the Fiat 600. A clay model, which was adapted in detail and saw the light of day as Simca 1000.
Although the Simca 1000 was slightly smaller, the car is sometimes compared with the Renault 8. Not only because of the appearance, but also because both sedans had the engine in the back. In the case of the Simca, this was a brand new water-cooled four-cylinder engine developed by Simca, which came on the market in various sizes. The smallest was a 777 cc, the largest a 1.3. The latter only emerged in the 1970s. In the example we have here in front of us is (probably) the 55 hp 1.1, an engine that was even available in the Peugeot 309 until 1989. The Simca 1000 remained in production until the summer of 1978.
We thank AutoWeek reader Jaap Bron for the photos of this gem. The Simca 1000 looks really beautiful. Too bad the hubcaps are missing, otherwise we have no complaints. An apparently tough Simca 1000 is worth cherishing. Technically they were relatively simple and quite reliable cars, but the body of the 1000 (and that of the 1500) often gave up the ghost much sooner than what it encased. ‘They already rusted in the showroom’ is a frequently heard statement when it comes to Simca’s. You can bet that a lot of love and time went into this original Dutch 1000. It is now with its fifth owner, who has owned the 45-year-old French classic since 2020.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl