Simca 1501 (1968) – Into the Wild

Just two weeks ago we rolled a beautiful Simca Horizon onto the digital stage of ‘Fancier Wanted’. Now another Simca can grab all the attention in ‘In the Wild’. Cees van Wingerden spotted this Simca 1501 on the side of the road and captured an almost extinct car on camera. We naturally thank him kindly for sharing the photos, because never before has a 1501 passed by in this section. That says something.

Incidentally, it is not the oldest Simca to pass in review in In het Wild. That is the Aronde that took the podium seven years ago. This 1501 rolled off the production line in France six years later and now has 53 years on the clock. The fact that he has grown so old is undoubtedly the result of a lot of love, or he lived in a dry climate until his import into the Netherlands in 2007. Like many of its contemporaries, the Simca 1501 was an easy target for rust. According to tradition, even new specimens would sometimes not have been completely free of it.

Simca 1501.

This red 1501 may not look flawless, but the lesser points should not really have a name. The important thing is that it’s still here! And you can count on it being an experience to drive such a Simca. It is all very outdated now, but for their time they were remarkably comfortable cars. In that respect, Simca upheld the reputation that French cars had.

As the ‘name’ says, the 1501 has an (almost) 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine in its nose, where the 1301 had a 1.3-litre, which was largely the same in appearance. Simple power sources developed by Simca itself, with which in principle little can go wrong. As long as you keep an eye on the carriage, a Simca can get old. This one proves that. The current owner has been enjoying it since 2020 and we hope that this big brother of the Simca 1000 can still provide many beautiful kilometers.

Would you like to know and see more about the Simca 1501? Be sure to check out this video from 2015!