Those of you who frequently read CC may have noticed a lack of articles from me recently. Well, last week I took a few days off to go up to my folks’ cabin for a little R & R. No internet up there meant no writing – but that’s actually one of it’s pluses. On my way back home, I decided to take an alternate route. Lucky for you that I did, as I spotted a couple of neat cars in the small town of Polo, Illinois.
I was driving through town toward Dixon when I saw this rusty but complete ’76 Mark IV next to the highway. While totally over-the-top, I have a soft spot for these Marks, and this was a pretty unusual color combination. I believe it was called the Red/Rose luxury group, one of several offered on Mark IVs in ’76. This one is Rose Diamond Fire with a Dark Red landau roof and Dark Red side moldings. Certainly a nice find. But as I was looking around I saw another interesting old car further back. It was not a Detroit land yacht or anything approaching a Brougham-era luxury cruiser.
A Simca 1000, no less. Now, these things had to be scarce in rural Illinois when new, and I doubt there was a Simca dealer in nearby Oregon or Dixon, let alone a small town like Polo. That’s what made this find all the more amazing. It’s rusty around the edges, and I don’t think it’s a running vehicle, but the fact that it is still here in the metal is pretty impressive.
All in all, I’m pleased that my alternate route turned up these two very different cars. Which one do you like better?
Without a doubt the simca. I don’t own stock in any oil companies so I have to swing that way. Otoh, the Fomoco is running. Dead or thirsty. Bad choice. No way to win.
I have to disagree with Wstarving. That Simca has “high maintenance” written all over it. Although gas is fairly expensive, it is also really easy – pump and pay. With a Simca like that? Just pay. And pay. And pay. 🙂
A big old Lincoln with a 460 and a C6 – a simple lump. And when it comes in metallic pink and burgundy, well this is a Mark IV I could own just for the camp factor.
There’s liking and there’s owning.
That Simca is quite a find. I haven’t seen one in way too long. Interesting car, sort of the European Corvair, inasmuch as Simca had no previous experience with rear-engined cars. But then they didn’t have to look very hard: the rear engined Renaults were the most popular cars in France at the time, and the Simca is very much cut from the same cloth.
It was a sporty-feeling car, with light steering and plenty of oversteer, thanks to its 35/65 weight distribution. Unlike most rear-engined cars, it had its fuel tank in back too.
There were some delicious high-performance versions, first a series of Abarth-Simcas, and then Simca’s own Rally versions. The final one, the Rally 3, had 103 hp, and was made in the last year of this car, 1978. So the Mark and Simca were in production at the same time.
Now that I’ve brought back memories of the Rally 3, I’ll say that I’d like to own one much more than a Mark IV too; regardless of what it takes to keep on the road. Awesome little cars.
I pick neither one.
Simca? Nope. I really have no interest in European cars now or even back then other than certain Volvos. Newer European iron aside from Audi or M-B – just too expensive – to buy and to maintain.
The Mark IV? I must admit I was impressed with the ride when a co-worker back in the 80’s owned one and we would do lunch runs for the office – a fitting car considering the parts of town we had to drive through and where the company was located in north St. Louis city! Even though solidly in Chrysler’s camp in those years and my hate to what GM did to its cars and never a Ford fan, I did warm up to some of Ford’s offerings in those days.
I wouldn’t own either one, but if I HAD to pick a winner, it would be the Simca for the weird factor alone, but nothing beats a Volvo P1800 or PV544 in my book!
That Simca is a fantastic find. There is one here a number of years ago that turned up in the scrapyard. Too rusty for anyone to save sadly. Sat a while in the yard and I don’t believe it had any parts pulled for being crushed.
The Mark IV for me, definitely. Sure, it’s an oversize. underpowered, wallowing gas hog, but at least you can get parts for it, wether from the junkyard or your local NAPA. Try that with a rare, oddball French import.
The Simca it is for me. Tuned by Abarth, if possible.
The Lincoln would interest me only if I’m going to run in a demolition derby.
I hate the demolition derby for this very reason.
When my parents lived in Paris they had a 1965 Simca Mille. I drove it to the 1967 Le Mans 24 hrs and watched Foyt and Gurney bring home the bacon for Ford. Although the Simca was fun to drive, I lusted after the Renault R8 Gordini. They could blow me in the weeds.
I remember Chrysler ads during Bob Hope TV shows in the 60’s, they’d mention Simca and Sunbeam after the main divisions. As a ‘by the way we do have some foreign cars for you VW Bug shoppers’.
Id take the Simca but you knew that, it appears to be an early version with round taillights these were once popular in NZ but now very rare mostly due to rust and being susceptable to being modified betond the owners driving ability. Parts might be easier to get for the landfill coupe but gas isnt, derby material only.
There were no Simca dealers per se, they were sold at Chrysler-Plymouth dealerships.
Simca all day long, who cares about parts availability? It’s unusual, and as such it would be an awesome conversation piece. I wonder how VW running gear would work back there. Hmm…
Simca 1000 ?? A pile of shit, the kind of car a small town priest with thick black plastic glasses would drive, let him take care of your kids !
Lincoln Mark IV (pink and dark red) ?? Pimptastic disco heaven !!!
I’d rather have the Simca than many Lincolns that actually are desirable, nevermind a rusty pink Mark IV.
That’s an AMAZING find… how many of these are left on this continent? Ten? Twenty maybe? I’ve certainly never seen one, or any Simca for that matter!
Ohh, a Simca 1000
They were built in Spain by Barreiros (the same company that also built the localized version of the Dodge Dart, but that’s a different story). They were really lovely at the time, but quite outdated when even the Renault 8 was phased out.
One of my mother’s uncles (Avelino) is a mechanic and he owned one of those Simca 1000 since 1969. When I got my driver’s license, I begged for a complete month when on vacation to drive that car and my uncle never allowed me – The car was already quite old (it was 1993) but it was kept pristine thanks to his profession. When the dealer he works at changed from Simca to Chrysler (and then Talbot and then Peugeot), he salvaged all the parts he could.
They also live in a semi-rural area (Ponferrada, in the province of León in Spain), so it had barely seen stop and go traffic and he never forced the engine. It had almost 300.000 km the last time he drove it but the engine finally died completely and sent it to the crusher. I wish he had given it to me!
I’d take the Simca, but then I love oddball (at least in an American context) cars.
I always seem to run across “weird” cars in small towns that seem way out of context, like the Lotus Europa I saw parked in a small town in California last year, or the Fiat 850 Spider in the tiny town in Tennessee.
a street driven simca 1000 in present day polo? what are the chances of that?!!!
Connie Francis had one like this. I’d like a Mk 5. But as for these , I’d like the AQUA Pearl one, I Think it is Givenchy.
There used to be a lot of Simca’s in the US, but, with Chrysler’s help, most of them died long ago. 🙁
The few that are left try to get together whenever possible, but this is a big country!
Did you get a close look at that dark red side molding? If it’s the same as the (same color) Mark IV I saw at a car show a couple years back, the side molding is actually patterned. Pretty cool detail. There were a lot of them on that particular car…