Ford Société Anonyme Française's Comète

The Comète was produced 1951-54 by Ford Société Anonyme Française, its body built by Metallon Facel.  It was passed on to Simca when Ford SAF was folded in 1954.  I find it interesting that Simca had a similar-looking car at about the same time called the Simca Sport that I wrote about here.  It seems that the Simca Sport body was also farmed out to Facel.

The best I can find for now regarding Comète's styling is a short passage by René Bellu in Automobilia Hors-Serie No. 20 "Touts les voitures française 1952, Salon 1951."  Bellu stated:

Les origines de cette jolie voiture remontent au début de 1951, lorsque François Lehideux a envisagé d'ajouter un coach luxueux à sa gamme des Vedette pour lesquelles il n'éproue pas une grande sympathie.  Le projet initial vient de Turin, plus exactment de Farina qui a soumis des plans à Poissy au printemps avant que la fabrication des premiers prototypes soit confiée à Jean Daninos.  La préparation des Comète d'avant-série devait s'effectuer avec une extrême discrétion, ceci à la demande expresse de M. Lehideux qui souhaitait, bien sûr, provoquer la plus grande surprise possible lors de la présentation officielle mais qui voulait surtout se prémunir d'eventuelles pressions de la direction américainne de Ford; pour cette raison, même les cadres supérieurs de Poissy ignoraient l'existence de la future Comète.

Outre sa silhouette élegante et ses proportions judicieuses, la Comète se singularise par sa forme « ponton » que Farina a parfaitement maîtrisée.  Sa présentation intérieure cossue et la grand soin de la finition s'ajoutent à l'esthétique pour hisser la Comète parmi les voitures françaises les plus séduisants... pour un prix somme toute très raisonnable.

It seems that the Simca Sport was styled by Pinin Farina.  And the Farina mentioned by Bellu is almost certainly Pinin and not Stabilimenti Farina, a coachbuilder that ceased doing business in 1953.  So these two similar cars whose bodies were built by the same firm apparently had styling from the same source.  Was there any coordination?  Or did the Simca Sport's existence inspire the relevant people at Ford SAF?  The cabriolet version of the Sport was introduced at the 1948 Salon de Paris and the coupe the following year.  The Comète was revealed to the press 17 August 1951, so the inspiration hypothesis makes some sense.  Yet the use of the same stylist and body maker, along with similar appearance makes me wonder if there was some coordination.  I'm sure there is a source someplace with the needed information, but it's not at my fingertips.

For general information on the Comète, its English Wikipedia entry is here.  The French entry has little detail for some reason.

Gallery

1952 Simca 8 Sport
This is a facelift of the original design, the major change being a bolder grille.  The Sport seats two people, whereas the Comète has room for four.  Another difference is that the Sport has a distinct rear fender, not a full-length "pontoon."

1952 Comète
Bellu's enthusiastic comments are well-justified.  I wonder if the central element in the grille is a nod to the "spinner" theme on American Fords of the early 1950s.

Side view.  The rear seat area looks pretty cramped.

Styling is classical late-1940s - early-1950s Italian.  The three-piece panoramic backlight and the bold grille bar are the only American touches.

Front view of the Cométe and of a model who, for some reason, does not seem happy.