Simca and the Simca 180 and Centura

mostly written by Wilf and Mike Sealey

Webmaster note: The Simca 180 was the predecessor of the Chrysler Centura sent to Australia in the 1970s.  Also see: 160/180/2 Litre, 1100/1204, 1308, Horizon, and Matra Rancho

Simca: Societe Industrielle de Mecanique et Carrosserie Automobile

In 1934 Henri Pigozzi founded Simca (Societe Industrielle de Mecanique et Carrosserie Automobile - translated it means an industrial company that makes car mechanics and bodywork) at Nanterre, France. Initially the company built Fiat cars under licence, with the odd "special" being constructed (Fiat chassis with unique bodywork). The successful Aronde models of 1951-60 marked the end of Fiat control, although the engine design continued to be used. However, the Fiat influence carried through to the 1000 series of 1960-79, of which over 1.6 million were built.

In the 1950s Simca bought Unic, Talbot and Ford of France (which made the Vedette - a car once planned to be a smaller American Ford, and which looked like a mini-1949 Mercury, but which was neither one). Chrysler became the majority holder in 1963 and by 1970 changed the name to Chrysler France. The new model programme initiated by Chrysler produced the succesful (2 million made over 1967 to 1982) 1100 series, which formed the basis of the Alpine and Horizon (and Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon too), and was briefly fielded in the States in the early 1970s as the Simca 1204. After the Peugeot takeover of 1978, the Simca name survived until 1981; Talbot was used thereafter.

We have a great deal of information on individual Simca models at rootes-chrysler.co.uk

Finally, here's a piece of trivia for you. Did you know that Chrysler Europe made a 3-seater sports car, before the McLaren F1? Or that it "invented" the 2-wheel drive lifestyle/SUV? Or the European MPV?

This is all to do with its involvement with Matra, which had a background in aerospace and weapons (much like Saab) but, in 1964, became a car maker (and F1 constructor) when it took over Rene Bonnet's sports car operation for which it made the glassfibre bodies. The car Bonnet had been building, the 1961 Djet, was the world's first mid-engined road car. This was replaced by the rather strange 530 in 1967.

In 1970, Chrysler-Simca took over, renaming the company Matra-Simca. The first fruit of this union was the 3-seats-abreast Bagheera, a wedge-shaped glassfibre sports car (looking like a fastback TR-7, but neater!) with the Simca 1100 engine. 47,802 were built from 1973 to 1980. In 1980 it was replaced by the smoother-styled Murena, which had a Cd factor of 0.32, excellent for the day. It used the Alpine 1.6 engine or the new Tagora 2.2. 10,613 were built until 1984.

In 1977 the Chrysler-Matra (later Talbot-Matra) Rancho was released. Using a glassfibre body over the Alpine chassis and engine/transmission, Matra created a 6-seater wagon that looked like a 4-wheel drive, but wasn't. Rugged styling (with built-in rooflights) helped. It survived until 1984; the second generation was transformed into the Renault Espace, Europe's first MPV, which Matra produced (true to Matra it had a glassfibre body). The MPV (minivan) was offered to Peugeot, but that company rejected it, along with the Bagheera/Murena and Matra itself. Until recently, Matra produced the Espace, but then Renault, with a surplus of capacity, took over.

Simca 180 - an orphan of the road - and Chrysler Centura

The Simca 180 was an automotive orphan. It was to be built in Britain to replace the big Humbers of the 1960s, but Rootes UK was having too many problems; the Imp was proving unreliable, although the new Avenger was a reasonable sales success and the Hunter/Minx and other "Arrow" cars of 1966 to 1979 sold steadily.

By the mid-1970s Chrysler UK was in financial crisis and received government cash (as British Leyland did some months previously). This enabled them to release the subcompact Sunbeam (spun off the Avenger chassis) and build the Horizon (which the Omni/Horizon is based on) and Alpine.

In 1978 Peugeot bought the European arm of Chrysler (Chrysler UK and Simca) and by 1981 had stopped building Avengers and Sunbeams (from 1976 built at the old Imp plant in Scotland). The Alpine (and sedan Solara) and Horizon lasted until 1985, along with the Samba (a rebadged Peugeot 104) before the name died.

As the British didn't want it, the 180 was passed to France which also didn't want it, so it ended up in Spain (if you ever visit Spain you will lots of them, whereas I haven't seen one in the UK for a couple years).

The car was released in 1970 and was technically advanced for the time - 1.6, 1.8 and 2-litre overhead-cam engines (the UK never saw the 1.6, and the 2-litre was always with 3-speed auto), disc brakes all round, and swoopy styling that aped Chrysler's US designs with a lack of glass. The Australian Centura had two rectangular headlights as opposed to four round ones but was otherwise identical.

The car was produced for a full 10 years until 1980, although demand was never high. It's interesting to note the comments about bodies sitting in compounds in Oz for years and rusting; all Chrysler UK cars of the time were notorious for this, especially the Avenger (because it used electrolyzed paint on the chassis instead of underseal to save weight), Horizon, and Alpine.

The 180 (1.8) was released first in the UK, with the 2-Litre (that is how it was badged) released two years later. Nice, comfortable cars with soft seats in the French tradition, most with the 3-speed auto, vinyl roof. But the UK masses bought cars like the Rover 2000 and Ford Granada instead. Oh well. We also had for a short time (early-to-mid 1970s) the Australian Charger and Valiant.

Ken Westmoreland pointed out that Carrocerias PV did station wagon conversions on the Chrysler 180 in Spain - click here for details (not at allpar).

The Simca 180 (courtesy afyanez@udc.es)

The Simca N9TE engine

Andrew Minney wrote:

The 91.7 x 81.6 mm, 2156 cc engine found in the Peugeot 505 Turbo dates back to the 160/180 2 litre designed by Simca in 1967.

The Citroen BX P, M, Rally, 4TC Serie 200 and 4TC Evo cars used this engine (prepared by ROC in the case of the BX P). This was used also in the Matra Le Mans sportscars, Matra Murena, and also some of the Matra F2 cars. Because of its strengths, it was used until 1986. In the Matra Murena, with a turbocharger, it would in its original form produce 155bhp @ 5200rpm.

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Click here for links to Simca clubs and organizations.

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Click here for an overview of Chrysler Europe and related links. 

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