Rallye raised the image
The Simca 1000 became popular primarily because it was a lot of car for the money. It was cheap, especially in France. As the cars began to do well in motorsport, their popularity soared. Well, the cars were cheap and relatively small, but they were tough and got the image to go really well. What contributed to the raised image was the Rallye edition.
4 different engines have been delivered in the Rallye edition over the years. Several engines have also been subject to modifications in motorsport. Even Abarth has modified the Rallye edition. The standard edition has always had a 1000 ccm engine, while the Rallye editions got 1100 and 1300 engines with horsepower from 53 to 103. One of the cars pictured is a Rallye 2 with some-and-80 HP on a car that only weighs 880 kg.
Model history
The Simca 1000 was produced from 1961 to 1978 in 2 million copies and was super popular - also in Norway. Today there are only 6 cars with plates in this country, as well as 1 Coupé. The coupé received a completely different body than the 3-box designed for the sedan. The Simca 1000 underwent a facelift around 1968. Facelifted cars got rectangular rear lights, slightly larger headlights and turn signals that went around the corners. A new facelift came from model year 1977. Then the model got, among other things, rectangular headlights and a large black (artificial) grill.
Simca 1000
Simca 1000 Rallye
Simca 1000 Coupe
Simca 1000 Coupe was produced from the fall of 1961 as a 1962 model year until 1971. The cars were based on the same platform and drivetrain as the sedan.
About the pictures
The French blue car in the main picture was produced before the facelift – that is, before 1968. It was photographed at a car show outside Perpignan in France. The yellow car is a Simca Rallye with a compressor (!). It participated in a rally/hill race for classic cars in Pyrenees-Orientales, France. It was photographed in the village of Arles-sur-Tech. The blue car on a trestle was photographed at the Peugeot dealer outside Céret in France. It had round taillights, and thus a Series 1 car. The red car with the grill from the first facelift was photographed at a car show in Perpignan. The red and yellow Rallye 2 cars were also photographed at the same place – and also the white Simca Rallye2 Coupe SRT 77, a 1977 model with (at least) 110 hp. The Simca Coupé was exhibited at the Oslo Motor Show 2025 under a stand for cars designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro.
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