Simca Aronde 1300

The Simca Aronde 1300 was the second series of the Simca Aronde, the small French family car first launched in 1951, and it was built from 1956 to 1958. In 1956 the Aronde was the best selling car in France, and Simca modernised the body with the so-called Océane lines, a longer rear with tail fins inspired by the American Kaiser of 1953. The car took its name from the new Flash engine of 1,290 cm3, a bored-out version of the older Fiat-derived Simca engine, and received a round speedometer and a revised steering. The Coupé de Ville and the Week-End cabriolet adopted the same 1300 engine for the 1956 model year. In 1957 a standard-production Aronde ran 100,000 km at Montlhéry in 38 days and nights at an average of 113.1 km/h, a record that Simca used to launch the Montlhéry saloon with the Flash Special engine in the 1958 range.