Bonhams Cars : 1962 Facel Vega HK500 Coupé Chassis no. HK1 BX1 758 Engine no. TY7 3 154 (2024)

• Rare right-hand drive example
• Known ownership history
• Present ownership since 1970
• Restored in the late 1990s
• Exceptionally comprehensive history files
• Includes registration number '2 RPC'

The late Bob Dockerty, farmer and founder of the Larkins Brewery, was a longstanding member of The Facel Vega Car Club. Richard Stevens, Club Historian, heard of the HK500 offered here as 'poking out of a garage' near Edenbridge, Kent in 1970 and was fascinated by the story which emerged. This was the last of four HKs bought at approximately six-monthly intervals by a Mr H K Adam, a seemingly eccentric scrap merchant from Glasgow. For some reason he liked to conceal that he had changed his car and to pretend that all four Facels were one-and-the-same, so the original registration number '2 RPC' was always transferred. As the cars were bought from HWM's stock rather than ordered to Mr Adam's specification, it was necessary in a couple of cases to have them resprayed prior to purchase while other details were altered to match the first one. The accompanying Facel Vega History Sheet lists four owners after Mr Adam, the last being a Mr H H J Copeman of tuning firm The Aquaplane Company (dated 1965). Other owners mentioned in the file are Helmut Schwartzkopf followed by John Latty and Tony Grevett, from whom Bob bought this car. The HK had 27,000 miles recorded at time of purchase (Bob paid £550).

The History Sheet shows that the car was delivered with the 6.3-litre 360bhp Chrysler Typhoon V8 engine and synchromesh transmission. The final service entry dated 24th March 1964 mentions 'major accident repairs carried out', presumably while the Facel belonged to its third owner, one G D Rollinson. Various changes of exterior colour are recorded, while the trim seems to have remained red. Bob's hand-written notes record that the clutch failed in 1974 (at 42,000 miles) and that the car was retired to the garage. The notes go on to record details of the subsequent restoration, which commenced in 1997. As one would expect with a car that has enjoyed over half a century of enthusiastic one-person ownership, the accompanying history files are most substantial, consisting of DVLA correspondence, restoration invoices and records; sundry photographs; expired MoTs; factory brochures, etc, etc (perusal highly recommended). The car is now offered in 'garage find' condition. The latest work planned before Bob became unwell was to renovate the fuel system, and as such the fuel tank was disconnected and an auxiliary fuel source was used to run the engine. The car was last MOT'd in 2017 and is offered for recommissioning, ready to delight a lucky new owner.