Robert F. Pauley

Watkins Glen, September 15, 1955. Bob Pauley in white hat, no doubt wondering what kind of car this was. Photo by Robert F. Pauley

Going through the Robert F. Pauley collection, we found a car we didn’t quite recognize. On the slide were the words, “Facel Vega” and noted that Bob was in the white hat. The location was also noted as Watkins Glen, 9-17 1955, the shot probably taken by Bob’s brother Phil.

Bob Pauley rarely got his cars wrong. In over one hundred slides taken in the fifties and sixties, no car, no matter how rare or exotic, was misidentified. But on a closer look, though this had the lines of an early Facel Vega, the grille was not right. Nor did it have wire wheels. The badge on the front, although not clear, did not match up with the typical Facel badge. And then there was the crazy “Z” on the side of the badge itself. But it was not a Zagato Z. Finally, there appeared to be a coachbuilder insignia on the side of the body, but totally out of focus. We were stumped. We didn’t even know where to begin to look or for what.