1965: Facelifts all around!
Alright back in the past. FAAL Decided, in 1965, that all of their cars should now run on unleaded fuel.
So they took all of their current engines, and reworked their heads to make it work and ta-da! With the update, some engines even gained some power, while still running on lower octane!
…
But it wasn’t enough. They could do more. Their Plebia was still relatively up to date design wise, but needed some kind of refreshing. The Foreia? Oh. Could use that too.
Either way, 1965 is the year FAAL released the facelifts of the MK2 Plebia and the MK2 Foreia.
Plebia II Facelift:
WHAT CHANGED:
On all models, wider fenders to accomodate for wider tires, that are now radial all around instead of cross ply. New grilles, more solid, with vertical bars to support the horizontal bars that had a tendency to break easily. Off with the ugly external rear license plate lights, they’re now flush under a chrome bar above the license plate. The new FAAL Deer logo is now used instead of the F A A L writing.
Plebia 81:
All the trim pieces and bumpers are now plastic. New sets of colours available (pictured above: Blanc Banquise)
The 123P8Ce becomes the 123P8CeU and gains only 1hp in the process (31hp@4800 instead of 30hp@4500, torque unchanged, 54nm@2500 instead of 2700), but the car is more efficient (8.1l/100 instead of 8.9).
Plebia 101M:
All the tim pieces go from bare metal AND chrome to only bare metal. The grille centers goes body coloured. The hubcaps are still bare metal.
Three points seatbelts.
The 123P10Ce engine goes 123P10CeU and gains a higher redline (5600rpm instead of 5200) and more efficiency, but the power figures stay the same with 37hp and 69nm. Fuel consumption goes from 9.7l/100 to 9.1l/100. Performance unchanged.
Plebia 101L:
Chrome everything
.
Body coloured, new style hubcaps.
Two tone roof has been retained.
New colour choices.
Progressive suspension added.
Power steering added.
and… Oh. Yeah.
How could I forget.
Remember the Mesaia S? The car they released to gauge the market for a FAAL sports car?
Well, it worked.
…
Which means every FAAL model gets a sporty version.
Which is actually a good excuse to build new engines! And that’s what they did for the Plebia.
The mk2 Plebia 102S introuced the brand new 133S single direct-acting overhead cam engine. In its first form, it was a 1000cc, single twin barrel carb unit delivering 52hp@5600rpm and 75nm@3900 and called the 133S10C2U Sure, doesn’t sound much, but friendly reminder than we’re talking about a sub-600kg car. How’s that, huh?
It was enough for the mk2 Plebia to reach 100km/h in 14.9sec, and top up at 130km/h.
It also featured front brake discs and a stiffened suspension, which made it lots of fun to throw around in the corners.
The car still retained a 4 speed manual.
This car was the first iteration of the company’s new guideline: “Today’s sporty engine is tomorrow’s efficient engine”.
…
…
Which brings us to:
MK2 Foreia Facelift
Okay now this is on a whole other level:
WHAT CHANGED:
On all models:
Rectangular headlights. Wider blinkers. Simplified chrome trim on the front. Rounded grilles around the license plate. New, rectangular door handles. Sleeker rear end. The single side mirror is now rectangular instead of round.
The rear of the wagon has been entirely revised to make room for a lower loading line, much like the mk1 Mesaia:
Also, ENTIRELY NEW ENGINE RANGE!
Introducing the 236S inline 6 engine series.
Much like the Plebia 102S’s three cylinder, it was a single direct acting overhead cam six cylinder, ranging from 2.0 to 2.3. The mk2 Foreia saw only two versions, a 2.1 and a 2.3.
And, its little brother, the 184S engine series. A four cylinder with the same cam layout. Ranging from 1.3 to 1.8L, the Foreia was fitted with a 1.6 and a 1.8 unit.
Since the Foreia was FAAL’s flagship model, today’s sporty engine was also today’s efficient engine.
Foreia 162
Bare metal hubcaps.
Plastic trim door handles.
Body coloured trim grilles.
1.6 SOHC engine: The 67hp 184S16Ce2U
Foreia 182M
Chrome contour on the grilles and headlights
Chrome door handles
Chrome hubcaps
1.8 SOHC engine: The 80hp 184S18Ce2U
Foreia 213L
Chrome everywhere.
Body coloured, new style hubcaps.
Foglights.
Four speaker radio.
FAAL’s all new hydropneumatic suspension, in its first version. Pillow like comfort in all circumstances.
Some cladding under the engine, to allow for less wind resistance, and therefore, less noise
2.1 SOHC engine: The 90hp 236S21Ce3U
Now we’re talking flagship comfort.
And of course, as I said. Every model gets a sports version. In the Foreia’s case, it was more of a good compromise between comfortable and sporty, rather than an all out rally car like the others.
It featured the highest displacement of the new 236S engine, 2.3L, with twin DC0E carbs, engineered to have a smooth torque curve rather than only peak-RPM power. Smoothest FAAL engine to date.
Foreia 234S
Stiffer, lower, progressive suspension
Plastic spoiler
Plastic lip
185/60R15 wheels, wider than all the other models
184S interior trim with two separate rear seats instead of a bench
213L cladding, this time only for less drag, to allow for a 180km/h top speed.
213L foglights
2.3 Twin DC0E engine: The 121hp 236S23DCU
And that was it. Everything went well from that point. I mean, it’s not like they can do anything wrong or crazy at that point, all their models are updated, and the Mesaia had such an avantgarde styling when it was released that there was no point in facelifting it, and even less replacing it! Right?
…
Oh wait.
They did.
The 1967 MK2 Mesaia
There it is.
There’s a perfect example of FAAL thinking too French.
So here’s the thinking: Since the MK1 Mesaia wagon was such a huge success (probably because of that ad), and since some dank ass marketter in an office noticed that people started going crazy for hatchbacks, well… they decided that the solution was to listen to the market and turn the Mesaia into a hatchback.
Only a hatchback.
No sedan. No wagon. Only that goddamn hatch, that was meant to replace both the sedan AND the wagon.
smdh.
Anyway.
But hey. Despite the styling being… delightfully quirky and arguable, the car beneath was neatly updated.
The car was still front wheel drive, but the engine was now transversally mounted. The rear semi trailing arms were replaced by a brand new torsion beam setup, with springs and shocks separated. All around, the car had a better handling and lower service costs.
So, the car was once again available in several trims, with 4 different engines:
-Mesaia 132, with an updated 1.3 pushrod L4 from the old generation, the 154P13Ce2U, putting out 51hp/91nm, plastic trim everywhere and no options
-Mesaia 152M, with an updated 1.5 pushrod L4 from the old generation, the 154P15Ce2U, with 60hp/107nm. You get chrome hubcaps, body coloured trims, progressive suspension and power steering, as well as better seats.
-Mesaia 162L, with the same 184S16Ce2U engine as the new base model Foreia and 67hp. Here you get chrome trim everywhere, body coloured hubcaps,
-Mesaia 164S. Oh this was the peak rally car of its time, and the engineers really showed the best side of the brand new SOHC layout. The 184S16DCU engine was capable, with its relatively small 1566cc displacement, of 100hp.
Sure, the power was up there at 6000RPM and the peak torque of 128nm at 4500RPM, but the engine had a instant throttle response. Even better, the car weighed 880kg. All of this made for a 0-100km/h time of exactly 10sec and a top speed of 165km/h. For a compact hatchback, in 1965. Yep, not bad.
Extra photos
“Damn, a new FAAL model! Surely they’ll finally stop using those damn mk1 Plebia door handles as trunk latc…
…
OH MAN!”
Overall, though, despite the choice of the engineers to make a brand new car instead of exploiting a chassis that still had great days ahead, the deal wasn’t that bad. They even turned a bigger profit than expected, and for a good reason.
Public services ordered this car. A lot. Especially the postal services and military police. The latter had a car custom built to their needs: A base model, absolutely naked, with the 1.5 pushrod engine, offroad tyres, and external foglights instead of the integrated ones below the bumper on the S models. Plus all the interior amenities a police car needs.
Postal version, which was just a base model with no back seats and a custom colour:
Phew. That was a long post.
Next up: The 70s and becoming way too French.