The Simca 9 is a French

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

produced by French automaker

Simca Simca (; Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company) was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat S.p.A. and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simca bough ...

. It first appeared in June 1952 and was built until 1954. It was a development of the

Simca 8 The Simca 8 is a small family car built by Simca and sold in France between November 1937 and 1951 (including wartime), available as a saloon, coupé or cabriolet. It was a rebadged Fiat 508C "nuova Balilla" made at Fiat's Simca plant in Nanter ...

, from which it differed by being lengthened a bit (a few centimetres or inches) between the rear edge of the door and the bulge of the rear fender, to provide more interior room. More importantly, the 9 Sport was of a unibody design. This meant that the car was not offered as a convertible, although a small number of 9 Sport convertibles were built, using the chassis of the earlier 8 Sport. The mechanics were the same as for the

Simca Aronde The Simca Aronde is an automobile which was manufactured by the French automaker Simca from 1951 to 1964. It was Simca's first original design (earlier models were all to a greater or lesser extent based on Fiats), as well as the company's first ...

, although the engine was upgraded from . Its running gear was similar to that of the Simca 8 Sport, with the same iteration of the engine, benefitting from a higher compression ratio. The car was built by Facel-Métallon in Colombes. In September 1952, the 1953 Simca 9 Sport featured all-new bodywork, curvier and with more glazing. Again, it featured steel bodywork of Facel's manufacture, and, again, it was heavier and thus no faster than the Aronde sedan on which the expensive Sport was based. A single convertible prototype was built. For model year 1954 the only difference was redesigned hubcaps with a stylized "S". The 9 Sport name was then retired as of September 1954. For 1955 the car was renamed the Simca Coupé de Ville (with the same bodywork), with full equipment and downplaying the "sport" aspect. Simca Coupé de Ville 1955

References