Facel for French Mad Man

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With Inspectors Morse and Linley thundering along from crime scene to pub in a Jaguar and Bristol respectively, and with Lincolns and Dodges scattered throughout Mad Men, the question is: what would the archetypical French detective drive in a late 1950s setting? That’s what producer Éric Woreth asked when he gave the French series ‘Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie’ a new lease of life recently. The series - loosely based on Agatha Christie stories - have been aired in France since 2009, but were previously set in the 1940s. Woreth changed that to a decade or so later and scouted actor Samuel Labarthe to play commissaire Swan Laurence in a suit as sharp as Bond's. He gave actress Blandine Bellavoir a cool scooter to haul around Lille solving murders. But now, back to the car question. And don’t come up with the worn out Peugeot of Columbo or the Renault Floride of silly inspecteur Clouseau. No, it had to become something both stylish as quintessentially French. Enter a Facel Vega Facellia in a beautiful red shade. Spot on, Sir. That the Facellia actually hit the showrooms not until 1960, well, never mind that...

Originally published: Sunday June 2nd, 2013

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