The replacement foreseen would be a little larger and more powerful than the current car, reflecting growing prosperity in Italy at the time.

Pigozzi obtained the agreement of the Fiat directors to select one of the six different rather boxy four-door clay models and mock-ups that then comprised the output of “Project 122” to be developed into Simca's new small car.

Although the surviving prototypes differ in detail, the basic architecture and boxy shape of the car had evidently been “right first time” and the Simca 1000 of 1961 is entirely recognizable as the model that Pigozzi had selected from Fiat's “Project 122”.

The "Simca Mille" (as the car is called in French) was inexpensive and, at the time of launch, quite modern, with a brand-new inline-four water-cooled "Poissy engine" of (at this stage) 944 cc.

[6] Production began on 27 July 1961, with the official unveiling taking place in the context of a high-profile publicity campaign at the Paris Motor Show on 10 October 1961.

[7] At the launch Pigozzi, for obvious reasons, placed great stress on the extent to which the new car marked a landmark achievement for an increasingly independent Simca, and the company's new Development Department at Poissy, while omitting to mention that the Simca 1000 was the product of close collaboration with the company's majority shareholder, Fiat.

[8] Use of the RR layout was a first for Simca, although leading auto-makers in France and Germany had been applying it to mainstream small cars for more than a decade.

This gave the car a 35/65 front/rear weight distribution, with an extremely light and nimble front end and a responsive oversteer on curvy roads.

[6] Over the course of time, the 1000 (whose name was pronounced "mille" in French) was available in a number of versions featuring different equipment levels and variations of the original Type 315 engine.

In October 1968 the low cost Simca 4 CV (marketed in France as the Sim'4) appeared, powered by a 777 cc unit providing 31 PS (23 kW) (DIN), and very competitively priced.

[9] The bare bones Sim'4 used the hubcaps from the earlier generation while receiving smaller bumper overriders without rubber inserts; a "4CV" badge on the right rear fender also helped identify the model.

[11] Being very cheap in the second-hand market, the Sim'4 was a perfect starting point for creating Simca Rallye replicas and very few remain in original condition.

[12] The car underwent a light facelift first shown at the 1968 Paris Motor Show (for the 1969 model year): new hubcaps, redesigned bumpers, bigger headlamps, and square taillights.

In 1977, the model was revised for the last time, gaining the new names of 1005/1006 (depending on the specifications), to put it in line with the newer Simca 1307 and its derivatives.

[14] A special Spanish-market model introduced in April 1970 was the 61 PS (45 kW) DIN 1000 GT, which had a milder version of the 1204 cc engine as found in the 1200 Coupé.

This has a single carburated version of the 1294 cc engine with 63 PS (46 kW), making it considerably less powerful than its French contemporaries.