Have you ever wondered if Europe had a car to match the Pontiac Fiero? Mid-engined, but derived from the ordinary? Composite bodywork? Dramatic styling? Pop up headlamps?
I give you the 1980-83 Talbot-Matra Murena.
CC has looked at the Murena previously, at the International Simca-Talbot Rally in England in July 2014, where a selection of them made it from across Europe to a field in southern England. These were the first Murenas I could remember seeing, and this one is the first I’ve seen on the road, or supermarket car park.
The Murena used the engine from the Talbot 1510 (or Talbot Alpine and Solara in the UK), and was a 1.6 litre version of the 1100 cc engine used in the Simca 1100, mounted in mid position and linked to a Citroen CX gearbox in a galvanised steel spaceframe chassis. Suspension was borrowed from the Alpine as well, and the chassis generally considered capable of handling more power.
The Murena was also available with the 2.2 litre 4 cylinder engine from the Talbot Tagora, although the bulk of sales were from the 1.6 litre. Right hand drive conversions were built, but in very small numbers. There was also a 142 bhp, 16 valve version, sold in small numbers at the end of the production run.
Photo from Hooniverse.com
The big novelty of the Murena, and its predecessor the Bagheera, was three abreast seating, albeit quote closely configured. Elsewhere in the interior, many Talbot/Simca switches and details were apparent, though the basic shapes were bespoke. Style, wise, this is a French car from the eighties, so the results may not be to everyone’s tastes.
Murena and Bagheera
Of course, by 1980, Peugeot had purchased Chrysler’s European operations and the building blocks on which the Murena was built, specifically the Simca engine, was due to end series production as the Talbot brand was wound down. Add to this the fact that the car was built by Matra and marketed by Talbot, and that the performance was not as fast as the looks would suggest with the car being out-gunned by the VW Scirocco and Renault Fuego among others , and at lower prices.
In three years, 10,000 Murena were built before Matra offered a new product to Peugeot, who declined it. Instead, the Espace was built in partnership with Renault, on the same spaceframe and composite panel basis.
So, there you have the stylish and practical French – a three seat sportscar replace by a seven seat monospace or minivan. Only the French!
French Cavalier.
Great find. How come you didn’t take more shots of it?
Well,I tried to get more (and better) but the combination of just a camera phone, a busy car park and a driver who didn’t realize what I was doing limited it.
Frustrated is one word for it!
Never mind, you’ll see another one tomorrow or failing that, next week! 😉
I kinda wished that Chrysler should of “Wised-up” and could’ve did a deal with PSA to sell this chic car here, The Simca Bagheera however has a cult following in Quebec, California and British Columbia. It’s the perfect car for Montreal and San Francisco!
Marina door handles by any chance?
Not 100% sure, but the rear lights look very like the facelifted Fiat Strada/Ritmo:
http://auto-database.com/image/cars-fiat-ritmo-18524.jpg
Door handles are actually Peugeot 505 and 305
Holy cow, a French Lancia Montecarlo!
Neat summation, though no targa top
Sure the plastic Matra didn’t suffer the outraging rust problems of the Lancias…
It was probably better. It certainly couldn’t have been worse.
Pity because apart from the atrocious rust issues. the Lancia Beta was a nice interpretation of this full range, sedan, hatch, coupe, convertible, mid-engine two seater compact car platform.
+1 on that thought
Behold, the perfect transportation for those who literally invented the term “menage-a-trois”… I kid, but I wonder….
It was disco era France, after all
I recall Autocar, which should have known better, even then, saying ‘the third centre seat does nothing for the driver’s vision, unless she’s hood looking’
Never heard of this car before, but damn is it nice looking for an early-1980s car, outside that is. Those button-tufted loose pillow seats just made me gag. They completely clash with the exterior design. It’s like having Recaro sports seats in a B-body Oldsmobile Delta 88.
I suggest you never look at a leather Lotus Esprit interior from that era then, either 😉
Lancias and Maseratis of that time had similar interiors as well.
It looks there is a door handle in the door jamb of the gold car in the fourth photo. If it is a door handle, I wonder what it opens – the rear hatch?
I guess the rear hatch too
What about the U8 version of the Bagheera. Two Simca 4 cylinder engines joined together but each one still with its own crankshaft!
Was this less troublesome than Triumph’s joining two 4 cylinder engines together to form an actual V8? I can understand why they might do it this way given the generous engine bay width and lack of other applications that might preclude developing the V8-specific parts.
Cool cars, and the three-abreast seating is so very French. Something about the styling just looks off to me though. I’m not sure what it is, but it bothers me.
The nose is too thin when you’re looking at it from the side. The rest of the car, from the A piller back, has a shape that would have you expecting a gentle curve in the hood from the windshield to the pointed front end; not the steep straight line that is the hood. Compare it to the hood of the Bagheera.
From the front 3/4 view the car looks fine.
You’re right, and looking at it next to the Bagheera proves the theory.
Incidentally, that slim, pointy nose profile with a flat hood may be one of the reasons that the Murena occasionally gets named as the inspiration for Inspector Gadget’s car in the 1980’s cartoon (which is, at least in my opinion, a melange of cues from a number of early 80’s sports/sporty cars.)
Agree, the Lancia Montecarlo with its flat front end, fixed headlamps and pseudo hoop style front bumper looks much better (Although I like the four round lamps of the Beta Zagato even better).
Always liked the Montecarlo/Scorpion, shame they were such rusters.
Very enjoyable article – had not seen these before. The exterior design is rather attractive, but what caught my attention first was the length of the wheelbase – the wheels are pushed very far out for an 80s car. Perhaps that’s due to the engine location.
I would say that from the distance from the door to the wheel arch it looks like the engine bay is slightly longer than a transverse setup such as a MR2 or X1/9, but also the front wheels are further from the cabin than normal to provide legroom for the 3-across seats. Normally in a mid-engined car the footwells would be inboard of the wheelwells, and overlapping by a few inches.
Believe it or not, I actually heard of this car a while ago. I always think its a nice looking vehicle, in that very French sort of way, but I always forget it exists for some reason.
Cool car and post. Looking at the fourth picture (of the interior), though, I wonder how hard it would have been to shift gears with all three passengers aboard.
For some reason the first photo of this car reminds me of the Isuzu Piazza (Impulse in the US).
I read about these when they came out but cant recall ever seeing a live one, great find.
+1, never seen a live one despite many years of car shows. Thank you for another great read Roger
European Fiero? It’s the AC 3000ME. It even has V6 and a 5-speed like the late-model Fiero GT!
Thinking of the Fiero: the Murena has been used as basis for a BMW M1. Manufacturer was the Saier Automobilbau GmbH in Sonnenbühl, Germany. (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saier_Automobilbau)
Saw one couple of years ago, at Salzburgring’s car park:
Roger, there is a glaring mistake at the end – the Murena 2.2 with Prep 142 dealer fitted performance kit, does not have a a 16-valve head (4 valve per cylinder). It has the standard 8 valve Type 180 head. I’ve had a Murena 2.2 over 40 years now, from new, and being a professional technician know all about them. See my website for much more information. Thanks.