A single marque car show may not be as interesting as a multiple marque show–the reduction in variety means there is a reduced opportunity to compare and contrast. How does the Ford compare with the Vauxhall and the Hillman? What was the German style? How did the French do it?
However, when that marque has an international heritage and is linked to one of the British industry’s various groupings, the options open up again, as they did at the Simca-Matra-Talbot International Rally in Beaulieu in southern England on 11-13 July.
The relationship between the marques is actually straightforward. Matra built some sports cars from the early 1960s and later models had Simca engines and were sold through the Simca network, and badged as Matra-Simca, and later Talbot-Matra. Talbot was the name adopted by Peugeot for products inherited from Chrysler Europe, from 1979, after Peugeot purchased all of Chrysler’s European operations, including Simca. So essentially, it’s a rally for Simcas, Talbots and cars sold by Simca network but badged differently to reflect their origins or the parent company’s marketing strategy. Let’s take a quick tour through some of the highlights, or at least my selection of them, starting today with cars built by Matra for Simca, Peugeot and themselves.
It was billed as an international rally, and more than lived up to that billing. There were cars from the UK, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Austria and the Czech Republic. That is a quite amazing selection for what in the most part are relatively ordinary cars.
The starting point has to be the Matra Djet–this is a 1964 example. The Djet was built by Matra, the French aerospace company, to a design of Rene Bonnet, and was originally marketed as the Rene Bonnet Djet. The Bonnet company ran into financial difficulty in 1964, and Matra bought the company, renaming the car the Matra Djet. Production continued to 1967.
The car itself was powered by an 1108 cc Renault engine, more commonly seen in the Renault 8, in a mid-mounted position and built around a steel chassis and composite body. Suspension was by wishbones all round, and all-round disc brakes.
In 1967, Matra replaced the Djet with the Matra 530 (left). In many ways this was very similar, but the engine now came from Ford (a 1.7 litre, 70-bhp V4 from the front wheel drive German Ford Taunus) and offered 2+2 seating. The car had a targa roof with removable panels and an acrylic rear window, which had to be removed for access to the engine. This example is mocked up to recreate the cars seen in the promotional caravanne for the Tour de France in 1970. To place this in car a bit more context, it was very close in concept to, though less powerful than, a contemporary Lotus Europa, and significantly more expensive than an MGB.
And although there are many cars named after aircraft (Mustang, Concorde, Comet and Spitfire for example) this is the only one I know that is explicitly named after a guided missile.
In 1973, Matra formally teamed up with Simca, by then Chrysler’s French outpost, to produce the Bagheera. This was again a mid-engine car, but this time it used Simca engines and gearboxes, and was sold as the Matra-Simca Bagheera through the Simca network to get the volume.
The car had the 1.3 litre engine from the Simca 1100, turned 180 degrees and mounted behind the three seats (all in one row) under a glass hatch, with a small boot in the front. The car was built with a composite body on a steel backbone chassis, and sold over 47,00 in seven years, a significant increase on the Djet and M350.
The Bagheera achieved enough success to be not only exported to the UK in left-hand drive configuration but also for its replacement, the 1980 Matra Murena (which was built on the same structure but, crucially, with the steel elements galvanised), to be built in right-hand-drive.
The engines for the Murena were the 1.6 litre from the Chrysler/Talbot Alpine and the 2.2 litre 4 cylinder from the Talbot Tagora. These are cars that need a full CC.
Matra had one other collaboration with Simca in the 1970s, which was also recently featured on CC. The Matra-Simca Rancho was based on the Simca 1100 hatchback, or more accurately, on the light commercial version, and the body, aft of the B-pillar was replaced with a larger capacity composite shell, with very clear SUV overtones, including a Range Rover style split tailgate. The SUV wasn’t really present in 1977 (at least in Europe) but this car could be seen as the first running example of the what has become a dominant market. Vehicles such as the Toyota RAV4, Honda CRV and Land-Rover Freelander owe a lot to Matra’s ingenuity and original thinking.
Uniquely, to my knowledge, the rear tailgate wiper and the composite tailgate itself, were handed for both left-hand drive (on the Danish car below) or right-hand drive (as on the British registered car). And that on a car that did not set up the windscreen wipers for right-hand drive, leaving them in the left-hand drive setup.
The engine was a 1.4 litre, 80bhp 4 cylinder from the Chrysler Alpine, fitted with a four-speed gearbox and front-wheel drive only. Don’t underestimate this car though–not only did it (arguably) trigger the SUV boom, it also had a part in the MPV people carrier story. The Rancho was also available with three rows of seats, giving seven in total, and that leads to the next Matra product.
The Matra-Talbot partnership was dissolved in 1983, stemming from the strain on Peugeot’s finances in the wake of the company’s purchase of Chrysler Europe and Citroen. This denied Peugeot the opportunity to take advantage of Matra’s next great idea, the car became the Renault Espace.
The first three generations of Espace were built in a similar way to the sportscars, with a steel backbone structure and composite panelling. Indeed, the headlights for the first series of Espace were shared with the 1975 Chrysler Alpine.
As it happened, the only example of the Espace family at the show was a Renault Avantime, seen on CC previously and a prime example of space and light as being true luxuries. So, no shots of the innovative Espace from this show, but it does give me the opportunity to show you just the best rear lights ever.
So Matra, from mid engined, composite sports cars, some with three seats, the first compact SUV to a luxury MPV Coupe – that’s a quite a list!
Fascinating cars, all, to those of us on the Western shores of the Atlantic. I particularly like the Bagheera and Murena. And that Rancho–the body clearly presages the SUV, but with a small engine and FWD-only, I’d say it’s more of a proto-crossover!
Having seen perhaps one Simca in my entire life, these are quite interesting. Simca should be better appreciated as being every bit as crucial in the rescue of Chrysler after 1979 as was Lee Iacocca. Without the Simca-derived L and K platforms, Chrysler would not have outlived AMC.
The whole Peugeot-Talbot thing was strange. I seem to recall the Peugeot 504 pickup actually being badged as a Talbot for some markets (UK, at the end?) but can’t confirm that with a Google image search. I can say that my family’s Peugeot 504 wagon (1981 — last year for the U.S.) actually had rear mudflaps that were badged Talbot, complete with the T emblem.
And then (slightly off topic) this turned up on Google … talking of 504 rebadges …
That is hilarious!
I found the M530 to be a stunning sculpture. I think they were influenced by the cubist movement of art.
To bad no F1 car showed up.
Cool cars and rarely seen here, I remember reading about the Matra Murena and Bagheera and realising they werent going to appear on the local market at all, Simca went away and the dealers took up other brands the one local to me at the time took on Toyota and hasnt looked back, I must go and check if the local Simca collector is on CC as a reader yet, he should be.
Pics of Espace, Bagheera and Rancho. A great reason to wake up today. Thanks Roger.
Another good read Roger thank you.I’ve never seen a Bagheera or Mureno in the flesh but the Rancho was quite popular and I saw a few of those
Nice one Roger, the sportscars seem a bit Alpine-like as well. Hopefully there will be some Simca stuff to come and were there any Talbot Sunbeam Lotuses?
There is more, but sadly no Sunbeam-Lotus – my CC radar is keenly tuned for one, somewhere, sometime though
Cheers Roger. There a handful of them in Australia, also I’ve seen a 1600Ti.
I visited Paris in ’79 and remember wandering into a Matra-Simca showroom there and ogling a snappy wedge-shaped three-seater that was apparently, according to this article, a Bagheera*. Its single row of seating consisted a bucket for the driver and a double-wide passenger seat (which is useful in case you’re having a threesome). I drove a Datsun 240Z at the time, and I remember wondering if this sleek mid-engined sports coupe might ever be brought in North America as a rival to the 280Z 2+2; of course, it never was. Like most French cars, it was probably considered just too weird for the US market.
* I probably don’t recall the name Bagheera because in my head I’ve always referred to this car as the Matra-Simca Menage-a-Trois — a moniker which would probably have helped sell some extra units to priapic Europeans.
Great read Roger, please keep them coming. I had a Corgi Matra Rancho as a child, it was yellow with a tan interior, a gift from my grandparents when I was three or four. It’s still in a box somewhere.
The only Simca I ever saw was in the small Illinois town of Polo, IL–of all places! More on that here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtakes-polar-opposites-in-polo/
Hi !
just a little (late) precision about the MATRA 530 (the orange one on the pictures is mine 😉 )
the acrylic rear window can be opened almost vertically to access the middle engine.
On the pictures it was removed (wich was also another possibility offered by MATRA) because the weather in Beaulie was really nice and hot….and it was an efficient way to get fresh air during the “rally” that was organized that day….
Thanks a lot to Roger for this really nice review of the event !