I had tracked this French made Matra car for some while,at this time it was at a very low point in its life and parked outside an auto electrical shop in Cape Town City,I asked the shops owner Richard,to find out if I could buy the car from its then owner,he duly asked and I was refused.
The car had been seen by me many years before and in another auto electrical shop,its main fault was that the cars differential had broken,the engine being a V4 from a Ford Taunus (germany) I think it was a 1700cc sized engine.Louis who owned the electrical shop,said the type of differential it used was just not available anymore.
The Canon FT SLR has done a double exposure in this picture,they are not ghosts!
This is an unusual car,dated around late 60s,early 70s I took an interest in such cars from France,their other sports cars having done very well in rallye work,this car was a roadster only I think?
The first real Matra
In 1965 Matra's CEO Jean-Luc Lagardère decided to develop a sports car more accessible to the ordinary, non-racing public, a voiture des copains (car for friends), as successor to the Matra Djet. The result was their first sports car (the Djet was a René Bonnet design) M530, named after Matra's R530 missile, designed by former Simca designer Philippe Guédon. Like its predecessor, the car was built upon a steel frame with polyester body and had a mid-engine. To accommodate for both 2+2, mid-engine layout and a reasonable boot, many engine options were considered. Finally, it was decided to purchase the running gear from Ford in Germany: the 1700 cc Ford Taunus V4 engine and gearbox stemming from the Taunus 15M TS were chosen. This setup is compact enough to fit between the rear seats and the boot. The other interesting features of the M530 were its targa top roof, pop-up headlights and most notably the outstanding avant-garde design.
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