Also known as the Matra-Simca Bagheera, it won a trophy for the most beautiful, and at the same time functional design back in 1974 - competing against cars like the Lancia Beta and Ferrari 308 GTB. But though they were lightweight (polyester body) and well-streamlined, with excellent handling, they only had a 1294cc Simca engine and that was probably the only time a Bagheera beat a Ferrari!
This very car was on eBay earlier in the year: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Abarth-Matra-...0QQihZ012QQcategoryZ18308QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem, but it seems to have been "well got-at", front and back, and nothing to do with Abarth (except possibly the exhaust, judging by those four tailpipes) in spite of the badges - somebody's "make believe" maybe?
[quote author=forester sti link=topic=4454.msg47280#msg47280 date=1196358630]Good man greenwagon! [/quote]
Dan,
Well I knew it wasn't one of the Alfetta GTVs (I had a couple of Alfettas after my GT Junior - horrible gearchange due to the gearbox being on the back axle, but they drove well enough and were cheap to buy secondhand); only I was sure that I'd come across these and admired the style of them in years gone by - but that was probably back in the '70s...
That's a good detailed answer! I'd say you did well in your leaving cert! :
[quote author=briancollins link=topic=4454.msg47346#msg47346 date=1196382875]Thats one strange lookin car[/quote]
The original version was a classic piece of 1970s styling (though personally I think a lot of the best designs came out of the previous decade) and reminiscent of the Lamborghini Urraco:
The one in Ballycullen has had the front end modified to get rid of the pop-up headlights (maybe they were giving trouble?) and the back end should look like this:
... but it has had the original rectangular tail lights changed for four round ones, probably in an attempt to make it look more like a Ferrari from the rear? Maybe it once had prancing-horse badges on it (instead of the Abarth ones) - now that would be really tacky!