Brendan Hughes

I was told on my "heap for drifting" thread to look for an AE86, and I said I'd seen something like that for sale in a local car park (view from train as I go past every day). I went to look closely last night. Turns out it is a Talbot Matra Murena .

http://www.matrasport.dk/Cars/Murena/history.html

Fibreglass, 1000kg, mid-engined, RWD. (Er, and three seats!)

Apparently you can drop pug 1.9GTi engines straight in?? And these guys put a Saab 9000 turbo engine in!!
http://www.whpracing.nl/

Sounds like it could be amusing. Any thoughts?

TaviaRS

Didn't it sell in the UK as the Bagheera(sp)? I remember them, I always thought they were quite "cool" when I was young

BrynO

Yep, the Bagheera was the first incarnation of the Murena, I remember reading somewhere that it was the kind of car 'you would like your sister to drive'!. Think they have a bit of a reputation for hiding rot under the plastic (GRP or whatever it is) body panels... made a crappy 1.6 and a better 2.2, sounds like a winner with a Saab Turbo in it!

Brendan Hughes

Bagheera seems to have been a distinctly larger version of the Murena, according to the photos I'm googling. Vaguely Bagheera = Capri, whereas Murena = Honda CRX Mk2. If that doesn't sound too ridiculous.

Might ring the guy up and see what he wants for it. It's been there for about 5 mths or more.

Still think I'm better off with a Capri though. My dream car(s) is a front-engined, RWD oversteery monster, so a Capri sounds like the best sort of cheap practice.

BrynO

I am near certain that the Murena was the facelifted Bagheera (but I'm no expert), more CRX size than Capri. Front engined oversteery... hmm sounds like my old Vauxhall 'droop snoot' Sports Hatch, 2.3 ltrs of tail happy motor. Must be loads of former 'executive' saloons from the '80's with that formula you can pick up for peanuts..

GC8

With regard to the AE86 advice; Im assuming that its refers to a Toyota Corolla GTi? Most of these cars sold were actually front wheel drive... Unusually Toyota offered both front and rear drive models so check before you buy. I doubt youll find one that easily though because most of the rear drive vehicles have been converted into competition cars long since.

Simon