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87-662: In December 1969 Matra and Simca entered into an agreement that rebranded Matra's racing cars as Matra-Simcas and give Matra access to the Simca dealer network in France and the Common Market. The first joint project of the new liaison was development of a replacement for the Matra 530 , which had not reached either its targeted market or its projected sales volumes. Work on the new car began in 1970 under project code M550. Development

174-611: A Fiat -based engine. The Fiat Twin Cam engine , originally designed by Aurelio Lampredi , who built engines for Ferrari until Fiat employed him, was one of the most advanced 4-cylinder engines in Europe at that time. It continued in production well into the 1990s and, in highly developed form, was used in performance road cars such as the Lancia Delta Integrale and Fiat Coupé . The Lancia engineers made minor changes to

261-574: A 'u' channel thus preventing dirt and water collecting and causing rust. Giovanni Michelotti produced three concept cars on Beta mechanicals. Two were four-door saloons based on the Berlina—one unusual in having four gull-wing doors —the other was a two-seater open-top car based on the Coupé. In 1980, Giorgetto Giugiaro built a concept car on Montecarlo mechanicals, called the Medusa . Unusually for

348-549: A 1.3L in early 1976. In 1978, the Beta Coupé became available with an automatic transmission and power steering. In 1981, the car received a minor facelift and at the same time the 2.0 became available with fuel Bosch electronic fuel injection. In 1983, a 2.0 VX supercharged engine became available with an output of 135 bhp. The bodywork was developed inhouse by Centro Stile Lancia led by Aldo Castagno, with Piero Castagnero acting as styling consultant. Castagnero had also styled

435-453: A 6-year anti-corrosion warranty - an automotive first in the UK. Whilst later Betas (2nd Series cars) had reinforced subframe mounting points and post-1979 cars were better protected from the elements, these issues damaged the whole marque's sales success on most export markets. The revision to the crossmember was quite simple and meant turning it through 180 degrees forming an 'n' channel rather than

522-698: A Lancia dealer for an inspection. If their vehicle was affected by the subframe problem, the customer was offered a part exchange deal to buy another Lancia or Fiat car. The cars that failed the inspection were scrapped. However, on 9 April 1980 the Daily Mirror and TV programmes reported on the issue. There were claims that the problem persisted in later cars by showing photographs of scrapped 1st Series saloons, referring to them as being newer than five and six years old. Other contemporary manufacturers whose cars also suffered from corrosion were not treated as harshly. Lancia had already introduced one year previously

609-401: A common cast-aluminum sump that also carried a common oil supply for the engine. At the non-drive end another aluminum casting assured the alignment of the blocks while at the drive end a steel adapter fit the ends of both crankshafts. A sprocket and Morse chain from each crankshaft were connected to a 22.9 mm (0.9 in) shaft running down the middle of the sump that transmitted power from

696-816: A deal with Chrysler Europe , to sell their cars through the Simca dealer network from 1970 onwards and jointly develop the M530's successor. Thirdly, the cars were now entirely constructed at the Matra Automobiles factory in Romorantin . Lastly, the car was now badged M530 A. British magazine " Autocar " tested a Matra M530 A in March 1969. The car had a top speed of 95 mph (153 km/h) and accelerated from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 15.6 seconds. An "overall" fuel consumption of 26.9 miles per imperial gallon (10.5 L/100 km; 22.4 mpg ‑US )

783-420: A drag coefficient ( C d {\displaystyle \scriptstyle C_{\mathrm {d} }\,} ) of 0.33 for the early models. This rose slightly to 0.35 after a mid-life redesign. The chassis was fabricated of pressed steel. While it has been called a space-frame it more closely resembled a unitary body. The shapes of some pieces were simplified to accommodate the low production numbers that

870-585: A fuel injected 2.0 engine. In 1984 a 2.0VX supercharged version became available. Like all other cars in the Beta range the HPE was discontinued in 1984. The final car to carry the Beta badge was the Pininfarina-designed and built two-door Lancia Montecarlo , announced in March 1974. This was a rear-wheel drive, mid-engined two-seater sports car that shared very few components with other Betas. The car

957-563: A hiatus and did not bring any 1980 models. When returning in 1981, the Berlina was dropped as they focussed on the more popular sporting variants. Fuel injection increased the 2.0's power considerably, to about 108 hp (81 kW) (the published numbers vary considerably). 1982 was the last year for Lancia's half-hearted efforts in the United States. The Beta was available in a number of different body styles: Introduced in 1972,

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1044-572: A little while longer than the other bodystyles. Late in the model's life Lancia released the Trevi VX, with a Roots-type supercharger fitted between the carburettor and low-compression two-litre engine; the Coupé VX and HPE VX followed soon after (June 1983). These three variants were known as Volumex models and had the highest performance of all the road-going production Betas, with 135 bhp (101 kW) and substantially increased torque over

1131-429: A mid-engined car it had four doors, and the body was shaped to have a very low drag coefficient for the time. Lancia built one very special variant of the Beta themselves. The twin-engined Trevi Bimotore was used for tests related to Lancia's new four-wheel drive rally cars; it was powered by one Volumex engine under the bonnet driving the front wheels, and another in the back driving the rear wheels, with air scoops in

1218-652: A new glass rear hatch held open with struts, and a new front bumper. A budget version of the M530, the Matra Sports M530 SX , was introduced in October 1971 with a price under 20,000 francs . The SX has a fixed roof, and instead of hidden headlamps has four fixed lamps mounted on its nose. The only available colours were yellow and white, and the SX features black bumpers instead of the LX's chrome ones. Production of

1305-476: A number of previous front-wheel drive-Lancia models, the engine and gearbox were mounted on a subframe that bolted to the underside of the body. However, in the Beta the engine and manual gearbox were fitted transversely in-line. This Fiat-inspired configuration not only enabled neat engine bay packaging, but also, by tilting the engine 20 degrees rearwards, the Lancia engineers achieved improved weight transfer over

1392-609: A reasonable boot, various engine options were considered. In the end, the running gear came from the Ford Mustang I prototype by way of Ford Germany . The "high compression" 1699 cc Ford Taunus V4 engine and transaxle combination from the Taunus 15M TS was compact enough to fit between the rear seats and the boot. Other noteworthy features of the M530 were its targa top roof, hidden headlamps and avant-garde design. The Matra Sports M530 debuted on 7 March 1967 at

1479-682: A technical inspection. It was not just the Series 1 cars or saloons - according to an employee of the recycling firm that disposed of the Betas, the Series 2, HPE, Coupe and Spider models were all affected and by late 1983, the scrap dealer Hallett metals in Crewkerne, Somerset had crushed the last of the affected cars. In fact, by 1983 Series 2 cars outnumbered Series 1 models by a large percentage. Deliveries to Hallett Metals were handled mainly by transport company Abbey Hill. Before being crushed (flattened),

1566-612: A third time for engine installation and final assembly. Lancia probably lost money on every car built. Number built: 9,390. In the early 1980s Lancia also produced a small number of Lancia Spider Volumex (supercharged) cars. This was the last Lancia to be offered in the United States, being the company's sole offering in 1982, their last year in the country. The Beta HPE was a three-door sporting estate or shooting brake introduced in March 1975. HPE stood for High Performance Estate, and then later High Performance Executive. This model had Berlina's longer wheelbase floorpan combined with

1653-418: A unique " U engine " out of two existing Simca straight-4 engines. The blocks came from two different Simca applications and rotated in opposite directions but shared the same 1294 cc displacement. One block was from the 1100Ti and was adapted to transverse mounting while the other was from the Simca 1000 Rallye II in which it had been mounted longitudinally. The two blocks were joined at an 82° angle using

1740-564: A well-regarded existing Fiat engine, fitted transversely and driving the front wheels, in line with Fiat's investment in this configuration during the previous decade. The gear box was a development of a transmission unit then being developed by Fiat-partner Citroën for a forthcoming model of their own. Above all, and in contrast with the Fulvia , the Beta design was relatively inexpensive to produce in volumes significantly higher than those achieved by predecessor Lancia saloons. All versions of

1827-583: The Fiat 128 MacPherson strut front suspension and disk brakes at both front and rear. Lancia Beta parts were limited to those from the existing Fiat/Lancia standard parts bin: the transverse-mount version of the Fiat 124's twin cam engine and the five-speed gearbox and transaxle. Montecarlos were available as fixed head "Coupés" and also as "Spiders" with solid A and B pillars, but a large flat folding canvas roof between them. The very first examples had steel panels to

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1914-412: The Fiat 132 . The Beta was very well received by the motoring press and public when launched. The various models were praised for their performance and their good handling and roadholding. They were widely regarded as a "driver's car" with plenty of character. The Beta was competitively priced in export markets and managed to become the highest ever selling Lancia model up to that point. Unfortunately

2001-559: The Geneva Motor Show . With 70 DIN hp from its Ford V4 engine , the car had a top speed of 175 km/h (109 mph). It entered production in April, incorporating modifications that included a new chrome bumper bar to provide much-needed protection for the front grill, a modestly reshaped dashboard to give the passenger more knee room, and a repositioned ignition key to facilitate access. For its first two years of production,

2088-511: The Matra Djet that was more appealing to the non-racing public — a voiture des copains (car for friends). The resulting Matra M530 was the first "true" Matra sports car, the Djet having been a René Bonnet design. The car was named after Matra's R.530 missile, and was designed by former Simca designer Philippe Guédon , with the body styled by Jacques Nochet. Although both the Djet and

2175-578: The 1.8ES version was launched featuring electric windows , alloy wheels and sunroof . At the Turin Auto Show in November 1974 a 1300 engine joined the range at the bottom, then in the fall of 1975 the existing 1600 and 1800 engines were replaced by new 1600 and 2000 units. The 2.0 litre units had improved torque (up 20% to 128 lb ft at 2800 rpm). In the same year Lancia returned to the US market with

2262-479: The 1900 cc Opel Manta SR at DM 13,990. The Bagheera won the ADAC Silberne Zitrone ("Silver Lemon") award in 1975 for the poorest quality car at the time. Complaints ranged from a leaky body that allowed rain to enter the cabin to mechanical failures. Few Bagheeras survive today, and the cause is usually extensive corrosion of the steel chassis. While the polyester body panels do not rust,

2349-410: The 1979 model year, a two-litre engine was installed, with power up somewhat, to 87 hp (65 kW). More importantly, torque was up by 17 per cent. A black and gold Zagato Limited Edition (LE) of 500 cars was offered for 1979, followed by a Special Edition (SE) of similar livery for 1981. Quality problems meant that US inspectors went to visit the plant to see what could be improved, but Lancia took

2436-537: The Bagheera this ohv straight-4 engine developed 62.6 kW (84 hp) at 6000 rpm, two more horsepower than in the 1100 Ti. The transversely mounted engine was paired with the 4-speed manual transaxle from the 1100. In 1976 a larger version of the same engine became available when the 1,442 cc (88.0 cu in) engine from the Simca 1308 GT was added to the lineup. The first Bagheera to use this engine

2523-488: The Beta gained a reputation for being rust-prone, particularly the 1st Series vehicles (built from 1972 to 1975). A widely circulated rumor states that the cars used Soviet steel supplied to Fiat in return for building the Lada factory. However, these claims have never been verified. The steel problems are more likely due to poor rustproofing techniques as well as the prolonged strikes that plagued Italy at that time rather than

2610-638: The Beta's predecessor, the Lancia Fulvia saloon and coupé. Number built: 111,801. This was one of the bodystyles to be marketed in North America. The 2.0L twin-cam I4 offered in North America produced 108 hp (81 kW; 109 PS) at 5500 rpm. The next version to be launched was a two-door convertible called the Spider (or Zagato in America), also with 2+2 seating. The Spider used

2697-513: The Beta. Automatic versions were introduced in 1978. In 1981 the 2.0 became available with electronic fuel injection. Berlina production ended in 1981. Late in the Beta's life, with assistance from Pininfarina , a substantially reworked 4-door three-box , notchback saloon variant was released as the Trevi ; the Trevi also introduced an original new dashboard layout designed by Mario Bellini which

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2784-526: The Geneva show in 1968. The car appeared again in Turin with some modifications and a new paint scheme. Giovanni Michelotti developed a one-off M530-based "Laser" design study that featured gull-wing doors . The car was first shown in yellow at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show, and the next year appeared at the 1972 Montreal Auto Salon in silver. The car's location was unknown for several years, until it surfaced at

2871-452: The Greek alphabet, Alpha, but this was not chosen for the new 1972 Lancia due to the obvious confusion it might cause with Alfa Romeo models. When Fiat acquired Lancia in 1969, the company had been without a Technical Director for the year following the death of Technical Director Antonio Fessia . Ing. Sergio Camuffo was given the job of developing the new model in early 1970. Although in

2958-500: The M530 ceased in 1973 after a total of 9,609 cars (2,062 M530, 1,669 M530 A, 4,731 M530 LX and 1,146 M530 SX) were built. No right-hand drive M530s were built. French artist Sonia Delaunay , creator of the Orphism art style that emphasized colour and geometric shapes, painted a pre-production M530 at the request of Lagardère in 1968. Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale presented a custom bodied M530 coupé designed by Virginio Vairo at

3045-421: The M530 had glass reinforced plastic (GRP) bodywork and mid-engine layouts, the Djet used a relatively simple steel backbone chassis with a large-diameter centre spine and an engine cradle and outriggers of smaller diameter square-section steel tube, while the M530 was built on a steel platform chassis with perforations for lightness. To accommodate a mid-mounted engine and yet still provide 2+2 seating and

3132-810: The Trevi were on offer at one time or another, although some were sold under different names: the Spider was sold as the Lancia Zagato (from 1979) and the Montecarlo as the Lancia Scorpion (because Chevrolet already had rights to the Monte Carlo model name in the US). Federalized cars were originally sold with a 1756 cc twin-cam engine with 86 hp (64 kW). This later dropped to 83 hp (62 kW) as emissions rules were tightened. For

3219-578: The U8-powered Bagheera remained a prototype with only three units ever built. A surviving prototype and engine are in the Matra museum at Romorantin-Lanthenay. Matra 530 The Matra Sports M530 is a sports car created and built by the French engineering group Matra . It was in production from 1967 to 1973. In 1965 Matra's CEO Jean-Luc Lagardère decided to develop a successor to

3306-460: The UK, however the car was also sold in some other RHD markets so exact RHD production remains unknown). Only one right-hand drive Trevi VX was made. A small number of Trevis were built to run on LPG rather than petrol (gasoline) . This car marked a brief return of Lancia to the United States market beginning in 1975. Federalization was not quite harmonious, though, which combined with a lack of dealers to dissuade US buyers. All bodystyles except

3393-457: The car came with DOHC engines, five-speed gearboxes, rack and pinion steering , fully independent suspension using MacPherson struts , both front and rear, with disc brakes on all four wheels. The front-wheel-drive models were available in a number of engine capacities ranging from 1.3 litre to 2.0 litre. Breathing was provided by a single Weber carburettor until fuel injection was introduced on late two litre HPE and Coupe models. As with

3480-495: The car if performance was to be acceptable. As many as possible of the major components were sourced from the Chrysler-Simca parts inventory. Although the engine, gearbox and many suspension elements came directly from the Simca 1100, this new Matra was to be a mid-engined car rather than front-wheel drive like the donor car. Chrysler-Simca's planners also wanted a car with more than just two seats. Guédon agreed, but he

3567-460: The car took place at the 1973 24 Heures du Mans . At the same time Simca had arranged to have 500 yellow Bagheeras available at their dealers across France. Towards the end of 1973, production levels had reached 65 cars per day. In June 1974, within eighteen months of its release, more than 10,000 Bagheeras had been sold. The initial shape of the car was drawn by Jean Toprieux and later refined by Jacques Nochet. Greek designer Antonis Volanis joined

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3654-487: The car was built in. The front suspension was from the Simca 1100 . It consisted of upper and lower A-arms with telescopic hydraulic dampers and longitudinal torsion bars running back along the chassis for springing. An anti-roll bar was fitted at the front as well. The rear of the M550 prototype used the same type of suspension as the front, moved rearward along with the engine and transaxle. This proved unsatisfactory and so

3741-479: The car's early development stage. Problems with the car's finish served to hamper sales when new, and in 1975 the Bagheera received German ADAC 's "Silver Lemon" award for being the new car with the most problems. The Bagheera won the 1973 Style Auto Award, beating out competition that included the Lancia Stratos , Lancia Beta coupé and Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 . The Bagheera was also very aerodynamic, with

3828-642: The chassis of the M530 V6, this car had the Ford engine replaced by a Simca Type 180 inline four cylinder engine. Created after Chrysler-France assumed control of Matra, the changes necessary to adapt the transaxle to the Chrysler engine made this version too expensive to produce. Lancia Beta#Coup.C3.A9 The Lancia Beta (Type 828), stylised as Lancia β , was an entry-level luxury car produced by Italian car manufacturer Lancia from 1972 to 1984. It

3915-519: The chassis was built by Carrier in Alençon and final assembly was done by French coachbuilder Brissonneau et Lotz at Creil . The engine bay of early M530s was accessible by removing its acrylic glass rear window. 1969 brought many changes to the M530. Firstly, the engine benefited from changes made by Ford to their own product line, including use of a different carburetor , which raised power output to 75 CV (55 kW). Secondly, Matra closed

4002-536: The company's recently acquired Pamplona plant , though only the Coupé and HPE lift-back versions were included. The arrangement was short lived from 1979 up to 1980 because of a falling out in the early 1980s between Fiat , Lancia's parent company, and the Spanish government over the increasingly urgent need for investment to upgrade the SEAT range. In 1982 Volkswagen became SEAT's major auto-industry partner, and under

4089-463: The coupé's front end and doors. The HPE was developed by Pininfarina . At launch it came with either 1600 or 1800 twin-cam engines, these being replaced in November of the same year by new 1.6 and 2.0 units. In 1978, like other Beta models automatic transmission became available along with power steering. It was renamed the H.P.Executive (without the Beta) from 1979 and in autumn 1981 gained the option of

4176-417: The coupé's shorter wheelbase and featured a targa top roof panel, a roll-over bar and folding rear roof. Early models did not have a cross-member supporting the roof between the tops of the A to B Pillars. Later models had fixed cross-members. Production started in 1975. It was initially powered by either the 1600 or 1800 twin-cam engine, later being replaced by the new 1.6 and 2.0. In Europe, it never received

4263-423: The decision to use an existing power plant: the Fiat twin overhead cam, straight-four engine with its alloy head and cast iron block. At the Beta's launch late in 1972 Fiat chief Gianni Agnelli told journalists that Lancia's output would be about 40,000 units in 1972 at a time when a volume of 100,000 was needed to cover the fixed costs involved in developing and building the cars. Lancia's lack of profitability

4350-450: The difficult years before the Fiat take-over, a number of the engineering staff had left the company, Camuffo was able to pull together a core of Lancia engineers, who were tasked with getting the car into production by the end of 1972. Romanini, chassis design, Zaccone Mina, engine development, with Gilio and Bencini in testing. This was a very short timeframe, and development money was relatively limited. These were key factors that influenced

4437-433: The driven wheels and towards the centre of the car, as well as lowering the centre of gravity . The rear-wheel drive Lancia Montecarlo employed a similar layout except the subframe was mounted at the rear. On the front-wheel drive Betas, Lancia designed a particularly original independent rear suspension with MacPherson struts attached to parallel transverse links that pivoted on a centrally mounted cross member bolted to

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4524-472: The engine and gearboxes would be removed and placed in a separate container and no parts were to be removed or resold to the public. In the UK (Lancia's largest export market at the time), the company listened to the complaints from its dealers and customers and commenced a campaign to buy back vehicles affected by the subframe problem. Some of these vehicles were 6 years old or older and belonged to 2nd or 3rd owners. Customers were invited to present their cars to

4611-418: The engines fitted to the Beta range. These included new inlet and exhaust manifolds as well as different carburation. In addition the mounting points on the engine block were different so as to allow for the transverse installation as opposed to the longitudinal installation utilised by the rear-wheel-drive Fiats. For these reasons the engines are not interchangeable between Betas and contemporary Fiats such as

4698-518: The final production cars received a new system that comprised new trailing arms designed by Matra with transverse torsion bars and telescopic shock-absorbers. An anti-roll bar was also fitted at the rear. No right-hand-drive Bagheeras were ever built by the factory, but a number were converted to RHD by Wooler-Hodec in England. The only engine offered at first was the 1,294 cc (79.0 cu in) "Poissy engine" from Simca's 1100 Ti model. In

4785-559: The first body style to appear, and the most common was the four-door berlina ( saloon ), with a wheelbase of 2,535 mm (99.8 in) and ' fastback ' styling giving the appearance of a hatchback , although in fact it had a conventional boot like a saloon . This practice was common in the industry at the time as manufacturers deemed that hatchback designs would not be accepted in this market sector. It featured 1400, 1600 and 1800 transversely mounted twin-cam engines based on earlier Fiat designs along with five speed gearbox. In 1974

4872-412: The fuel injected engine, although a fuel injected version was sold in the US market in 1981 and 1982. The Spider was designed by Pininfarina but actually built by Zagato . The construction process was complex, with coupé bodies-in-white being delivered to Zagato for the roofless conversion, then back to Lancia for rust-proofing, then back to Zagato for paint, interior and trim, and then back to Lancia for

4959-617: The left-hand crank to the right. Each block retained its own crankshaft, distributor, and water pump. The clutch and bell-housing of the engine from the Rallye II engine provided the transaxle mounting while a flywheel was only mounted to the 1100Ti crankshaft. The resulting 2,588 cc (157.9 cu in) 8-cylinder assembly was fitted with four Weber 36 DCNF carburetors and, with a 9.8:1 compression ratio, produced 126 kW (169.0 hp) at 6200 rpm and 216 N⋅m (159.3 lb⋅ft) at 4000 rpm. The car required modifications to accept

5046-408: The metal's origin. The corrosion problems could be structural; for instance where the subframe carrying the engine and gearbox was bolted to the underside of the car. The box section to which the rear of the subframe was mounted could corrode badly, causing the subframe to become loose. Although tales of subframes dropping out of vehicles were simply not true, a vehicle with a loose subframe would fail

5133-404: The name Monte Carlo for a Chevrolet model. The Scorpion name was a reference to Abarth . 7,798 Montecarlos were built between 1975-81. For some the Beta was not a Lancia but rather a Fiat. However Lancia had some autonomy from Fiat in the development of the Beta. The main reason for the Fiat label was that despite its unique Lancia chassis, suspension, interior and bodywork, the Beta used

5220-405: The name Beta for a new vehicle to be launched in 1972, symbolising a new beginning as it reflected the fact that the company's founder, Vincenzo Lancia (1881–1937), had used letters of the Greek alphabet for his early vehicles – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on. "Beta" had been used before, first for Lancia's 1908 car and again for a 1953 bus. Lancia had previously used the first letter of

5307-417: The new engine. Additional air-intakes were let into the sides of the car ahead of the rear wheels. The overall length rose by 431.8 mm (17 in) and the wheelbase rose by 230 mm (9.1 in). Overall width increased by 20 mm (0.8 in) due to the addition of larger wheel arches added to clear wider tires, which were 185/70 VR14s at the front and 205/70 VR14s at the rear. The front suspension

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5394-465: The normal two-litre 200 N⋅m (148 lb⋅ft). The Coupé VX and HPE VX can be distinguished from the normal cars by the offset bulge on the hood which is required to clear the new air intake, a spoiler fitted below the front bumper and the rubber rear spoiler. They also have stiffer spring rates. Lancia produced 1272 Coupé VX, 2370 HPE VX and 3900 Trevi VX. Most were left-hand drive (only 186 right-hand drive HPEs and around 150 RHD Coupés were imported to

5481-448: The output shaft being offset 127.0 mm (5 in) to the right the half-shafts were of unequal lengths. Top speed for the car was reported to have been 232 km/h (144.2 mph). Even though the project was announced in the autumn of 1973, said to be production ready by 1974, and survived until 1975, Chrysler Europe was unwilling to approve the project due to the developing fuel crises as well as its own financial problems. Thus,

5568-415: The panels was called `LP', and it used a low-pressure high-temperature pressing method to produce panels using relatively inexpensive tooling. The advantages of using LP for Matra were its ability to produce large, high quality panels with precision and economy. The LP process had only been in use for twelve month prior to the beginning of production, which means that Matra had introduced this new technology at

5655-404: The passenger side was a single two-place bench with two individual seatbacks inspired by a lounge chair Guédon had found in a Paris shop. Seen in plan view it is apparent that the body sides are slightly convex to accommodate the seating. The 19 panels that made up the Bagheera's body were made of fiberglass -reinforced polyester , which were then attached to the chassis. The process used to make

5742-570: The price comparison was the Porsche 912 then being offered in the UK with a manufacturer's recommended retail price of £2,894. The testers commended the Matra's refinement, handling and steering, soundness of construction and finish, while noting that its performance was 'not outstanding'. Introduced at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show , the Matra Sports M530 LX was a minor redesign of the M530 A by Michelotti . Notable changes included

5829-461: The problem was caused by the underlying steel chassis having almost no corrosion protection. Matra learned from this and fully galvanized the chassis of the Bagheera's successor, the Matra Murena . In March 1973 a team of Matra engineers led by Georges Pinardaud completed the initial design for project M560, which was to be a more powerful Bagheera. A key part of the project was the creation of

5916-418: The project and contributed to the interior, handling the instrument panel and steering wheel shapes. The body's shape was that of a sleek hatchback with hidden headlights . The rear hatch opened to access the engine mounted behind the passenger compartment and a rear luggage space. The unusual three-abreast seating dictated by Guédon was implemented as a 2+1 arrangement. The driver had a regular seat while on

6003-536: The rear doors. The two gearboxes were linked, and an electronically controlled throttle replaced the mechanical system so the two engines worked together. There are few records of Lancias ever being assembled outside Italy but, exceptionally, Betas were. It was announced in August 1976 that SEAT would commence Spanish production of the Lancia Beta. Three years later Beta production by SEAT indeed commenced at

6090-501: The rear wings above the engine bay, but this limited version made reversing difficult and it was replaced by glass panels. This gave a flying buttress appearance to the rear, similar to the Maserati Merak . First Series cars (1975–1978) were badged Lancia Beta Montecarlo. They were named "Montecarlo", written as one word, not Monte Carlo , one of Monaco 's administrative areas, although the rear badge reads "MONTE-CARLO". There

6177-553: The same year; the Beta was the first Lancia manufactured with an automatic transmission factory option. In 1981 power steering also became available on certain Right Hand Drive models. Also in that year a fuel-injected version of the 2.0-litre engine became available on certain models. The Coupé and HPE underwent a facelift in June 1983 (at the same time that the supercharged VX versions were introduced) and remained available for

6264-508: The second Tokyo Concours d’Elegance in 2009. French designer and one-time Renault employee Camille Diebold designed a custom body for the M530 in 1973. Construction on the car began in 1974, and was completed by 1975. A special M530 was prepared by British engineering firm and engine specialist Weslake for the Critérium des Cévennes. The Taunus V4 in this car was replaced by a Ford Cologne V6 engine . The car did not race. Built using

6351-438: The underside of the floorpan. An anti-roll bar was fitted to the floorpan ahead of the rear struts with both ends of the bar trailing back to bolt to the rear struts on each side. This unique design went on to be used in later Lancia models. The design was never patented by Lancia, and consequently inspired similar rear suspension system layouts in other manufacturers' vehicles during the 1980s and 1990s. A short wheelbase coupé

6438-665: The years. Power steering specially produced by the German company ZF became available on certain Left Hand Drive models and was also used on the Gamma . For 1975 the exterior styling was modified by Pininfarina: "the back window has been relocated in a more upright position" to aid visibility, the rear quarter pillars gained sharper trailing edges, the waistline was lowered and windows made larger. Electronic ignition became available in 1978. Automatic transmission became available

6525-577: Was also evidenced by the absence of replacement models under development at the time of the Fiat take-over. The Lancia Fulvia , though much loved, had been developed with little concern for making it cost-effective to manufacture; it had therefore been sold at a high price in correspondingly low volumes. The company's new owner's objective with the new Beta was to retain the quality image and price premium of existing Lancias, while minimising development time and production costs, using in-house Fiat group technology and parts where possible. The project adapted

6612-518: Was also not satisfied with the 2+2 arrangement used in the M530, feeling that the rear seats were too small to be really useful. The solution came to him on a lengthy trip he took in a Ford Taunus station wagon with two colleagues. The back of the car was so full that the travelers sat three across in the front of the car. The M550 sat three abreast. Eleven prototypes were built and used for road-testing in environments ranging from Saharan Mauritania to Lapland , as well as for crash-testing. Development

6699-487: Was complete by the end of 1972. The car was built in Matra's factory in the commune of Romorantin-Lanthenay in the department of Loir-et-Cher in central France. Rather than being sold under its development code name, the car took its name from the character in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book . The Bagheera was unveiled to the press at an event held at Lake Annecy on April 14, 1973. The public release of

6786-561: Was introduced in June 1973, then the following year the 2+2 Spider convertible. At the 1975 Geneva Motor Show Lancia launched the HPE (High Performance Estate), styled in a similar vein to the Reliant Scimitar and Volvo 1800ES while utilizing the wheelbase of the Berlina. Later the Beta Montecarlo, a two-seater mid-engined coupé was launched. The different models all underwent various revisions and improvements over

6873-399: Was led by Matra's head of engineering and design Philippe Guédon and Chrysler-Simca product planner Jacques Rousseau. Additional direction for the design was provided by Chrysler-Simca planner Marc Honoré. Honoré identified Simca's strongest market as being cars displacing between 1.3 and 1.5 litres and suggested the team focus on building a car of that class, which would constrain the size of

6960-565: Was originally designed as Pininfarina's contender to replace Fiat's 124 Coupe , but lost out to Bertone's cheaper design, which became the Fiat X1/9 . Pininfarina's design was called the X1/20 at the prototype stage. Lancia launched the Montecarlo as a premium alternative to the X1/9, with the 2.0L twin cam engine rather than the X1/9's single cam 1.3L. Both used a similar chassis floorplan, based on

7047-684: Was recorded against 176.5 km/h (110 mph) for an Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior , despite the Alfa's claim of an extra 3 bhp. The French car's acceleration also bettered the Italian's, taking 12.2 seconds to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) against the Alfa's 13.5 seconds. The Matra-Simca's DM 14,198 price tag was somewhat lower than the DM 14,490 listed for the Alfa Romeo, although both were undercut on price by models from mass market producers such as

7134-545: Was recorded. This put it significantly behind the similarly priced Lotus Elan +2 on performance, but the two cars were closely matched on fuel economy. The Matra's £2,160 manufacturer's recommended price was a little lower than the £2,244 price on the Lotus, but both were massively undercut by the £1,217 then being asked for the MG MGB GT which, although based on an older simpler design, sold in greater numbers. Also included in

7221-516: Was the first new model introduced by Lancia after it had been taken over by Fiat in 1969. The Beta was made in several body styles, namely 4-door fastback saloon (Beta berlina), 4-door three-box , notchback saloon (Beta Trevi), 2-door coupé (Beta Coupé), 2-door targa (Beta Spider), 3-door estate (Beta HPE); a mid-engined sports car was also sold under the Beta name, the Lancia Beta Montecarlo . The company chose

7308-475: Was the newly introduced `S' version. Changes were also made to the carburation. A 4-speed manual was still the only transmission offered. Early in 1974 the German Magazine Auto, Motor und Sport tested a 1294 cc Bagheera and compared it to its closest competitors in the market. The car's light weight served it well in the performance comparisons: a top speed of 186.5 km/h (116 mph)

7395-519: Was then a 2-year gap in production in order to revise a brake issue where the brakes had a tendency to lock up. Lancia solved this problem by removing the brake servo. The revised Second Series cars (1980–1981) were simply badged as Lancia Montecarlo. In the United States, the First Series cars were marketed as the Scorpion alongside the rest of the Beta range, as General Motors was already using

7482-423: Was then applied to the third series Berlina. Number built: 194,914 Berlinas plus 36,784 Trevis. In 1973 the second style to appear was a 2+2 two-door coupé with a 2,350 mm (92.5 in) wheelbase, although due to the fuel crisis did not become available to the public until early 1974. It was launched with 1.6 and 1.8L engines. New 1.6 and 2.0L engines replaced the original units in late 1975, followed by

7569-423: Was unchanged from the original but at the rear suspension was now by lateral links, trailing arms, and coil springs. The car also received ventilated disk brakes and 5-lug wheels. The first prototype used a modified production chassis, while subsequent prototypes used a chassis made of tubular steel. The engine was mounted longitudinally behind the driver and drove the wheels through a Porsche 5-speed transaxle. Due to

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