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After Matra took over Automobiles René Bonnet, the production of the D’jets were discontinued. At the time, Matra was a military stores manufacturer. They were also particularly interested in fiberglass technology, which was the specialty of René Bonnet. But the formation of Matra Automobiles reduced Bonnet’s influence in the manufacturing process. In 1967, Matra launched […]

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The American Austin Car Company was an attempt to popularize the European idea of an economy car for America. In 1929, buoyed by the success of the tiny Austin 7 in Europe, Sir Herbert Austin of the Austin Motor Company of Birmingham, England traveled to America with plans to license out production. With access to

The Renault 16 (known colloquially as the R16) was a forward-looking car. Before the term “hatchback” was coined, the R16 was the first medium-sized front-wheel-drive family car, simply called a “five door”. Early examples of hatchback body configurations are found as far back as the 1930s, but the Merriam-Webster dictionary dates the term “hatchback” to

The Elite was Lotus’ first attempt at a mainstream four-seat road car, succeeding the Elan Plus 2, but using much of that car’s underpinnings. Even though it was a large car by Lotus standards, almost a foot longer and wider than anything offered before, it was still only the size and weight of a Chevy

The 2014 50th Anniversary Edition 911 was built by Porsche to commemorate the 911’s birthday, 50 years after its production launch in 1964. In homage to 1963, the year the 911 debuted at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show, production was limited to 1,963 units; the one seen here is #1480. This example is finished in

The Volkswagen XL1 is a two-seat, limited production, diesel-powered plug-in hybrid that VW introduced in 2014. Volkswagen was developing PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) technologies, and wanted to test them in real-world scenarios. While 250 examples were reportedly built, only 200 were made available for sale to the public. The XL1 car was touted as

Dutch manufacturer Waaijenberg introduced this two-seat microcar, the Canta, in 1995. With its low step-in height and the availability of hand controls, the Canta was specifically created to ensure the independence of people with mobility restrictions. At only 44” wide, this car is narrow enough to be allowed to drive on bicycle lanes and pedestrian