Matra 530

The Matra 530 is a sports car created and built by the French engineering group Matra.

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.

M530A

The first 530 (badged Matra Sports M530A) was shown to the public on March 7, 1967 at the Geneva Motor Show. It had a 70 DIN hp Ford 1700 cc V4 engine, which gave the car a top speed of . It went on production one month later. In its first two production years, the chassis has been built by Carrier in Alençon and assembly took place at French coachbuilder Brissonneau et Lotz in Creil. The engine bay of...
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