Manufacturer Matra Production 1980–1983 Class Sports car | Also called Talbot-Matra Murena Designer Antonis Volanis Body style 3-door hatchback | |
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The Matra Murena was a 3-seat single row sports car with mid-engined rear wheel drive, produced from 1980 through 1983 by the French engineering group Matra.
The Murena replaced the Matra Bagheera, a similar vehicle resulting from previous Matra-Simca cooperation, and was largely based on its predecessor. Referred to as project "M551" during development, the Murena employed the base Bagheera structure, but substantial changes were made to address some of the concerns regarding the previous model. The car still had a steel spaceframe with body panels made of fibreglass-epoxy. These body panels were produced using a low volume, high quality, manufacturing process known as Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), using Posiload pumps developed by Liquid Control. To counter the rust issues plaguing the Bagheeras, the spaceframe was galvanised. The Murena was actually the first production car to use galvanised steel for all chassis parts. This, coupled with the composite panels, made the car essentially immune to rust, except for the rear trailing arms of the suspension.
The Murena also inherited the Bagheera's mid-engined layout together with the sleek hatchback body shape, with the rear hatch allowing access to the engine mounted behind the passenger compartment, and a luggage area. The styling was all-new, though, and the body very aerodynamic for its time. A unique feature carried over from the previous model was the seating arrangement - all three seats were placed in one row, with the middle seat folding down to become an armrest when not in use by a passenger.
The engine selection was different, however. The base model had a 1.6 engine, while the more powerful version employed the 2.2 (Chrysler France engine), which also served as the base engine for the top of the range Talbot Tagora saloon. This engine was also available with the so-called "Prep 142 kit" that upgraded its output from 84.3 KW to 101.4 KW power rating. At first, this was a dealer-fitted option, but the last 480 Murena direct from the factory had this uprated engine as standard and these were called the Murena S. The standard carburation was via a single Solex down-draught carburettor, but S models had twin side-draught Solex carburettors.
The car had good performance and handling. It was only available in left hand drive specification, although a very small number of right hand drive conversions were made.
Production of the Matra Murena was discontinued in 1983, when the Matra factory in Romorantin switched to production of the Renault Espace multi-people carrier.