CC Museum: Manoir de l’Automobile, Part 2 – Postwar Imports & Domestic Trucks

As stated in Part 1, the Manoir de l’Automobile (located in Brittany, by the way) features a majority of French cars. But there are a number of very fine imports as well, as we will see here. And a few (French) trucks and vans to pad out the post. Above, we see the sole Japanese car in the whole shebang. Well, at least there’s one. And it’s a great choice.

Not sure how to do this – probably marque by marque is easiest. So let’s get cracking with Volkswagens, I guess.

Lovely though that Type 1 was, this Type 18 Streifenwagen or Polizei-Cabriolet is a lot more interesting. Of the 480 cars made, about a third were made by Hebmüller like this one. Following the coachbuilder’s closure due to a devastating fire in 1949, production for these was split between Karmann and Austro-Tatra in 1950-51. But those had doors.

Nice K-G. Don’t see many of those in black, but it suits them quite well.

Equally beautiful 1970 Transporter, but I see too many of these in Tokyo to find them all that interesting any longer.

That’s the star VW, as far as I’m concerned. But there’s one more in store, and it’s a weird one.

Woah! Whoever knew of the 300HP twin turbo(-Diesel) “Race Touareg”? I never got that memo. This is apparently one of the three that won the Paris-Dakar rally in 2010.

Unless I missed it (which is not impossible, I missed the white Citroën AX we catch a glimpse of in this picture), this was the only Opel in the collection. An inspired choice, especially with that upholstery.

On the other hand, Euro Fords were extremely well-represented. Someone obviously has a thing for Escort RSs.

But not just Escorts, either. I like the fact that a lot of the cars in this collection are French market versions, too. Hence the yellow headlamps, which were mandatory there until 1993.

This Cortina Lotus is the exception that proves the rule. It’s as British as a pint of tepid beer.

Random Consul 315 lost in the middle of a room dedicated to high-class GTs. Why 315, by the way?

Save for the Fords, the Perfidious Albion was not very well-represented in this collection, to be frank. This little group was a rare occasion when more than one could be caught in a single photo.

Talbot Sunbeams are quite a rarity in France, where these UK-made RWD hatchbacks did not really fit in with the rest of the Simca/Talbot range. The Lotus version was what gave the marque its first rally wins in decades, though.

Only a couple of BMWs were around, both very fine examples of the Neue Klasse. That 2000 saloon from 1967 is one of my secret heartthrobs – those weird headlights are just magic.

We best get started on the Italian contingent, there’s a lot to process. There was a corner of the museum obviously dedicated to Ferrari, but half of the cars were not Ferraris. Well, the Fiat Dino does have a Ferrari engine, I suppose…

The Pantera, on the other hand, has a good ol’ Ford V8. Impressive and, at least those early ones, gorgeous.

Here are the Ferraris, nicely tucked in their little corner, far from the hoi-polloi. The blue 308GTB was raced by the Charles Pozzi team. Pozzi, a former racing driver, was the French importer for Ferrari (and Maserati) for a very long time, a bit like Luigi Chinetti was for the US.

A few Fiats while we’re here. I have a weakness for the 850 Coupé, but the Abarth 1000 version in red was even more enticing. Bellissima!

Again, pretty random, but here is a significantly souped-up Niva backed by French Lada importer Jacques Poch that was raced by Belgian driver Jacky Ickx at the 1988 Pharaoh’s Rally. No, it didn’t win – Ari Vatanen’s Peugeot 405 Mi16 did.

The placard calls this a 1989 “Trabant Sport.” Go-faster stripes and extra headlights are all the sport this two-stroke relic could handle, I’m sure.

Not that two-strokes are inherently ill-suited to sporty cars. Just ask Saab. OK, this one traded its two-stroke for a Ford V4, but the point still stands. I think.

The first car made by Israeli carmaker Autocars Co. Ltd. was the Sabra. The engineering and initial assemblies were undertaken by Reliant in the UK, using a Ford engine, a ZF transmission and a GRP body. Around 380 were made between 1961 and 1968, of which 10 were sold in France at the time.

The fabulous TT was the greatest rear-engined car NSU ever made.

But the greatest NSU ever made was, of course, the one that killed the company. Every time I see a Ro80, which isn’t all that often, the modernity of the design always floors me.

Only one Audi was present in this museum, but it was a darn good pick. Judging by the license plate, it’s a local car: 35 is the Ille-et-Vilaine département, unlike the Saab or the NSU which have Parisian plates ending in 75.

On the Alfa side, a couple of Bertone Giulia coupés were in the house. That blue Junior is not a ’68 model, though.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, the Montreal wins hands down. But as a practical car, the GTV6 is reputedly a lot more user-friendly. It must be tough to be an Alfista.

My pick of the Biscione would be this one. Pure unadulterated class, and in a superb colour.

But then, we turn to the Lancia contingent, and this Flaminia happens. Picking a winner is going to be very difficult indeed.

In the small Lancia category, we have the Fulvia – question is, are you tempted by the oddity of the Zagato version, or the quirkiness of the factory coupé?

Same question for the Flavia. Though, in this case, the Zagato wins immediately due to its unrestored condition. And how wonderfully weird it is.

When did you last see a Lancia Beta in the wild? I think they were pretty much all gone – dissolved, really – by the mid-‘90s. Don’t let this miraculous survivor out of here, or it’ll surely suffer the same fate.

Porsche-wise, three true classics were on display. Interestingly, all had 4-cyl. engines. Personally, it would be the 912 every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I didn’t bother with the red SL, but it was nice to see a 500 E outside of Japan, for once. And in a very fetching shade of blue, as well.

“Would trade child, spouse, left appendage or kidney for 300 SEL 6.3” should be a phrase often seen in enthusiast magazines’ classifieds. I don’t know, I haven’t read one in ages.

Not my cuppa, this E-Type. Too many cylinders, boring colour, wrong roofline…

But a Mark VII is a different matter. Haven’t seen one of these in Japan yet. Which is strange, as they are rabidly anglophile and Jaguar-mad.

While we’re here, let’s pay our respects to the sole Bentley in the collection. No idea where they got the 225hp number from – Bentley and R-R famously never disclaimed these data.

Next to the Bentley was a much more common Silver Spur. Still with the 225hp? No extra power in 20 years, despite the increase in displacement? Something’s wrong there, guys.

The lone Aston in the museum. David Brown’s legacy – he sold the marque when these were in production – was a solid one. I mean, they basically kept making these for 25 years and managed to keep the lights on to the present day. That’s a win.

While we’re dabbling in V8s, how about a few classic Detroiters? Strangely, nothing from Ford (unlike the blue oval’s European products, which were present in good numbers), but Mopar is here via a very tasty 1949 DeSoto convertible.

A couple of classic Caddies to follow. The Fleetwood 75 allegedly used to belong to Colonel Nasser, hence the Egyptian flags (and license plate).

As far as I’m concerned, the pick of the bunch has to be this Packard Patrician. Why chose between classical conservatism and over-the-top Baroque when you can have both at the same time?

The man behind the Manoir de l’Automobile, Michel Hommell, seems to have a particular passion for Maseratis. Almost all of the pre-Biturbo models were present, starting with this stunning 3500 GTI.

One of the missing Masers was the QP1 – Pietro Frua’s quirky four-door masterpiece. But the Frua-designed Mistral was here, at least.

The Sebring is basically a rebodied 3500 GTI and the Mexico is the coupé version of the Quattroporte. Fewer than 500 units of each of these absolute stunners were ever made.

With no Ghibli (sadly) in the lineup, next up is the Indy, the first Maserati of the Citroën era. Over 1000 were made from 1969 to 1975 with three versions of the Trident’s V8: 4.2 litre, 4.7 litre and 4.9 litre. This is apparently one of the latter ones.

The Bora / Merak duo is symbolic of the Citroën influence in Maserati, with lots of double-chevron bits included in the mix — from door handles off the GS to gearshift levers from the SM, as well as hydropneumatics for nearly everything, save the suspension. But the styling, engine and workmanship was still all-Italian, for better or for worse.

The wildest creation of the Citroën era was, without question, the Khamsin. Gandini, working for Bertone, outdid himself on this one. But it was a tough sell – only 435 units made between 1974 and 1982.

With its De Tomaso chassis and slightly bland Frua-designed body, the 1976-83 Kyalami was a rather blatant desperate bid to renew the lineup while the clean-sheet Biturbo was being designed. A failed one, as it turned out: only 210 folks signed the dotted line.

If the dreaded De Tomaso era has any redeeming feature, this is it. The date on the placard is highly optimistic, as the QP3, basically a slightly stretched De Tomaso Deauville with a superb Giugiaro-designed body, was only shown as a prototype in late 1976; production only got going in 1979.

Saving the best for last as per usual. It’s Tatra time. A wonderful surprise for yours truly, as finding these in a French museum is never a given. I prefer my T613s with a lot less plastic cladding, but it was still a joy to behold one, especially with the gloomy alien spaceship T603 as its companion.

Cherry on top: no, not a T87, but my second-favourite model from the marque’s pure-streamliner era – the T600, and in very good condition, too. Big issue with the placard, which gets basically all the info wrong (including the year, which they state as 1950). It should read: 4 cyl.; 1952cm³; 52CV; 130 Km/H; 1952 – this T600 has the distinctive later tail design of the 1951-52 Škoda-built models.

They even had a dragster in there. No idea who or what “Top Alcohol” is, but judging by the sponsors, this looks like a Franco-American collaboration. Still, with 2500hp and a top speed of 400kph, it’ll get you down to the shops in a jiffy.

A few (mostly) French heavies to close out the post, starting with this massive Saviem fire truck. Saviem was created in 1955 following the merger of Renault’s truck branch with Latil and Somua. The marque lasted until 1980, when it reverted to being called Renault. This looks like it’s based on the old 2500 Kg / Galion design.

This is a pre-1955 (hence Renault-branded) Galion. Very common on French roads until the ‘80s, these had 2-litre Renault or 3-litre Perkins engines. Slow as heck, but hard to kill.

While we’re in the Renault corner, here’s an Estafette. Made from 1959 to 1980 (in France, but for longer in other countries), this was the Régie’s first FWD design.

Peugeot’s first FWD design was also a van: the D3/D4, made between 1950 and 1965. This was a Chenard-Walcker design, originally powered by a 2-cyl. engine in the immediate postwar years. Chenard then modified it to fit Peugeot 4-cyl. engines from the 202; Peugeot acquired the design, manufacturing it as the D3 (with the 203’s 1.3 litre engine) and, from late 1955, as the D4 with the 403’s 1.5 litre. This looks like a D3.

Citroën had the famous H-vans, but they also made heavy 5-ton trucks in the shape of the 1953-65 Type 55, more commonly called U55. These had a 73hp 4.6 litre 6-cyl. petrol or an 86hp 5.2 litre Diesel 6-cyl., both Citroën-made.

The last vehicle in our little tour will be this gorgeous Ford fire truck. These 3.9 litre V8-powered machines were made by the Cologne factory in Germany, essentially from 1940 as the V3000, then as the Ford Rhein/Ruhr from 1948 to 1951.

See you tomorrow for a cornucopia of French cars. In advance, I bid you bon appétit.