The employees of the by Chrysler taken over Matra factory for the production of motor vehicles needed employment. They once had made from the Simca 1100 the Bagheera with midsized engine. In the end the origin was certainly no longer to be recognized. That should be different this time. With the Rancho they didn't succeed in hiding the 1100s front. Incidentally, not an easy task, because there was next to the 1100 with hatchback even a station wagon (pictured above). But the people of Matra were creative and had fiberglass. They remained the undercarriage of the origin car unchanged including wheelbase and the drive unit, too. But from the B-pillar to the end, it was changed fundamentally.

Incredibly, what was bolted to the front of the car in order to disguise the origin. A powerful bumper with large embedded additional lights, two searchlights, a bar in front of the radiator grille, panels on the fenders and an additional plastic roof with railing to make us forget the familiar face.

Rear free design was possible. Higher with additional seating and upward folding glass pane as once the Bagheera had, but a stable flap that opens downwards and extends the cargo space when needed. In the front there is a certain overhang, more backwards. All this makes up 37 centimeters more in length and a total more weight of about 200 kg.

To achieve at least the same top speed as the brave 1100 had, 15 kW (20 HP) more are needed. So they choosed for the (still somewhat grumpy) engine of the Simca 1308/1510 with just 1.5 liters of displacement. The end product, of course, suffers from the purchase price, as well as the not even cheap manufacturing with the sticking and drying of glass fiber.

Is this the forerunner of today's SUVs? Certainly not because we miss even the possibility of all-wheel drive. After all, it is possible, to increase the ground clearance to 22/28 mm front/rear by larger wheels and change adjustment of the torsion springs. Thus, the off-road relatively large rear overhang can be compensated. Its abilities on loose ground are surprisingly respectable. Perhaps one can call him a forerunner of the type 'crossover', if that's even a definable genre.