Visit of the Matra Museum - June 20th 2010

René Bonnet created in 1962 the Matra Djet was the first car in the world to have its engine in a central position. In 1964 MATRA (Mécanique-Aviation-TRAction) bought the Bonnet company. The factory was located in Romorantin in Loir et cher (France). The first cars to be built in this old textile factory were the 530, Bagheera, Murena and the Rancho. In 1984, Matra gets very well known for building the Espace by Renault. About 900 000 Espace cars were built in the Matra factories. About 350 cars leave the new factory in Vierzon each day. In 2003, the failed attempt of Matra to make new car (like the Avantime in that year) makes the company shut down.
Matra was also weel known for their races cars who ran in the 24h du Mans in the 70s but famous drivers such as Jean Pierre Beltoise of Jean Todt. in about 10 years (1965 to 1974) Matra will have won 124 races.