Monica (automobile)

The Monica 560 was a French sports car that was produced 1967-1975 in few copies. The car is an outspoken exotic to entwine the numerous myths.

The project

Initiator of the project was the French Industrial Jean Tastevin, the head or - according to other sources - Owner of the company CFPM ( Compaigne Francaise des Produits Metallurgiques ) was an operation from Balbigny who established successful railroad cars. After a meeting with British engine builder and racer Chris Lawrence developed Tastevin 1967, the idea to enter a private vehicle into the automobile business. Lawrence should initially develop only the engine; a little later he could Tastevin persuaded to entrust to him the development of the entire car.

The concept of the vehicle as well as its styling were subject to numerous changes throughout its development. Tastevin thought originally to a small, compact sports car with a British engine, for example in the way Ligier realized it in 1970 with his model JS2. Lawrence's work was, however, at an early stage in the direction of a large, heavy sports sedan, which required the use of a powerful unit. Tastevin this consideration, joined to the end; some British sources report that he saw his car now in the tradition of the recently failed Facel Vega brand.

The prototypes

In 1968, a first prototype, which was made ​​in Lawrence's company Lawrencetune. As a tuned engine of Lawrence four-cylinder from the Triumph TR4 was initially provided; the engine, however, proved not to be suitable. The design was unspectacular; on the few available pictures show a discordant, hardly sensational body. Tastevin was not convinced and gave a new design in order.

A second, similarly designed car was produced at Williams & Pritchard in London, a third prototype was built at Vignale in Turin. In these models, the hood was already - high first designed - as with the later production models; However, the fenders were lifted out and wore square headlights from Panhard CD. The car had wide, two-piece bumpers that were chrome plated and framed a small, coarsely barred grille in the style of the Jaguar E-Type.

Between 1969 and 1972 a number of other prototypes that differed significantly from each other partially developed. Tastevin demonstrated their athletic, attractive body. For their design, the Frenchman Robert Collinée and the Romanian Tony Rascanu were committed. They designed - in several intermediate steps - a stretched, four-door body with hatchback and sloping front end.

When driving a specially designed unit was from 1968 instead of the Triumph engine provided. Tastevin had commissioned on Lawrence's initiative, the British engineer Ted Martin with the development of an eight cylinder. The engine initially had a capacity of 3.0 liters. It was derived from a racing engine and soon proved to be unreliable and uncultivated; In addition, it could not be combined with an automatic transmission. Some prototypes were tested in 1970 and 1972 with this engine to be able to resolve fairly easily with the engine. As the reliability deficiencies were obvious Martin 1972 increased the displacement to 3.4 liters. This version has been tested in some prototypes.

Equipped with the enlarged Martin eight cylinder car was shown as Monica 340 for the first time the end of 1972 at the Paris Auto Salon in public. The body of the light blue painted vehicle already corresponded largely to the later production model, but the car did not end with the Martin- eight-cylinder engine in production. For in the last test runs, the engine proved with larger displacement than uncultivated and not the claim of the car properly. In winter 1972/1973 Tastevin announced, on its own engine project and looked around for another power source. First, an attempt was made to relate Rolls- Royce engines; this idea but failed early on the British side. Ultimately chose Tastevin the engine, which used many potential competitors and which - in various stages of development - had proven to be reliable over many years: an American eight-cylinder engine from Chrysler.

Between 1967 and 1973 a total of 25 prototypes, two of which originated with Chrysler engines.

The production model

The production model was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1973 as " Monica 560 ". The name of the car was derived from the name of the wife Tastevins, Monique, from the number indicates the displacement of the engine.

The body of the production model showed many different elements that are not always harmonized well with each other. It was a four-door sedan with a sloping front end, were installed on the pop-up headlights, and an elongated hatchback. The front fascia was similar from different perspectives the Maserati Indy and the Lotus Elan 2 (Type 50) and was not wearing a striking radiator grille. The running of the roofline copied the Aston Martin DBS, and the design of the rear door frame took bonds of the Jaguar Mark II (and its offshoots large S-Type and 420). The waistline was slightly curved as in the American Coke -bottle flies.

Technically, Monica 560 at the level of the time. In addition to the solid Chrysler engine with a displacement of 5.6 liters and 285 hp allegedly, the car had a De Dion axle, four-wheel disc brakes from Lockheed and Girling, also feature automatic leveling and a grid frame. As power transmission was either a manual-shift five-speed transmission from ZF or a Torqueflite automatic transmission from Chrysler. The interior was lined with leather, and the dashboard was a wooden panel. A particular idea had sunk door handles, the electrically ausklappten to the touch and then were usable. A prospectus of 1974 gave the top speed of the car at 240 km / h and the standing kilometer in 27.5 seconds the car should handle.

The inclusion of the production and early failure

The Monica was in Balbigny in the halls of CFPM produced. Tastevin had initially tried to make the body produce in the UK at Jensen. The negotiations were broken off but in the face of very different conceptions of financial and economic difficulties Jensen. Tastevin had to obtain the necessary crimping tools ultimately themselves.

Production in Balbigny got off to a sluggish. In fact, the sale could only begin in early 1974. By 1975, fewer than ten "series" models of Monica, which differed from each other in details emerged. The purchase price was reported to be 14,000 pounds sterling, a value which settled the Monica in the region of a Lamborghini Espada. Most sources now believe that in Balbigny total of eight vehicles were manufactured for sale before Tastevin early 1975 stopped production of Monica.

The failure of the Monica project had many reasons. The car was very expensive without providing the necessary in this price range image. The name Monica was in a world that was dominated by Ferrari, Maserati or Aston Martin, simply unknown and had no charisma. Added to this was that the presentation of the car fell into the time of the oil crisis in which subsided interest in heavy, expensive and fuel-hungry sports cars. At a time, had to bow out in the well -established brands such as Jensen and Iso Rivolta, a new, unknown luxury brand had hardly any space.

Jean Tastevin survived his trip without prejudice to the automotive world. His thriving business C.F.P.M. began on the losses. In addition, he managed to make some money even by selling the project.

Attempt to revive

Shortly after the end of the Monica project, the British company Panther Westwinds took over the production rights and the tools of CFPM The founder of the replica manufacturer, Robert Jankel, tried in early 1976 to begin production of Monica in the UK again; a British source reported that it had been thinking of a trailer equipment, with a twelve-cylinder V- engine from Jaguar. Nothing came of it ultimately. If known, the Panthers put not forth a single copy of Monica.

Monica today

Today there are still six Monica known: two cars are in the UK, one in Germany, one in the Netherlands and one in Los Angeles. The cars have especially in the UK reasonably well known; in British publications appear again and again reports on the Monica.

Competitors

• Citroen SM Opera, a made ​​a few copies of Chapron four-door sedan based on the Citroen SM.
• De Tomaso Deauville
• Aston Martin Lagonda Series 1, an extended four-door version of the Aston Martin V8, which was prepared in seven copies
• Maserati Quattroporte
• Monteverdi High Speed ​​375/4
• Rolls- Royce Silver Shadow and Bentley T1

Gallery

Obliquely from behind

Rear

Interior

Logo on the rear

Logo on the door cutout