{"id":34638,"date":"2014-01-09T15:38:58","date_gmt":"2014-01-09T15:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=34638"},"modified":"2022-06-21T16:50:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T15:50:37","slug":"michelotti-matra-laser-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/cars\/michelotti-matra-laser-concept\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelotti Matra Laser Concept"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wedge is of course, synonymous with the edgier end of late sixties\/early seventies car design. <\/strong> The workmanlike portfolio of designer Giovanni Michelotti isn’t.<\/p>\n

Our man is, of course, remembered more as the chief designer of all things Triumph through the seventies and eighties. The Stag was a high point in the aesthetic developments he introduced – and he undoubtedly brought the sort of latin panache to British cars that was sorely needed. He also drew the lovely little German quirkmobile that was the BMW 700.<\/p>\n

\"Matra_Laser_04pop\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The Laser was an early Michelotti collab with French company Matra<\/a> – who were at the time new to the building of road-going cars after their racing success; which in turn had been transferred from the manufacture of missiles and other armaments.<\/p>\n

It was launched at Geneva in ’71, came with a centrally mounted Ford V4 and huge door sills that not only contributed to superb structural rigidity – but also served to house cooling vents to the engine compartment and the rear brakes.<\/p>\n

It was always going to be a one-off \u2013 so parked into its particular era that it was impossible to move on to proper production.<\/p>\n

These images perfectly reflect a brave time and an innovative place…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t