{"id":45431,"date":"2016-07-15T13:40:33","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T12:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=45431"},"modified":"2022-06-15T12:15:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T11:15:09","slug":"french-car-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/french-car-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"French Car Culture in Five Interesting Objects"},"content":{"rendered":"

We don’t know how to define it. But there’s something distinct about French car culture.<\/strong> It’s encoded in the machinery that is made, designed and consumed in France, too. Here are five objects that put clear water between the culture of French cars and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

Matra Ren\u00e9 Bonnet Djet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matra is of course known more for producing elusive, charismatic racing cars than the stuff they did for the road.<\/strong> Let’s face it – the Bagheera was an incredible cult fave and the Rancho a pale impression of the Range Rover wrought in tinny steel. But the little sports two-seater that bore the moniker of the car’s designer is a gorgeous little car that deserves to be remembered more than it actually is. First rolling out into the world in 1962, the Djet (a corruption of the English word ‘jet’), was the first production mid-engined car on the market. It came with disc brakes and independent suspension, too, making an incredibly innovative piece of work. The ‘jet-age’ styling, with that long nose and cowled headlights with just the right amount of chrome detailing, enamoured its looks to a public. It was totally fitting that the french government presented one of these cars to pioneering Soviet Astronaut Yuri Gagarin when he visited France in 1965. This forward thinking tech, attractive, dynamic styling of the car \u2013 and the fact that it was gifted to the Soviets at the height of the Cold War make this one of our favourite, if obscure, slices of French Car culture.<\/p>\n\n\t\t