MatraSport Forum

Hello, im from Latvia and im new here.
 There is chance for me to buy Matra Simca Bagheera year 1970, well the seller says it is 1965, but can it be true, well i think it cant be true.
And i looked for some info all around the internet, but i didn find a lot, thats why im asking for help here .
 My first question is how about parts for this car, is there anywhere i can get some, its really important or i have to buy one more matra for parts :).  Maybe there is some car who has similar parts.
 And here is the photo of it. Tell what do you think :)
(http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2879/matraid7.jpg)

And thank you !

The matra bagheera started to produce, correct me if i'm wrong, at 1973 not earlier than that..

Maybe it's a 1975- years model you are looking at. You don't have to buy a matra more for part because it's a common car, simca 1100-1200-1510 and all what they are named. It's the same parts.

The thing you should be carful about is rust. look after it in the front, rearaxel, trunk.

Seems to be a nice object on the picture! Go for it!

Ok so tell me plz what are you doing if something goes wrong and brokes. Can there be situation that there is no bearing i can find. It means that ill never drive this car again? Because i checked ebay there is nothing for this car, totally nothing. I checked google, there is something but nothing special. Is there anyplace i can buy details? I really like this car but i dont have so many time and money to put it all in car, and even then maybe it's not gonna go. Well as i can se there is clubs in Denmark, Germany and France but in Latvia there is only 1 Matra :)  So you see if something goes wrong where should i seek for help?

Simon Auto i Germany
http://www.simon-auto.de/
Matra Magic in England
http://www.matramagic.co.uk/home.php
Politechnic i France
http://www.politecnic.com/matra.html
HB pieces in France
http://www.hbpiecesauto.com/accueil/index.php

all sell new parts for the Bagheera. And there are more

Lasse

..but some parts are getting hard to get, , such as body chassis parts, headligths, rearligths interiorparts etc.
Just resently I was not able to get a break master cylinden for my Rancho (same as for Bagheera). I was prommised one at a price of 300 Euro but it never arraived.

Regards Hans

Hi Bencik

Welcome to the forum :)

Taking care of an old car like the Bagheera can be hard work, time consuming, and can cause some frustrations underway. But on the other hand: You will have a very unique car with some super-car properties! :D

If you decide to buy the car, I think you will find that there's a handful of helpful people around here to help you fix the problems you will run into, and while some parts are unavailable, I think you'll be able to find most parts from the suppliers listed here.

The car looks complete and running from the picture - that's a good sign.

I hope you decide to buy it...

- Anders

Thank you so much for help :) Too bad that there is nothing in Baltic states. Ill call tomorrow to seller and check the car. If it's gonna be ok ill could take it  :D

Hi Bencik.
The car in the picture is a Bagheera 1, the very first model. It was produced between 1973-1975. From the picture it looks like the car is in a pretty nice shape. The lines of the car looks ok(no hanging doors, or pop-up lights that doesnt fit). Originally the front-and rear bumbers were black, and alle the windowframes were crome. And I can se that the sidemirrors are not the original. But all this is just cosmetics. The importent stuff about this car is the condition of the chassis. If it shows any signs of rust, it might require quiet a bit of work. But... a Bagheera 1, is a rare car, so I say: Go for it!!

Lars Tjørnelund.

And my last question how about weather like in Latvia ? (snow, rain etc) Is this mean that this car is only for summer, and better in winter let it stay in garage :)

Hi
If salt is used to remove the ice from your roads the salt-water will very quickly make the Bagheera's chassis rust away.
Further driving a Bagheera with the center/rear engine on a icy road is a scary expirience.

Regards Hans

Scary expirience? Why? It should be fun :) Well and yes the salt is used to remove ice from roads :( And what about water without salt. SImple rain and staff like that?

Thank you very much for your info !

Hmm nice i just talked with seller, and interesting fact is that this car havent been used for 14 years. All the time she was living in garage, and looks like car is under very good condition, so i guess next week im gonna go to see it in life. And another plus he has lots of details for this cars. Lets hope everything gonna be ok :) And there is one minus i will have to put engine inside, because it's outside. They took out the old one and put something newer(but matra). This guy told me that this engine is from Lancis Delta, is that could be true?

And my last question what about price? What is the price for 1973 year matra Bagheera under very good condition? I searched in google but i didnt find anything usefull about price for car like this... Price in Euros plzz :)

Thank you !

Hi Bencik.
It is not easy to put a price on a Bagheera. It dipends on condition and originality. Right now there is a very nice Bagheera 1 for sale at Mirbach in germany. The price is 13.000,- euro, and it is not even completely original. The fact that "yours" does not have the original engine, takes the price down. It also needs the original Wheels. Try to take a look at www.mobile.de or "Web my car", there is a small number of bagheeras for sale. Without knowing the condition of "yours", I would guess that it should cost somewhere in the area of 4.000-6.000 euro.

Lars Tjørnelund
 

Ill see. so that means that i can make him lay down price because non original engine and rims and stuff like that :)

Hans,

Chassis parts are now being remade by the Bagheera-cafe group.
Lots of difficult parts now remade  ;D
The front headlights are not a problem. The rear ones however ...
Interior, you won't find anything.

If you are looking for information :
http://www.matra-bagheera.com
and the Bagheera specific forum Http://www.bagheera-cafe.com

Having said that, even in garages, a Bagheera will rust away.

Driving a Bagheera in snow is not more difficult than any other car but the salt ...

As a price guide, I don't pay more than 500 Euros for a Bagheera. This because I know what's coming up. But If I have to sold one of mines, even 20.000 will not be enough

On the last trip I made with my Bagheeera -74 I was caught in heavy rain and since I have a dirt road the last 20 km to my home the rear wings behind the B posts were filled with several kilos of wet sand.
I am thinking of fabricating some sort of inner wings to prevent at least some of the dirt to get in.
Any ideas ?
Any risk of reducing cooling to the engine if I put a separating plate also between the wheel and engine compartment ?

Regards,

Stig

Do you mean in front of the rear wheels ?
Then Matra closed the gap on the serie II Bagheera and I reproduced the closure on one of mine. Somewhere on the Bag-cafe but the search didn't work tody

Also on the last ones the where plates to separate the wheels from the engine
This is an example (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2143/1846128459_64c1d9d325_b.jpg)

Hi Spyros,

Yes I mean in the front of the rear wheels.
Thanks for the info. I will dig into the series 2 wreck I have and see if there is a template I can use.

Regards,

Stig