The Bagheera U8 - A U-engined flagship that never made it to production

You’ve heard of a V8, but how about a U8?

When engineers at ever enigmatic French automaker Matra Simca were told they couldn't build a bigger engine, they solved the problem by bolting two small engines together... 

If you’re not well versed in the silliness of Simca, also known as Chrysler’s failed European division, then you might want to familiarise yourself with the last story we did on how they managed to build a rip-off of the Discovery, a whole 12 years before Land Rover had built it.

Anyway, in 1973 they also produced the Bagheera, a slick, faux-sports car that looked like it stole more than a few design queues from the Lamborghini Miura.

The regular Bagheera was heavily marketed in this particular shade of Yellow to catch people's attention.

It was designed from the beginning to share the Simca 1100 hatchback’s four-cylinder single overhead cam engine, in 1.3 or 1.5-litre form. Needless to say, in a mid-rear sports car layout of the ‘70s, the 62.6kW engine’s performance could be described as… underwhelming.

So, a team of engineers at Matra decided to try upping the power of the Bagheera to match its looks. The trouble was, there were no engines to pick from. The most powerful engine on the shelf was a 1.5-litre and the higher-ups insisted that a bigger engine wouldn’t suit the brand in fuel-conscious Europe.

To get around this, the engineers simply bolted two of the existing 1.3-litre engines together. The blocks of both engines were mated by a single-cast aluminium sump, and were linked simply by chains. Chains also drove all the auxiliary components, and the engines maintained separate water pumps (sounds like a reliability nightmare...).

The U8 engine was truly unique.

It all looked a little odd compared to the relatively slick nature of a Vee engine, and to accommodate the new block, the chassis and wheelbase had to be extended out slightly. Sparing no expense (apparently…) a five-speed transaxle was sourced from Porsche.

The oddest eight cylinder you might ever see... (image credit: ultimatecarpage.com)

To add a bit of garnish to the exotic drivetrain, Matra engineers tuned both parts of the engine up to what they called ‘Rallye 2’ spec, providing a total output just shy of 140kW. That’s more like it. For comparison, a 1973 Porsche 911 put out 117kW.

The Bagheera itself was already pretty fascinating, sporting an almost McLaren F1-style three-seat layout. This was thanks to the team wanting to build a 2+2, but not having enough room. An odd compromise, combined with the MR layout not needing a centre driveshaft resulted in a rare bar-seat configuration.

The three-abreast bar seating looks kinda fun...

What happened to the U8? Matra built three prototypes, and planned to put the car into production for the 1974 model year. Sadly, the 1973 oil crisis put a question mark over the car’s production (shocking...), and the standard Bagheera was selling better than expected, meaning that there was seemingly no need for a high-powered flagship. A shame, it would have been a highly collectible French tourer today.

One example still exists in the Matra museum in France, so you can go see it if you're determined.

If the U8 was ever put into production, do you think it would be the ultimate French collectible? Tell us in the comments below.