Manic GT, or the joy of discovering the unknown
02/07/2014
The nice thing about visiting a classic car fair is that you usually find cars that you haven't seen before. At least that's how we felt when we discovered a red sports car at the Rétromobile Paris stand that we were not familiar with. Its name: Manic GT. Discussions with the restoration company that had rebuilt the red speedster brought light into the darkness.
The Manic GT was built in Canada in 1970 and 1971 for the local market. Technically, it was based on the Renault R8/R10 platform and therefore had a four-cylinder rear-mounted engine. The FrenchmanJacques About, who had originally worked for Renault but then founded a Canadian sports car company, used a plastic body designed by Serge Soumille.
The result looked beautiful, both inside and out. Around 160 of these vehicles are said to have been built and at the time they could be ordered in three power levels, from 65 to 105 hp.
In conjunction with the lightweight plastic body, this probably ensured good driving performance, but the cars were hardly ever exported. All the more interesting was the encounter with what is probably the only example in France.
Our comprehensive report on the Rétromobile 2014has already been published.
