Two weeks from now I’ll be in Fernandina Beach, Florida to attend Amelia Island Concours Week. One of my favorite events from last year was RADwood, which is now a Hagerty event, but retains its coolness. Friends of mine will be driving a recently acquired E24 BMW M6 to Florida for participation in the show. I can’t bring a car to RADwood this year, sadly, but I may in the future and I often ponder what I’d bring to potentially take home a trophy for Raddest in Show. Today’s Good Find Friday car, a Matra Murena, could be a good candidate.

I’ve only attended two RADwood shows, my first being New Jersey in 2019. One of the most attention-grabbing cars was a Citroën BX 4TC. The French have always had an innovative and unusual approach to designing automobiles, and the BX 4TC is no different. I often wonder what French car I would acquire to bring to a RADwood event, and with Citroën BX 4TC prices hovering around $90,000 it’d be nice to find a cheaper option. That thought process led to today’s good find.

The Matra Murena was a mid-engine sports car produced by the French manufacturer Matra from 1980 to 1983. It was designed as a successor to the Matra Bagheera and featured a distinctive three-seat layout with all seats positioned in a single row. The Murena’s body was made of fiberglass-epoxy panels mounted to a first-in-market galvanized steel chassis, preventing serious rust. It was offered with two engine options: a 1.6-liter and two 2.2-liter inline-four, delivering up to 142 horsepower in the top-spec version.

One of the Murena’s standout features was its aerodynamic design, boasting a low drag coefficient for improved performance and fuel efficiency. The car’s mid-engine layout contributed to balanced handling, making it a capable yet comfortable sports car. Automotive press of the time were impressed by the Murena, but it wasn’t as quick as its competitors like the Volkswagen Scirocco, though it was priced higher. The Matra Murena was never sold in the United States, making them a rare sight at collector car events.

There are quite a few Matra Murenas for sale throughout Europe, but very few with good photography! Today’s Good Find Friday car is one of the few that have remotely decent images in its listing gallery.

This 1981 Matra Murena is offered on Car & Classic by a private seller in Besançon, France with an asking price of €14,600 or around $15,300.

The exterior fiberglass panels are painted in silver with black trim on the door surrounds, front bumper and mirrors. The Murena featured pop-up headlights, which helped with its aerodynamic profile and facilitated its sleek wedge-shaped design. The front signals, sourced from the parts bin, are nicely integrated thanks to molded transparent covers.

The rear of the Murena featured a frameless glass hatchback design that provided access to the luggage compartment and engine bay. The rear panel appears to be missing the Matra logo and the front nose is missing its “Murena” badging. Those would be easy enough to add back, and it may reduce the number of “What kind of car is this?” questions from onlookers.

The Murena’s standout feature may be its seating arrangement, which was carried over from the Bagheera. Placed between the driver and passenger seats is a third seat that folds down to an armrest when not in use. You may want to put a good friend in that seat, as shifting the Murena’s 5-speed manual transmission could get pretty intimate.

The front suspension on the Murena consisted of upper and lower transverse A-arms with longitudinal torsion bars with shock absorbers. Semi-trailing arms (which are susceptible to rust) with coil springs replaced the Bagheera’s torsion bar setup. It’s tough to tell in the photos, but it looks as though the wheels are the available 14” alloys, which interestingly wore wider 195 tires in the rear compared to 185 in the front.

No engine photo is provided, but the car is said to have been recently serviced. This car most likely features the 1.6-liter Simca-derived engine. Output from the little engine was just 91 horsepower, but with a curb weight of maybe 2,000 pounds it probably felt fairly sprightly. The top specification 2.2-liter engine was available only in the Murena S, which put out 140 hp at 6,000 RPM.

On a personal level, I don’t think I could purchase a Murena without the opportunity to sit in one. French cars, particularly sports cars, tend to be small in my estimation and I am a larger human.

That’s a shame, because they’re an affordable little rarity. The average price of a Matra Murena is currently hovering around $11,000. Understandably, they don’t come up for sale very often in the US. The last Murena to hit our market was a 3,100 mile 2.2-liter time capsule that hammered for $27,000 on Bring a Trailer back in the Fall of 2023.

Importation costs are of course a factor, but for under $15K I bet you could bring a really nice example into the United States in time for the Summer or Fall 2025 RADWood events. The Euro to US dollar exchange rate is currently favorable to such aspirations.

I, for one, will be keeping these on my radar. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!