The Matra Djet Is the Original Mid-Engine Marvel

The Rene Bonnet Djet—the “D” is silent—is the creation of designer René Bonnet, co-founder of Deutsch-Bonnet. Unveiled in 1962, it was the world’s first mid-engine production car. It’s also so obscure that people frequently forget it exists, instead dubbing the Porsche 550 Spyder of the Fifties the first mid-engine production car. However, the German automaker made only 90 550s, and all were intended as race cars, not series production road cars. A dedicated road vehicle, the Djet was nonetheless spartan like a competition car. In 1966, Autosport described the Djet as basically a Formula 3 car for the road. There’s not much to it: steel backbone chassis, double wishbones, fiberglass body, 145/R-15 front and 155/R-15 rear Michelin XAS tires, a four-cylinder from the Renault 8, and a four-speed transaxle from a Renault van. Automobiles René Bonnet built early Djets, with Matra, then mostly known for making missiles, supplying bodywork. Matra bought out Bonnet in 1964 and brought out the Djet V in 1965. That’s what appears here, on loan from Nashville’s Lane Motor Museum.

This story originally appeared in Volume 14 of Road & Track.

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It’s easy to mistake the Djet for the rear-­engine Alpine A110, unless you’re sitting in it. The engine is right there behind you, isolated only by a carpeted bulkhead and minimal heat shielding. It’s similar in layout to a Porsche Cayman, where the engine resides within a box right in the middle of the car, underneath a large hatch, with no real separation between the cockpit and trunk. Unlike a Cayman, the whole car shakes when it’s running. Noise, vibration, and harshness? Check.

We took the Djet out to the Natchez Trace Parkway south of Nashville—a smooth, gently curving road that doesn’t go anywhere. And it was a revelation. René Bonnet and Matra got the mid-­engine thing right straightaway. You don’t so much steer the car through corners as ease it, so instinctive is its handling. And the whole time, there’s fabulous intake honk filling the cabin. Skinny tires and little weight over the front mean the steering is very light, and while at first it seems vague, acclimation comes quickly. The car feels like a proto-Cayman in the way it inspires confidence in the driver. The chassis is phenomenal.