There's a saying that if you give a Brit a piece of sheet metal, he is likely to do something silly with it. I submit the French are equally capable in this respect. This 1959 Deutsch & Bonnet HBR 4 ran 3 times at Le Mans and finished 18th (2nd in the Sport 850 class) in 1961. Powered by a Panhard 702 cc aircooled twin making a whopping 85 hp if the Interweb is to be trusted -- the comparable Citroen 2CV only managed in the mid-30s. I love the way the Aston looms over it. Oh and the Aston DNFed in 1961 by the way.
The company was founded by Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet in 1937. The pair separated in 1962. Deutsch went on to found Automobiles CD, using FWD Panhard bits; Bonnet went on to build mid-engined Renault-powered vehicles under the name Automobiles rené Bonnet, which was later acquired by Matra. I assume this was the basis of the Matra Djet.
This is a basic 1/24 resin kit by Le Mans Miniatures -- no chassis or engine detail -- so a quick build.
Photos of a Djet and a later Matra Murena taken at a classic car meet in Bordeaux in 2019.
And a couple of Panhards from the same same show. (If it involved oddball cars, I was there.)
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