The 1955 SARA 3 - smart engineering applied to facelift
Under the dynamic management of Jeanneret, a whole new batch of smart, young, and eager engineer joined the staff, at prominent positions.
Antoine Watteau, the chief platform engineer, now had a deputy, Georges Seurat, more specifically in charge of the suspension.
Seurat was a punctilious person (*), and in a few months time, he was able to provide detailed studies on the advantages of independant suspensions and radial tires, proving how quickly the initial tech investment would pay off, and, using the Marketing Standardized Automation, that the cost/benefit advantages would offset any slight increase in price to the customer.
(*) A special delivery of Saint-Joseph wine to anyone who notices the awful pun hidden there
Thus, as early as late '53, the decision to work on independant suspensions platform for the SARA 3 and 4 was frozen. Which gave enough time to brush up a bit on the engines and trims, and to work on SARA 4, the real new car scheduled for '55, and the Modulor 500 engine
SARA 3, SARA 4 ? What are those names, who miss the stupid poetry of earlier SARA cars ?
Well, Marketing engineer Corot got fired, for one, and Jeanneret believed in “form follow function”, remember.
He explained this to accountant principal Poussin on a luncheon he had set up initially to try to dissuade the accountant principal to write in various colors in the accounting books.
“- But, François (Jeanneret), an accounting book is boring. When you go from red, to green, to some blue, sometimes a dash of purple if you feel daring, it is much better than this bland red-black scheme most accountant uses, don’t you think”
“- Jean (Poussin), accounting has rules. Form must follow function. Just look at this Saint-Marcellin cheese. It is not round to please the eye, but because this is the most efficient form when casting the cheese with the laddle”
"- You say that, and we sell the Armistice and the Marshall - well, not the Marshall, no one buys it actually. Where is the rationnality in this ? They should be called “small backbreaking car” and “midsized crappy car”, according to your reasoning
"- You have something there. The smaller one has a I3, the bigger one a I4, SARA 3 and 4 sound good. With numerals for displacement, since those bourgeois from Pleugeot preempted using a zero in the middle…
- Hang on my Chateauneuf du Pape while I draft a note. NO, Don’t drink my wine !"
Enough french antics - can we see the car now ?
The 1955 SARA 38S in Turini Trim
So, basically, the SARA 3, while branded as a completely new car, was an Armistice, with an Armistice engine, but with a few chromes to look nicer (actually, they are patended SARA Chromalite, an alloy of tin, plastics, and some shiny paint), the patended Fragonard grille, and fully independant suspension, front and rear.
Fernand Léger; the knew Chief Marketing Engineer, did what he could to try to spin the car to the market - though pretending the SARA 3 was a “Princess” was a bit of an exageration, the car was improved enough that it sold well, and the dated design was still having some success in rural areas.
Can we talk about the car now, granpa ?
The 38S Turini is the “sport” trim of the SARA 3, with a bigger, more agressively tuned engine (forget about fuel economy), and a slightly improved interior - for greatly improved margins for SARA !
It still offered 4 doors, but, as it used the race-tuned Turini 800S (also available in 1100S, 4 cylinder) and a chassis that put way more than 0.8g on the skidpad, that made a close connection to the SARA Turinis used in promotion and amateur racing - just strip it bare, put a helmet on and you’re good to go !
The building cost was around 687$, with allowed for a MSRP in the 750$ - but SARA (and independant garages) made also tons of money on the maintenance, which was expensive (over 55$ yearly) for such a small car.
Obviously, only available in Bleu de France, but nobody would have wanted it in another color
I said some chromes, not “lots of chromes”
Engine Details
Based on the SARA Armistice I3 engine line - 64.9 bore and 86.6 stroke for 861 cc max capacity, all cast pushrod
Capacity : 62.6x86.6, 800 cc
8.2 compression, DCOE (!) carburetor tuned for french 89 RON regular, short cast header
47hp@5600, 62.7Nm@4900, 7.8% efficiency (ouch !)
85.5 kg, 381.2$ ('18) cost
Car Details
6376$ build cost (0 markup)
4 door - 4 seats, 2.06m wheelbase, 3.33m total
Front Longitudinal RWD
Steel monocoque chassis and panels
Mc Pherson (F), Semi Traling Arm (R), 3 gear manual
Weight : 698 kg
Fuel Economy : 16.8 l/100 (14. MPG US)
Max Speed : 128 km/h
0-100 km/h : 29.4
1/4 mile : 28.95
Kilometer : 48.01
G : 0.866-0.821
Braking 0-100 : 46.1m
Airfield time : 2:06.34
The 1955 SARA 36L
As classy as the Turini trim might be, the bread and butter of the SARA 3 was still the 3CV, economical model, now dubbed “36L” - SARA 3, 6 hundred CC, Luxury (did I mentioned already the steady use of irony in France ?)
While it was still slow and uncomfortable, it was nonetheless a much improved car, (somewhat) faster and comfier, much safer and drivable, with a better fuel economy… And for the same base price and upkeep costs.
Also, some use of Chromalite(r) and the Calandre Fragonard(r) did modernize the model a bit. The SARA 3 still wouldn’t win beauty contests, but at still it looked like there had been some design study, instead of just slapping panels around…
Passenger side mirror optional - available only in Undercoat gret, obviously
Engine Details
Based on the SARA Armistice I3 engine line - 64.9 bore and 86.6 stroke for 861 cc max capacity, all cast pushrod
Capacity : long-stroked, 58.5x73.6, 592.6 cc
6.8 compression, single barrel eco carburetor tuned for french 89 RON regular, cast log header
20.3hp@4600, around 40 Nm@2500, 14.8% efficiency
Car Details
4654$ build cost (0 markup)
4 door - 5 seats, 2.06m wheelbase, 3.33m total
Front Longitudinal RWD
Steel monocoque chassis and panels
Mc Pherson (F), Semi Traling Arm (R), 2 gear manual
Weight : 589 kg
Fuel Economy : 7.9 l/100 (33.6 MPG US)
Max Speed : 91 km/h
1/4 mile : 29.25
Kilometer : 56.26
G : 0.668-0.642
Braking 0-100 : 62.4m
Airfield time : 2:38.14