So, this is my thread where I’ll spam my cars in a place where they won’t interrupt other people’s activity. Anyway, here’s my cars for the 1973 Rally di Fruinia, starting with perhaps the most special of my five companies.
Mouton - Building four-eyed, RR, boxer-powered micro hot rods since 1951
Pre-1975 Moutons have always been known for purple racing colors and a stripe-and-bar-based system that differentiated models and their trims - base cars would always get one “grille bar”, mid-trim L/S versions would get two and three bars respectively, and top-of-the-line R versions would get four bars. The tiny Cherie always had a little bird logo on its C-pillar with one stripe going through the badge’s middle; the bigger Premier had a nobleman logo on its C-pillar with two stripes slicing through the badge; and the larger cars would have three, four, or even five stripes going through their logos.
Cherie Mk3 (Type 291; 1967-1977 in EU and US market) (1973 post-facelift Rally 750 R shown)
The Mk3 Cherie is often considered as one of Mouton’s finest cars before the Aviator Takeover of 1974. It was the star car during Mouton’s “transition period” in the late-1960s/early-1970s, when they started swapping out their old rear-engined compact cars for Aviator-engineered counterparts with engines at the front. However, the ‘291’ was traditional Mouton inside and out: a pair of tiny SOHC 2v/4v 600-750cc W6/W7 cast-iron boxer-fours at the back powering the rear wheels through a four-speed manual. It also had Mouton’s distinctive McPherson-strut front/double-wishbone rear suspension setup, which was used on all post-1955 models to aid cornering stability and improve drivability for the masses. The most famous version was the 750 R, used in many rallies and club-level circuit races by amateurs and the factory themselves. With only 7,500 built, the top-trim ‘291’ is by far the most-coveted of the Cheries, but pre-Aviator Moutons’ signature poor rustproofing means that finding a restorable example is a lot harder than with a Mk4 ‘301’.
Premier Mk3 (Type 232) (1967-1974 in EU and US markets) (post-facelift 1973 Rally 1100 R shown)
Like its smaller cousin, the Mk3 Premier is often considered as one of Mouton’s best pre-Aviator cars, and for good reason. Like the Cherie, most versions of the Premier used a tiny cast-iron boxer engine (in this case, the V-Familie 1000-1600cc SOHC 2v/4v boxer-six) in the back powering the rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox. However, the post-1971 facelift 1100 R was Mouton’s first use of a five-speed manual, developed for a balance between acceleration and fuel economy. Unlike the Cherie, the Premier’s biggest engine ended up in Aviator’s own Mk2 Primavera; the drivetrain was extremely easy to swap in and modify into the Prima’s middle, and it also improved weight distribution and cornering significantly for the top-trim RXI model. Unfortunately, this factory swap was used by quite a few hot-rodders in the late-'70s and early-'80s, making finding one of the 1,600 1600 R models uncannibalized even harder when combined with their propensity for rust. Thankfully, the cheaper and less-powerful 1100 R was popular enough after its rally success (11,000 built) that it often is a pre-Aviator Mouton collector’s second-best option for a hot ‘232’.
