1972 Dacia 1300 Rallying

Description:

The Romanian government of the 1960s had decided to acquire the tooling and basic design of a modern, western automobile, in order to offer their own car to the Romanian people. Terms stated that the vehicle had better not be expensive, large enough for a family, and had to be powered by an engine no larger than 1.3 litres. Offers came from Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Austin and others, but the winner was the Renault 12. The first Dacia 1300 left the assembly line on 23 August 1969. At the time of its launch, the 1300 was a modern car offering good comfort, safety, good performance and reliability, and even more so by eastern standards of the time, set by 1960's and 70's Skodas, Ladas, Moskwich, Wartburgs and other eastern block industry creations. On 21 July 2004 the last Dacia 1310 (sedan version), number 1,959,730, rolled out the gates of the Mioveni production facility, just one month before its 35th anniversary.