Our survey of obscure makes, mostly Italian or at least Romance-language in origin, has so far included several badged with mythical beasts, including a winged lion*, a flying horse*, and a griffon*, but the LMX Sirex marks the first appearance of a dragon. It also marks the reappearance of designer Franco Scaglione*, famous for seductively curvy Alfa Romeos. On the SIrex he finally caved in to the creased wedge and rectilinear themes established by Giorgetto Giugiaro in the second half of the Sixties. Scaglione's design for the Sirex appeared at the Turin show in October '68, which means that the car, if it had succeeded, might have taken over from the OSI Ford* 20M TS which went out of production that year. Both cars were powered by the German Ford Taunus 60 degree V6...
Etceterini buffs may object that nothing powered by Ford, rather than some Fiat variant (with added overhead cams, say) or unobtainable artisanal twin-cam lightweight made in handfuls, could rate inclusion in the etceterini category. But we'd point out that none other than DeTomaso preferred Ford power for his cars, and that if he hadn't succeeded in moving into the big leagues with his V8-powered Mangusta and later Pantera, he'd mostly be remembered for his mid-engined Vallelunga, which was certainly small enough (powered as it was by a 1.6 liter Ford four) and rare enough, with just 53 (some sources claim 58) built, to place it among the etceterini. Here's that car, in case you've forgotten it...
That fiberglass form was draped over a 90.6" wheelbase, forked backbone chassis with independent suspension front and rear. Curb weight was just under 2,100 pounds, overall length 156" (like the first Miata) and the Ford V6 made 126 hp in this version. This is all enough to make you think of the Datzun 240Z that went into production in autumn of 1969, isn't it? The Datsun and Sirex wheelbases were the same, and the Datsun's 2.4 liter inline six made 25 more hp, but the car weighed 200 pounds more. The Sirex coupe's truncated fastback tail with hinged hatch predicted the form of the soon-to-arrive 240Z as well...
And the molded shape of the Sirex dash with 2 hooded instruments fronting the wheel, and smaller gauges stretched across the width, also predicted the Z. Production figures for the two cars, however, could not have been more different. In the five years from 1968 to '73, LMX managed to make only 50 examples of their Sirex. An outfit named SAMAS briefly took over production after LMX quit, and built another 20 cars. During the same period, Datsun exported over 130,000 specimens of their 240Z to the U.S. market alone. It's enough to make you wonder what wouldve happened if LMX partners M. Liprandi and G. Mandrelli had approached Ford about getting Scaglione's design into real production. They could've pointed out how well that strategy had worked for Alfa Romeo, for example. But it was not to be; Ford would introduce its Capri, a more compact version of their Mustang formula, in 1969, and that was what their US dealers would soon offer to answer the Japanese challenge in the market for sports and sporty cars.
*Footnote: For a look at the other cars mentioned in this post as well as other work by designer Franco Scaglione, you might want to visit the following posts from the blog archives...
Winged Lion: "Forgotten Classic: Serenissima—The Winged Lion is the Rarest Beast of All".
March 20, 2019.
Flying Horse: "Forgotten Classic: Pegaso, Spain's Flying Horse", June 21, 2019.
Griffon: The Iso Grifo was featured in "Born From Refrigerators: Iso Rivolta", Sept. 20, 2018.
OSI-Ford 20M TS: "The Etceterini Files Part 25"--- March 21, 2021.
Siva Sirio: "The Etceterini Files Part 26"—May 9, 2021.
"Unsung Genius Franco Scaglione: The Arc of Success"—December 20, 2017.
Photo Credits:
Top (badge): italiaonroad.it
Top (badge): italiaonroad.it
2nd: wikimedia
3rd: the author
4th: LMX factory brochure
5th: Drive2.ru2.com
Bottom: classicvirus.com
Pablo likes the lime green LMX best — in case you were wondering.
ReplyDeleteThat color was trending on Italian cars in the late Sixties, along with orange and a kind of ochre.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, Pablo's also fond of orange.
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