Test mules.

For as long as the automotive press has existed journalists have been trying to get a peak at new models before their official launch. Some folks even make a career out of it, chasing camouflaged BMWs down a French back road to get that one good shot of a future model that no one has seen yet. When pictures are not available journalists sometimes illustrate what they think new models will look like with varying accuracy.

In response to that and in an effort to keep details of a new car secret until the last minute, manufacturers have camouflaged their cars in various ways that range from stickers to an entire new body. We're taking a look at some past test cars from this cat and mouse game.

Mercedes-Benz w114/w115.

This 1965 illustration was published in Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper to give readers an idea of what the upcoming w114/w115 stroke eight models would look like. The w114/w115's official launch didn't come until 1968 so not many details were available when the illustration was drawn and it relies on w113 SL styling cues. The end result looks like a 1960s CLS.

Production car:

Fiat X1/9.

The doors are recognizable as being the same ones on the production model and the air vent gave away that the engine was not in the front but the rest of the car was given a new body. Fiat must have done a remarkable job at fooling the press: at the time they called the car the 127 Spider when it was based on the 128.

Production car:

Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT.

This early test car gives away the general shape of the Alfetta but it doesn't give away any of the mechanical bits (DeDion rear suspension, rear-mounted transaxle) that would surprise the public in 1972, the year the Alfetta was launched. The front and the wheels look like they’re from a 2000 GTV.

Production car:Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint.

By the mid-1970s rumors of an Alfasud coupe were materializing and a spy photographer shot these pictures on a test track about a year before the car’s 1976 launch. The picture shows a car that is close to the production model but heavily camouflaged. Still, the basic window and door lines are there.

Production car:

Fiat Ritmo/Strada.

The first illustration was drawn by French magazine Auto Journal in 1977. Their design is a bit too futuristic but all things considered, it’s surprisingly close to the production model. As a side note, when this image was published the magazine's headline read: "the new Fiat 138, an Italian Renault 14!" The second illustration is a factory prototype. The front is mostly free of camouflage and reveals the production car’s face but the rest is kept a secret. Fiat even went as far as masking the Ritmo’s round door handles.

Production car:

Mercedes-Benz w126.

The first photo was taken in Tunisia, where the w126 was undergoing hot weather tests. The design is pretty close to the production model but the front is heavily camouflaged with trim on the headlights and a bull bar. All Mercedes emblems were stripped off the car. The second photo was taken on an unidentified test track and looks to be a prototype: the shape is slightly more angular than a production w126 and the taillights are completely different.

Production car:

Citroen BX:

While at first glance this looks like a GS prototype, it was taken in 1979 and hides a BX drivetrain under the hood. Careful observers will notice the BX/C15 four-lug steel wheel, a dead giveaway of what the GS body is hiding.

Saab pulled a similar trick to test out the 99’s chassis and drivetrain: they used a widened 96 body and figured no one would notice the difference.

Production car:

Seat Toledo:

The Volkswagen badge on the hood does a very good job at camouflaging what this is. The first guess that comes to mind is an mk3 Jetta and that’s close but no cigar: it’s a Seat Toledo. The badge is not as random as it might seem since the Toledo was the first Seat designed entirely by Volkswagen and shared its A2 platform with the mk2 Golf and Jetta.

Production car:

The custody battle for the Ritmo.

Fiat has been tied to the Seat (Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo) name since the company was born in 1950. The idea came from Spain’s Franquist government who hoped the brand would put the country on wheels. In the early days Fiat held 7% of Seat, miscellaneous Spanish banks held 42% and the remaining 51% belonged to the Instituto Nacional de Industria, a branch of the Spanish government.

Seat got off to a discrete start: they sold their first car in 1953, the Seat 1400. It was an exact replica of the Fiat 1400 and completely out of tune with the needs of the majority of Spain’s population at the time.

Things took a turn for the better in 1957 with the launch of the Seat 600. It was a Xerox copy of the Fiat 600 launched two years earlier on the other side of the Mediterranean and it was precisely what Spain needed to motorize its population. Sales skyrocketed; the 600 became so popular that certain dealers even had to turn down orders. The 600 spawned some interesting versions reserved for the Spanish market, including the four-door 800 and the 600 Formichetta, but those are a different story for a different time. Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s Seat continued to build replicas of Fiats such as the Seat 850, the Seat 124, the Seat 127, 128 and 131.

When Fiat launched its highly-anticipated Ritmo in 1978 they gave Seat a version of it as well. On the outside the biggest difference between the two was that one had a Fiat badge and one had a Seat badge. On paper, the Seat borrowed its gasoline engine from the 124’s parts bin. The diesel engines were the same. The Ritmo was sold as the Seat Ritmo in Spain and as the Fiat Ritmo throughout the rest of continental Europe. It was dubbed the Fiat Strada in the UK and in North America.

By the late 1970s Seat had reached a comfortable cruising speed and enjoyed healthy sales but all was not well under the surface. The second oil crisis in 1979 had hit them hard and their expansion strategy had left them with heavy debts. Fiat refused to inject more money into the company; instead, they wanted the INI to help them restructure the company so they could later buy it entirely. When the INI rejected Fiat’s offer, the latter sold off its shares in the company for the symbolic price of one peseta per share. When all was said and done, the INI owned 95% of Seat.

The problem that arose is that Seat’s lineup consisted entirely of Fiats built under license and it wasn’t clear whether or not they could still produce them after the divorce. Fiat knew that refusing to let Seat produce these models would kill the Spanish company so the two came to an agreement that they signed in 1981: Seat could keep the Panda, 127 and Ritmo provided they redesigned them inside and out, including renaming them. Seat did just that and the cars became the Seat Marbella, the Seat Fura and the Seat Ronda. All had minor aesthetic differences to set them apart from their Fiat counterparts but the Fiat influence was clearly visible.

In August 1982, while Seat and Volkswagen were busy mulling over a potential collaboration, Fiat was drafting a letter to Seat to inform them that they were not satisfied with the changes they had made to the Ritmo. An article published in Spanish newspaper El País on November 11^th, 1983, claims that Seat made several attempts to contact Fiat and discuss the problem but Fiat never responded in writing. Instead, on November 17^th, 1982, Fiat filed a lawsuit against Seat in a Parisian court. The court accepted the lawsuit and notified Seat of it on November 25^th.

The judge selected for the lawsuit was Italian lawyer Franzo Grande Stevens. Seat's first move was to request a different judge on the grounds that Stevens was part of Fiat’s board of directors and would be unable to deliver a fair verdict. Seat got its way and a panel of three judges (from France, Spain and Switzerland) was appointed to the trial. Seat also filed a counterclaim against Fiat, accusing them of trying to stop them from exporting cars.

Fiat noticed they were losing ground and rephrased their arguments against Seat. Their problem with the Ronda was that while Seat had sufficiently redesigned the front and rear, the middle section of the car was still too similar to the Ritmo. Seat had no arguments to defend itself against that claim: the side of the Ronda was very similar to the Ritmo. One could lift a door from a Ritmo and fit it on a Ronda.

Seat was determined to win and instead of focusing on what was similar, they focused on what was different. They took a black Ronda and painted in yellow every exterior difference between the Ritmo and the Ronda. An El País journalist who covered the trial claimed that the result was spectacular.

The trial carried on with people traveling to Paris from either Spain or Italy to personally testify for one side or the other. Several important folks in Fiat were marked absent including Umberto Agnelli, future president of Fiat, and Cesare Romiti, general director of Fiat at the time and the man who orchestrated the company's purchase of Alfa Romeo from the Italian government.

In the end the ruling was kept secret but the court sided with Seat, saying they had modified the Ronda enough to keep selling it. The ruling also meant Seat was free to export it where they pleased, which they did, but the Ronda was not particularly successful outside of its native market. The Seat Malaga, a mix between an Ibiza and a Ronda, benefitted from the court's decision and kept the same doors as the Ronda.

Ran When Parked's used car lot.

Welcome to Ran When Parked’s used car lot. Please, have a Seat:

We have some great deals on the finest selection of certified pre-owned vehicles anywhere. Take this w202 C180 station wagon, the perfect blend of luxury and cargo space. It comes with complete service records like any used Benz should. This car has been pampered all its life!

So you’re thinking, “Ran When Parked, I like the C180, I like it a lot, but I want something more luxurious”? Well, step up to a BMW X6. A car that stands out from the crowd and has an interior upholstered with the skin from an entire herd of cattle. Still under factory warranty but it has been slightly (and tastefully) modified by its last owner, including a custom paint job and a slightly lowered suspension:

The Peugeot 104 is perfect for crowded cities. It gets phenomenal gas mileage and can easily park anywhere. But it has two vocations: it can easily be transformed into a small rocket that’s perfect for auto crossing and hill climbs. That’s what we’re offering you today, a ZS 2 replica with period-correct accessories such as bucket seats and specific 13” rims. This car is ready to bring home the trophy.

If you follow the collector car market, you’ve noticed a growing segment called “youngtimers” or “young classic cars”. One of the cars leading this movement is the Volkswagen Golf I GTI and we have a stellar example for sale today. This car is 100% original, it’s never been restored and is a real eye catcher in red.

What’s there not to like about a 2001 Renault Twingo? Your heart will tell you to buy it for its huggable yet frog-like looks. Your brain will tell you to buy it because it’s the most stolen car in France so you benefit from great rebates on used parts. It’s a win-win situation!

This Simca 1100 VF2 is a new arrival on our lot. It’s the automotive equivalent of the mullet: business in the front, party in the back. Allow us elaborate. This car is powered by an austere 1118 cc four-cylinder borrowed from the Simca 1100. But, the back is cavernous and can carry just about anything you can throw at it; whether you’re going surfing or helping your brother in law renovate his house, this VF2 will take you there and back with all of your stuff. As a bonus, this car’s last owner used it to deliver bread in a village so it has very low miles, it’s absolutely like-new.

Finally, for those with a small budget we have two cars at very special prices, prices so low we can’t even print them. Choose a Citroen GS with its hydropneumatique suspension for its comfort or a Renault 12 station wagon for its practicality:

Come in today, we finance anyone! No credit, bad credit, credit card not in your name, these are all problems we can work around.

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Please note these cars are not ours or actually for sale.

Ran When Parked's used car lot.

At Ran When Parked's used car lot we're liquidating our stock of certified pre-owned vehicles!

Our first offering is a 1994 Renault Safrane. This is your chance to own the car that hauled around members of the French government when it was new. Loaded with power everything, alloy wheels and a 2.2 gas engine, it's ready to take you anywhere you want to go in style. Runs like a champ, extremely well-maintained!

If you want a smaller car, a 2002 Renault Megane would be perfect for you. 2002 was the last year of the mk1 Meganes so you can buy knowing you are getting the most refined mk1 Renault has ever built.* Clean Carfax, certified one-owned car. Big enough to fit a family but small enough to fit in even the tightest parking spots, this Megane is the best of both worlds:

The Renault Clio has been one of the best-selling cars on the French market since it was introduced. Own one today and find out for yourself how enjoyable to drive a Clio can be. This 2003 model has lots of new parts** and is powered by a 1.2 gas engine:

If you like discrete cars, we have just the car for you. It's hard to get more discrete than a 1995 Citroen ZX. It has a 1.9 diesel engine that if you're a Citroen enthusiast you know is bulletproof. If you're not a Citroen enthusiast get ready to become one after a short, engaging drive in a ZX. Low miles and still covered by the factory warranty:

This 1987 Renault 19 was designed almost exclusively with computers, and it shows. Where else can you find such an eye pleasing, ergonomical design at an affordable price? And because Renault seemingly used up all of the project's money on the computers to design it, they opted to power it with the 1.2 Cléon Fonte four-cylinder that was already a proven part of their lineup² :

Wild in its austerity and big in its smallness, this 1989 Volkswagen Polo is the perfect commuter car thanks to its low weight and 1.0 four-cylinder carbureted engine. This is a car you can be proud to call your own. Low miles, comes with our unbeatable one year/15 mile warranty:

2000 Fiat Palio Weekend. Based on the Fiat Uno, the Palio Weekend is the perfect family car down to its name - its station wagon body allows you to fit all of your stuff, all of your kids' stuff and all of the necessary tools to repair your water pump on the side of the road when it seizes 170 miles away from home. Speaking of, spare parts are readily available³ :

A 2001 Seat Arosa, based on the Volkswagen Lupo and drawn by the same man who designed the Bugatti Veyron. Need we say more? I think not, but we will add that this hot little hatch has 49 screaming horses under the hood:

For over a hundred years Mercedes-Benz has been the standard for quality motor cars. We are proud to offer you one of their finest designs, a 1970 w113 250SL. Imagine how advanced this car was in its day: it already had fuel injection, four disc brakes, and a removable hard top for rainy days. *² Professionally restored by the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Stuttgart, this car is ready for the next Monterey Concours:

Imagine the look on your wife's face when you surprise her for Christmas with a certified used car from Ran When Parked's used car lot! There's never been a better time to buy!

* The mk1 Megane was also horribly obsolete by 2002.
** Recently removed.
² Since it was introduced on the Renault 8 in 1962.
³ In most third world countries.
*² Needs to be.

Note: none of the cars above are ours or actually for sale.

Latest car spottings.

I had an article on Simca-Abarths lined up but neglected to bring the information I gathered back with me so that article will have to wait until the next time I'm in France.

Instead, here are some interesting cars I photographed along the way:

Saab 96 carrying a full load of people on the freeway.. I actually saw it pass some cars:

Citroën Ami 8 break in Lancon:

Seat 131 Panorama in Barcelona, same as a Fiat 131 but built in Spain:

What's left of a Citroën C3 Pluriel:

Citroën Visa in Carro, it has become a permanent fixture behind a bar of sorts. Kind of a shame these cars have no real following:

Lastly, a Spanish Polo owner with a sense of humor: