Dacia Sport:The Romanian Coupe that broke the mould #blogpost

What you are looking at is a Dacia 1310 Sport.An oddity,if you are not Romanian or if you have yet to see one of these. It started as a Dacia 1310,and,with little tweaks made by craftsmen in a workshop situated in Brasov,year 1979,poof,this came out.

But,gogu,how is this a coupe and not a saloon,like the Dacia 1310?

And how it was made?

Well,the short answer is,that Dacia engineers wanted to make a coupe.And they did.

The “little tweaks”mentioned earlier include the shortening of the wheelbase by 200 millimeters,thus making the rear door obsolete(“A coupe does not have back doors.” Purists).Also,the roof was inclined,because inclined roof=coupe=fast.Another oddity:the rear window is actually a windshield.Yes,you read that correctly.This car has two windshields.

The public eye saw this car in 1979 at EREN(Expozitia Realizarilor Economiei Nationale).
In (a broken) English:The Exposition of National Economic Achievements).

Production started in 1983 with the first generation.These “first generation” cars had short doors that harkened back to the saloon version(Dacia 1310).The engines were the same as the aforementioned car:a 1289 cubic centimeters(79cui) motor with 54 horsepower.(The car that is the closest to the title is a first generation).

The second generation was manufactured between 1986 and 1992. These second generation models featured longer,coupe-styled doors and a new powerplant:a 1397cubic centimeters(85cui) engine rated at 65 horsepower. Bear in mind that this a light car,weighting only 900 kilograms(1984lb).

The second generation was known as the Dacia 1410 Sport,because of the 1.4 litre engine. This powerplant was also shared with other models in the Dacia lineup. The mechanical components were the same one used for the saloon version.

Some of them came mated with a 4-speed or a 5-speed manual transmission,depending on the year.
Four-speed transmissions were mostly found in first generation models. There are some exceptions,albeit rare.

And now,you are asking:

Gogu, how many of these were made?

And the answer is: 5500 cars

Included in/Beside those cars,150 cars were made(exported) to Canada and 200 sold in Greece.The Canadian market Dacias were rumoured to feature a modified version of the 1.4 litre unit and the best part:the addition of a turbocharger. The cars made for the Greek market featured a 1.2 litre “economy” engine(More info unknown).

Some guy/girl in the back is asking:

Gogu,these cars were raced?

The answer:

You bet. These cars were mostly used for rally races.Some versions were mildly modified,some were 200-horsepower-fire-breathing turbocharged monsters and some of them were high-rpm singing sopranos.

The competition cars were lighter(approximately 800-870 kilograms/1764-1918lb)

And this concludes my blogpost(if you could call it that)about the engineering marvel that is the

                                                                                   DACIA SPORT.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you have anything to say,please,post it in the comments.And,as promised,here is the list of “sponsors” and more info about the race-prepped cars.

http://bloganul.blogspot.ro/2011/03/nicu-grigoras-cel-mai-mare-campion-de.html
http://rallyraidcurier.blogspot.ro/2013/03/dacia-sport-turbo.html
http://daciasport.3xforum.ro/post/244/1/Dacia_Sport_Rally/
http://aro4x4.net/smf/viewtopic.php?t=65
http://www.automobileromanesti.ro/Dacia/Dacia_Sport/
http://adevarul.ro/locale/pitesti/istoria-daciei-sport-mai-exotic-model-istoria-automobilismului-romanesc-configuratia-proiect-rezolva-manual-lovirea-tablei1_581ba2285ab6550cb82f725e/index.html
(Yes,Romanian websites.I know this is an inconvenience for you,and I humbly apologise).