A mid-engine car carries its engine behind the seats but ahead of the rear axle, which puts most of the weight near the middle. Between 1962 and 1972, makers in France, Britain, Italy and Germany put that layout into production cars that buyers could order. Here are eight of them in date order, from a small French coupe with Renault power to a Fiat styled by Marcello Gandini.

Some of these cars were built in the hundreds, while others topped 100,000. Each entry uses the figures its sources support. Where the sources disagree, we say so rather than pick a number.

1. 1962 René Bonnet Djet

René Bonnet announced the Djet in 1962, with a Renault four mounted ahead of the rear wheels. Octane magazine calls it the first mid-engined production road car, ahead of De Tomaso’s Vallelunga. Its body was polyester resin and glassfibre, supplied by a Matra subsidiary.

According to Octane, production began in July 1963. The engine was a 1,108cc four from the Renault 8 Gordini, rated at 94 bhp at 6,000 rpm. By 1964, however, Bonnet’s plans had stretched his resources, so Matra took over and renamed the car the Matra-Bonnet Djet. Octane puts the total at 1,693 over five years, and other counts land close to that, so call it about 1,700. By comparison, De Tomaso built only 59 Vallelungas.

2. 1966 Lotus Europa

Lotus built the Europa as a mid-engine car around a steel spine frame, with a Renault 16 engine. At first, the company aimed the car at buyers in continental Europe. Later, Twin Cam versions took over.

Hagerty lists the original car’s 1,470cc Renault engine at 78 hp. It also estimates that Lotus built 9,230 Europas from 1966 to 1971, before the Twin Cam models ran from 1971 to 1975. By contrast, the Wikipedia entry treats 9,230 as the total for every Europa through 1975, so the split between versions is uncertain.

3. 1966 Lamborghini Miura P400

The Miura turned the idea sideways. Lamborghini mounted its V12 transversely, directly behind the seats. A finished car appeared at the Geneva show in 1966, and customer deliveries began in 1967.

Hagerty lists the P400’s V12 at 3,929cc and 350 hp. Production counts for the P400 vary, though. Hagerty says 474 were built, while the Wikipedia entry gives 275 P400s between 1966 and 1969. For that reason, treat either figure with care until a factory record settles it.

4. 1967 Dino 206 GT

Ferrari’s Dino 206 GT put a V6 crosswise amidships, with the five-speed gearbox below and behind it. Pininfarina styled the car. Unlike the steel-bodied Ferraris of the period, its body was fully aluminium.

Ferrari lists the 1,987cc V6 at a claimed 180 hp. It also puts production at around 150 cars, all with left-hand drive, before the 246 GT took over in 1969. Ferrari’s own sales brochure called the car “Tiny, brilliant, safe…almost a Ferrari.”

5. 1967 Matra 530

Matra followed the Djet with the 530, unveiled at the Geneva show in March 1967. This time the power came from Ford. A 1,699cc Cologne V4 sat lengthwise in the middle and drove the rear wheels.

The Lane Motor Museum rates that V4 at 75 hp and notes room for two small rear seats, a 2+2 layout in a mid-engine car. Early cars also had a two-piece targa roof. Hagerty UK counts 9,609 built, including 1,146 SX models with a fixed roof. Production ended in 1973, when Matra’s car business passed to Simca-Chrysler.

6. 1969 Porsche 914

The 914 started with a handshake. Porsche needed a sports car below the 911, and Volkswagen wanted a successor to the Karmann Ghia. So, in the mid-1960s, Ferry Porsche and VW director Heinrich Nordhoff agreed on a joint project.

Porsche says the 914 made it the first German maker to bring a production mid-engined sports car to market, in 1969. The four-cylinder car used a 1.7-liter Volkswagen engine with 80 PS, and 115,631 were built through 1975. Meanwhile, the 914/6 used a 2.0-liter Porsche flat-six from the 911 T with 110 PS. Porsche built 3,338 of those from 1969 to 1972.

7. 1971 Maserati Bora, Maserati’s first mid-engine road car

Maserati unveiled the Bora at the Geneva show on March 11, 1971. Giorgetto Giugiaro designed it. With the Bora, Maserati brought the mid-engine layout to its road-car line for the first time.

Motor Authority lists a 4.7-liter V8 rated at 310 hp, and a 4.9-liter version came later. The Bora also had four-wheel independent suspension and disc brakes. In all, Maserati built 564 before production ended in 1978.

8. 1972 Fiat X1/9

Fiat’s X1/9 took a family car’s drivetrain and moved it behind the seats, creating a small mid-engine car. Designers took the whole engine and transmission unit from the Fiat 128 and placed it at the rear. The engine was the 128’s 1,290cc four.

Veloce Today lists 75 hp for the European 1300 and slightly less than 66.5 hp for the U.S. version. It also calls the X1/9 the first Fiat designed specifically for the American market. RM Sotheby’s credits the styling to Marcello Gandini. Bertone took over production in 1982, and totals differ by source. RM Sotheby’s says Fiat and Bertone built 160,000, while Veloce Today puts the figure at about 170,000 from 1972 to 1989.

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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.