Ligier JS4

In France, some are lucky enough to buy a brand-new Ligier at 14 years old, and spend the last of their teenage years barreling down narrow country roads at speeds up to 45 km/h (28 mph).

Without a license.

That means you, respectable vintage Ligier JS2 sports car owner, you may end up whirling around a corner only to find a brand-new Ligier whirling around a corner in the other direction; a 45 km/h Porta-Tricolore designed to sneak Gitanes, Trojans, and its two participants from one non-committal engagement to another.

First: engined in versions spanning from Ford or Maserati V6 to Ford DFV in racing trim, the JS2 was a relatively successful road and race car:

Then: the 1973 Oil Crisis made every boutique manufacturer look long and hard at their empty order books. In 1975, in a bid to get more motorists on the roads, France enacted rules that allowed younger people to drive license-free.

The two events were, in a way, related, and gave Ligier pause: does it continue as a high-end sports car manufacturer and racing constructor or does it make an attempt at becoming a full line carmaker…like, I don’t know…Bitter?

If it had been the latter, the company probably would have had a rougher go of it than the route it chose.

The vehicle that tipped racer Guy Ligier's firm away from Formula 1, Le Mans, and Tour de France Auto successes in the direction of city cars? 

The Ligier JS4, which was — according to a few sources — based on the cab Ligier had develped for a Renault tractor. I went looking at Renault tractors, and gave up trying to reconcile the more upright, glass-dominant tractor cabs of that era with this city car’s three panel exterior styling. 

In 1980, the same year Ligier won its final Formula 1 Constructor’s Championship, the company released the made-from-sheet-metal JS4 city car at the Paris Motor Show. 

I've seen (and sat in) the example at the Lane Motor Museum — all decked out in authentic Formula 1 "pit car" livery — and I must say it's a strangely alluring size…