The Simca 1000 Rally 2 occupies a specific and underappreciated corner of French automotive history: a compact, rear-engined saloon that punched well above its price bracket. By 1976, it sat in the mature phase of a production run that had begun in 1961, carrying a 1294 cc inline-four and enough driving character to attract a loyal following among club racers and road enthusiasts alike. Norev's 1:18 die-cast rendering is one of the very few large-scale replicas this car has received.
Rear-Engined Pedigree: The Simca 1000 Platform
Introduced in 1961, the Simca 1000 was a rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive compact saloon produced until 1978 — a longer run than many of its contemporaries managed. Simca, a French brand absorbed into Chrysler Europe's portfolio from 1970, used the 1000 platform as the basis for an ascending line of performance variants. The Rally 1 came first, displacing 1118 cc; the Rally 2 followed with a 1294 cc engine producing approximately 82–90 hp, twin dual-choke Weber carburettors, and uprated suspension that gave the car its distinctive tail-happy handling.
1976: A Classic French Performance Saloon in Green and Black
By 1976, the Rally 2 was a well-established proposition in France — affordable, quick by the standards of the era, and a regular sight at club rallies and circuit events. The green body with black trim and graphics reproduced on this model reflects the factory colour combinations available for the Rally 2 in the mid-1970s, a period palette that now reads as unmistakably of its decade. No single race event defines this particular car; its appeal is the road-going performance variant as sold directly to the public, during the final years of the Chrysler-era Simca brand.
Norev's 1:18 Scale Model: Die-Cast French Heritage
Norev is a French die-cast manufacturer with a long track record of replicating French and European road cars, and there is an inherent coherence in a French maker producing a 1:18 replica of this quintessentially French subject. The model features a die-cast metal body with plastic components, following Norev's established construction approach for their 1:18 road car range. The green-and-black livery is rendered faithfully across the bodywork and trim details, capturing the period character of the original Rally 2 specification.
In the Display Cabinet: French 1970s Road Cars
This model sits naturally alongside other French performance road cars of the same era — the Alpine A110, the Renault 8 Gordini, and the Simca 1100 Ti all represent the same generation of rear- or front-engined French hot cars from the 1970s. Norev's own 1:18 range covers Citroën, Renault and Peugeot subjects from the same period, making a coherent thematic shelf straightforward to build. For collectors who look beyond the obvious Renault and Peugeot choices, the Rally 2 in green-and-black offers a genuinely distinctive addition.
