THE URBAN ON-ROADER

Image, it is said, is everything, and few objects endorse this so completely as the motor car. When we purchase an off-road vehicle we expect it to look like one – rugged, capable and ready for action. But not every tough-looking car is actually equipped for the great outdoors. 1977’s Matra Rancho, for instance, brought the country station wagon image to the decidedly suburban Simca brand. Although aesthetically it looked like a concept sketch for the Land Rover Discovery, it possessed no more competence in a mud-strewn field than the Simca 1100 pickup whose front section and lengthened chassis it borrowed. The Rancho sold well though, and to a much more urban, style-conscious crowd than the boxy, plebeian 1100 had