Monsieur André Marcadier took inspiration from the Lotus 23 to create, in association with M. André Fournier, the barquette Fournier Marcadier in 1963. It was a light-weight road-legal racer with space frame tubular chassis, powered by tuned Renault engines. It had a very successful career on the track and in rallyes.

Fournier-Marcadier also created an elaborated single-seater racer that eventually gave birth to the "Formule France" Championship.

Then in 1967, based on their experience, Fournier-Marcadier presented the Berlinetta "Barzoï" (after the name of a very fast Russian greyhound). This very attractive small berlinetta is actually rather a road-legal racing car, built on an ultra lightwheight multitubular space frame chassis with fibreglasss body. The car weighs less than 500 kg.

This car drives litterally like a Le Mans Prototype. The most spectacular feature is the Gullwing doors, similar to the legendary Mercedes 300SL and very rarely found on road-legal cars, but also the very sleek, low profile (98 cm) aerodynamic bodywork.

The highlight of Fournier-Marcadier was the 1968 Grand Prix de Paris on the Montlhery race-track. French driver Francois Lacarrau took second place with his Barzoï Coupé, against Matra 470 BRM, Ferrari, Porsche 906 amongst others ! An amazing demonstration of the capabilities of this small wonder with only 110 hp.

The Barzoï participated in the 1969 Targa-Florio and is therfore eligible for this legendary race, among other events. Its bodywork design is extremely nice, with spectacular gullwing doors and a rear cockpit profile reminding of the Alfa Romeo GTZ.

Our example is one of the few powered by a Renault-Gordini 1600 (807-20) engine mounted in central positon behind the driver. It boasts the early round-tube space frame chassis, closer to its Lotus 23 inspiration and more sought after than the square-tube later version. Gear box is with 5 gears and steering is racing-style very direct.

Engine, transmission work fine, and general conditon is very good. Brakes have just been rebuilt to new. Of course, some work - mainly cosmetic and some electrics - remains to be done for the bodywork, and interior, which are very spartan, as original, and never restored. This particular example features a rare two-part door system, the gullwings being supplemented by a lower panel allowing a (relatively) reasonable access to the cockpît.

This car is road-legal, with French title, a rare and valuable "plus" for a Fournier-Marcadier, often driven for racing only...

A rare Classic French GT of the 60s to collect now : this ultra rare, no-compromise sports-car is a legacy of Fournier-Marcadier, a small but creative car manufacturer of the sixties, that disappeared due to legislation and racing budgets escalation. Very exciting, rare, and a good Collector investment.

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