The Sera is a small sports car built in France from 1959 to 1961. A few cars were also built in Spain.

Background

The name of the company that built the car was SERA SA, an acronym for "Société d'Études et de Réalisations Automobiles, Société Anonyme". This was not the SERA-CD company founded by

Charles Deutsch Charles Deutsch (1911–1980) was a French aerodynamics engineer and automobile maker, founder of the brand " DB" with René Bonnet, and later of the "CD". Early history Deutsch was born at Champigny-sur-Marne on 6 September 1911. His father wa ...

, whose full company name was "Société d'Études et de Réalisations Automobiles - Charles Deutsch". The company that built the Sera was founded by M.G. Rey and was based in Porte de Villiers, Paris. Some references indicate that French industrialist François Arbel, who had been one of the principals behind the second iteration of the Symétric hybrid prototype, was involved in the project and was instrumental in bringing

Jacques Durand Jacques Durand (28 June 1920 – 16 August 2009) was a French engineer, model builder and automobile designer. He is primarily known for designing several sports cars, which were built in small volumes in France beginning in the 1950s and c ...

in to do the design.

Features and specifications

Durand's design for the Sera was a stylish 2-seat convertible. A removable hardtop was optional. The Sera incorporated parts from other vehicles. The windshield, for instance, was from the Simca Aronde Océane, the taillights were from the

Panhard PL 17 The Panhard PL 17 is an automobile made by the France, French manufacturer Panhard from 1959 until 1965. Presented on 29 June 1959, as successor to the Panhard Dyna Z, the PL 17 was essentially a facelifted version of its predecessor. The initial ...

and the backlight in the removable hardtop was from the

Citroën DS The Citroën DS () is a Front-mid-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, front mid-engined, front-wheel drive executive car manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1955 to 1975, in fastback/sedan, wagon/estate, and convertible body configurations ...

. The Sera weighed less than and was designed around a backbone chassis with a power-train and running gear sourced from Panhard. The engine was a two-cylinder boxer twin that could be had in standard or "Tigre" versions, with the latter able to propel the car up to a top speed of . The engine drove the front-wheels through a 4-speed manual transaxle from the

Panhard Dyna Z The Panhard Dyna Z is a lightweight Mid-size car, motor car produced by Panhard of France from 1954 to 1959. It was first presented to the press at a Paris restaurant named Les Ambassadeurs on 17 June 1953 and entered production the following year. ...

Production history

Five cars were built in preparation for the car's official unveiling at the 1959 Paris Auto Salon. SERA was unable to secure a stand at the show and so improvised a display of the car outside of the pavilion where the show was held. The car was priced at 14,000 francs. Eight more cars were built in a facility in the 17th arrondissement of Paris before production was moved to the former Motobloc factory in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

where 15 more cars were built before the factory shut down in January 1961. One of the Bordeaux Seras was exhibited at a fair in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

which elicited a proposal to build the car in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. This resulted in Durand relocating to

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

to restart Sera production there. Import restrictions imposed by the Franco government made it impossible to obtain the French Panhard components needed to complete the cars. One Spanish-built Sera was completed with a three-cylinder

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a four-stroke engine which re ...

DKW DKW (''Dampfkraftwagen'', – the same initials later also used for ''Des Knaben Wunsch'', ; ''Das Kleine Wunder'', and ''Deutsche Kinderwagen'', ) was a German car- and motorcycle-marque. DKW was one of the four companies that formed Auto U ...

engine in a front-wheel drive layout and a second car was fitted with a

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

engine in a

front-engine, rear-wheel drive A front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout (FR), also called Système Panhard is a powertrain layout with an engine in front and rear-wheel-drive, connected via a drive shaft. This arrangement, with the engine straddling the front axle, was the tra ...

configuration before the endeavour collapsed. A Sera fixed-head coupé has been displayed both prior to and following a full restoration. It is not known if this car is in its original configuration as the shape of the greenhouse is very reminiscent of the later Arista also designed by Durand.

References

{{reflist Front-wheel-drive vehicles Cars powered by boxer engines Cars introduced in 1959 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Automobiles with backbone chassis Cars of France