Dacia 1300

The Dacia 1300 was a medium-sized family car built by Dacia in Romania as a licensed version of the Renault 12. The first one left the assembly line on 23 August 1969, nine days before the Renault 12 itself was launched, and the number in its name stands for the engine displacement of about 1.3 litres. The Romanian government of the 1960s picked the Renault 12 design from offers by several European makers. The car was sold across the Eastern Bloc and in export markets such as South America, Canada and Britain. A luxury 1301 followed in 1970, an estate in 1973 and the 1302 pickup in 1975. Body panel corrosion became its main weakness, yet the basic design stayed in production for 35 years.