There was little else to the Matra MS11 than a humongous French V12 which wasn’t very good. But all the car needed was a bit of old-school French engineering. A year later the MS80, its sucessor, sailed Jackie Stewart to his first F1 title. (Photo by al_green)

The French might be struggling a bit with getting their mojo back at the moment, but let's not forget that we would be nowhere without French cars. They not only invented the internal combustion engine (and then put it in a boat), but were also the pioneers of motor sports, and the creators of the Renault-Matra…

As you all know, it's 12/12/12 today. For a brief moment, it will also be 12/12/12 12:12:12,12. While this is undoubtedly all very exciting, instead of waiting for the apocalypse, let's talk about V12s instead! That is the right thing to do!

In 1971, Jean-Pierre Beltoise ran out of fuel in the 1000 Kilometers of Buenos Aires and tried to push his Matra prototype into the pits. Oncoming Ferrari driver Ignazio Giunti had no chance to avoid Beltoise, crashed, and died.

It was 13 years ago, at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show, that Renault unveiled its Coupéspace concept, the didactic branding hinting at its origins: an Espace minivan turned into a coupé. This is the car which became the Renault Avantime, which was so avant of its time that the market demanded a total of 8,557 cars before…

Prints and paint, but no photoshop. The founder of the excellent formfreu.de, Markus Haub, transforms vintage racing pictures into the coolest car art we've seen all year.

Not every French car comes equipped with a diesel of infinitesimal displacement. This 3.0-liter V12 powered Matra to multiple Le Mans victories in the early ‘70s.

A 455-hp V-12 from the Countach Quattrovalvole? A pair of gullwing doors? Minivans may be more boring than watching paint dry, but every rule has an exception. This is it.

Peugeot 203, Citroen DS, Renault Alpine. Only the best headlights and other automotive memorabilia are on display at the Paris Retromobile Show. More photos of classic beauties, including a Matra, below.

An eccentric, failed French minivan-coupé first owned by a Brobdingnagian sumo champion is actually one of the greatest grand tourers ever made.