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| A Ligier for sale on Dubai's Beach Road |
In a city of 4x4s and luxury cars, it is always refreshing
to see a Classic on the roads of Dubai.
Jumeirah Beach Road seems to be the place to park for
maximum attention. That’s where I spotted an Oldsmobile “Ninety Eight” last year and where I
spotted this oddity.
After passing the little yellow and blue car for a couple of
days, just after the Al Manara traffic lights, I had to stop and have a look and take some pictures.
I didn’t know what it was, even after seeing the brand “Ligier”
on the side step. But it was interesting to do the research.
The firm entered the automobile business with the Ligier JS2, a mid-engined sports car for the road
initially powered by a Ford V6 and from 1971 by the same Maserati V6 engine as
the Citroën SM. The 1973
energy crisis caused such a decline in the market for the JS2 that production
ceased soon after, and the firm changed its focus to microcars.
The Ligier model range currently consists of the Ixo line of
mini cars, the X-Pro line of small commercial vehicles, and the Be Up/Be Two
line of open air, roadster-type vehicles, such as the one on Beach Road.
The Ligier Be Up/Be Two was featured at the Geneva
Motor Show in 2002 and the Paris Motor Show in 2006. Its quadricycle’s space-frame
is powered by a 505 cc two-cylinder diesel engine, putting out a
ground-pounding 4KW (about 5.5 hp) through a continuously variable
transmission.
I wonder how much this Ligier is going for. It’s cute
and fun, but I would certainly not risk driving it on Sheikh Zayed Road!
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