the Maserati Indy and Lotus Elan +2, the rear to the Ferrari 365 GT 2+2, and the side elevation to the Aston Martin DBS. Problems continued with the engine however. Blown head-gaskets were common and difficulties with deliveries of both block and cylinder head castings held back development. In an exclusive article in l'Auto-Journal, writers Jean Mistral and Gilles Guérithaut published a preview of the Monica's debut at the upcoming Salon de l'Auto in October along with an interview with Tastevin. Among the things the founder revealed were his plans to build 400 cars per year. Tastevin decided that the car would debut at the Salon de l'Auto show in Paris in October 1971. The car on display was powered by a Martin V8 and was called the Monica 350. Tastevin arranged to have a car raised to the tenth floor of a Paris hotel the day before the show, and then have it moved over to the Salon, where the car was received enthusiastically. The morning after the day of the show Lawrence was approached by Zora-Arkus Duntov, who asked if he could take the car for a drive. Lawrence handed him the keys. Shortly after the Paris auto show, Tastevin phoned Lawrence and told him that he had arranged for the car to be evaluated by a team from Matra. A team of six from Matra drove the cars for over three hours straight and then met with Tastevin. The outcome of the evaluation was that the Matra engineers thought that the car should go into production, but only with a different engine. Consideration was given to using an Aston Martin V8, but that option was too expensive to pursue. Lawrence was sent to the United States to meet with Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler to arrange for a supply of engines. Ford and Chevrolet were quickly eliminated from the running but Chrysler was very open to the idea. At the beginning of 1973 the decision was finally made to abandon the Martin V8 and adopt a North American engine, specifically the 5.6-litre (5563 cc) "340" Chrysler LA series V8. To handle the extra weight power-steering was added, and the rear axle was beefed up. As an added bonus, Chrysler shipped the engines with an air-conditioning compressor, so that feature was added at the same time. Other minor changes included fabricating the requisite motor mounts, having two new vents