Dacia 1300

Dacia 1300 at a glance

How Romania chose the Renault 12

The Pitești car plant was inaugurated on 20 August 1968 and started with the Dacia 1100, a licensed Renault 8; about 37,500 were built until 1971. For the main model, the Romanian state ran a tender that drew Peugeot, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Austin as well as Renault, and the government set a limit of 1.3 litres on engine size. Renault's Project 117, the future 12, won.

Dacia moved fast. Production started in August 1969, and the new car appeared in the 23 August national parade before the Renault 12 had been unveiled at the Paris Motor Show that October. Output was tiny at first: 293 cars in 1969 and 4,128 in 1970, in Standard and L versions. Early cars relied on French parts. The 810-02 engine came from France until mid-1972, when Romania's own 810-99 took over, and Romanian gearboxes replaced French ones in 1974. Solex carburettors gave way to Carfil units built under Weber licence from 1973.

The licence contract expired in 1978, and Dacia's cooperation with Renault ended that year; the French partner's own path is traced in our history of Renault. From then on Romania developed the car alone. The wider story of the plant is in our history of Dacia.

Estate, Sport and pick-up versions

The range grew around the same 1,289 cc engine. The 1301 Lux Super, better equipped, was reserved for Communist Party officials. The Break estate arrived in 1973, three years after the Renault version, and a commercial version without rear seats or side glass followed. The 1302 pick-up of 1975 began a long line of utility vehicles: 318,969 pick-ups were built between 1975 and 2006.

The Sport used a wheelbase shortened to 2,238 mm, was 4,148 mm long and weighed 900 kg, against 4,340 mm and 2,441 mm for the 1300 saloon. Sources date the facelift that created the 1310 to 1979 and the new name to 1982, so the two numbers overlap in period documents.

A people's car with long waiting lists

Imports were restricted and Western cars almost impossible to buy, so Romanians ordered a Dacia and waited, often for a long time. Owners used the car for everything from long trips to moving furniture and firewood. Wikipedia EN quotes fuel consumption of 7.5-8.0 l/100 km at a steady 80-90 km/h.

Exports went to the Eastern Bloc, South America, China, North Korea, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands. In Britain the 1310 was sold as the Dacia Denem from 1982 to 1984 with little success. The plant reached its first million vehicles in 1985 and two million in 1998, in three decades that Dacia itself describes as dominated by the Renault 12-based models.

Parts shortages led to many hybrid cars built with a mix of old and new components. The 1994 facelift brought plastic bumpers and slimmer headlamps, and the 1998 update added fuel injection and a catalytic converter to meet Euro 2.

The end in 2004 and the Logan

Renault bought Dacia from the Romanian state in September 1999. The last 1310 saloon, numbered 1,959,730, left Mioveni on 21 July 2004, still priced at EUR 4,100, or EUR 4,250 as an estate. Its successor was the Dacia Logan, launched the same year. The pick-up ran on until December 2006, which gave the basic design 37 years in production.

Dacia 1300 today: what to check when buying

Originality decides value. Playtech (November 2025) lists the details collectors check: original badges, correct upholstery and steering wheel, a dashboard clock matching the production year and the right wheels. Because parts shortages produced mixed-specification cars, a 1970s 1300 with later components is common, and documents should match the body and engine.

The body shell is closely related to the Renault 12, for which Classic Trader names the front wings, sills and rear axle mounts as the main rust areas; the same places deserve attention on a Dacia. The OHV engine and four- or five-speed gearbox are simple to work on. The owner scene is active: more than 70 historic Dacias met in Deva in June 2025, according to Agerpres.

Prices are rising from a low base. In March 2024 Adevărul reported a blue 1975 Dacia 1300 with 38,500 km offered on a German site for EUR 3,990, described by its seller as the oldest 1300 in use in Germany. Dacia's current range is in our Dacia catalogue, and other Eastern European cars of the period are in the classic cars section.