Not your usual PH classic car!

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Discussion

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
This story begins back when the world was black & white & I 'bought' a rusty old heap of a 1974 Renault 4 as my first car that needed loads of welding (bought from welder who worked for my Dad for £110) & various mechanical fettling to get through MOT - 845cc of thrusting freedom horsepowers!

Anyhoo, I've casually been on the lookout for a solid example to play with for a couple of years, but most UK cars have melted away or are mint show cars with increasing prices, whereas I wanted a solid but patina'd car that I could sort mechanically & enjoy as an honest thing.

So, after a few glasses of red wine the other week, I woke up on a Sunday morning to find that I was the winning bidder on something, erm wtf have I done etc!

I'd 'won' a LHD french registered 1983 R4 TL in hearing aid beige with a reasonable 140k kilometres on the clock which was allegedly virtually rust free.

Bought from a lovely guy, as it turned out, who had retired to France & had accumulated 10 old french cars in his barn over the last few years when carrying out building jobs for les frenchies in La Belle France.

He had driven the thing 700 miles from the SW of France to his daughter's in Suffolk, so I just need to to pick it up, MOT it & register it in the UK - simples!

Anyway, few pics from original ad...












Not really had much time to play with it as yet, but have cleaned underneath & undersealed it & apart from small piece of welding that mate has sorted for me, rest of car is clean, dry & dusty, as befits something that has spent most of its life on a farm in the south of France.

Plenty of characterful french parking dents, but they're staying as all part of the car's story!

Right, time to don the flameproof suit & await the howls of derision!

Edited by appletonn on Friday 25th September 14:57

Blib

43,791 posts

196 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
No derision from me. Renault 4s are terrific little cars. I remember being driven to college in one, back in the day, with its gear lever sticking out of the dash. Indeed, last year, when I was looking for a car for Mrs B's birthday, I came close to buying one as the 4 is her second favourite car of all time. In the end, I found an example of her favourite, a 1970 Fiat 500, instead.

Enjoy!

thumbup

vanordinaire

3,701 posts

161 months

Friday 25th September 2015
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In the late 70's I made a trike out of one of these once using the front of the car as the back of the trike. There was very little work to do. That big long rod passing over the top of the engine is the gear leaver as the gearbox is in front of the engine. It made for a nicely balanced machine.
Looking at yours , it was a bit of a waste hacking up the original car but they were worth nothing back then.
I remember messing about in the car before hacking it to pieces and it had a remarkably smooth ride compared to the British cars of the time, similar to a 2CV.
Congratulations on an unusual classic.

Escort3500

11,827 posts

144 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
No derision from me either smile

I just love the simplicity of these cars (and others of this era such as the 2CV) in an age where complex electronic under-bonnet jiggery-pokery is the norm. I used a mate's one at college during the late 70s sometimes and it was such an entertaining drive, hugely practical and ridiculously cheap to run. Happy days biggrin

Hope you enjoy it beer

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
Cheers guys, unexpected love in the room!

I also love the meccano simplicity of these things & the ride quality is Jag XJ comfortable, although the noise levels do differ slightly!

Have only driven it once thus far, from mates place after welding to home. Had a huge grin all the way. Also forgotten the epic levels of body roll in corners but equally high levels of grip on the skinny tyres, so can basically drive them flat out all the time. Lots of fun at legal speeds.

Few bits to sort including cleaning out carb & jets (car was stood for a couple of years in France & carb is full of crud), stripping out interior, cleaning out the contents of half a wheat field (definitely used as intended by stereotypical french farmer type!) from interior & cleaning seats, trim etc.

Already found empty packet of Gauloise fags & Kronenberg 1664 bottle top under the seats! Cars really don't get much more french than this!

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
A couple of pics from last week - I've had wheels shot blasted (£20 mates rates) & primed with red oxide, but I'm now thinking of painting them burgundy over the top to set off the lovely beige body work.


















Edited by appletonn on Friday 25th September 09:32


Edited by appletonn on Friday 25th September 14:54

lowdrag

12,869 posts

212 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
And when in the end you tire of it or it breaks down irretrievably, you can always turn it into this:-



An unusual BBQ!

fireturk

287 posts

236 months

Friday 25th September 2015
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dad had 4 of these in a row , last one being brand new, as well as a Renault6. remember as a child going on holiday to Robin Hoods Bay. Mum, brother and I had to get out of the car when leaving the bay as the 4 wouldn't go up the steep hill with all of us in the car!!

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
fireturk said:
dad had 4 of these in a row , last one being brand new, as well as a Renault6. remember as a child going on holiday to Robin Hoods Bay. Mum, brother and I had to get out of the car when leaving the bay as the 4 wouldn't go up the steep hill with all of us in the car!!
Excellent story!

I had two in a row & the second yellow one went to Germany & then to France for a year, whilst I was working/teaching out there...








rovermorris999

5,195 posts

188 months

Friday 25th September 2015
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I love these too. The ride is brilliant, I'd love to find one like yours.

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
rovermorris999 said:
I love these too. The ride is brilliant, I'd love to find one like yours.
Yes ride is brilliant, in fact far better than my two old ones as this one is in far better mechanical shape with lowish miles (85k) & the body roll is epic around roundabouts at even low speed - huge fun!

S10GTA

12,645 posts

166 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
Lovely.

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
Escort3500 said:
No derision from me either smile

I just love the simplicity of these cars (and others of this era such as the 2CV) in an age where complex electronic under-bonnet jiggery-pokery is the norm. I used a mate's one at college during the late 70s sometimes and it was such an entertaining drive, hugely practical and ridiculously cheap to run. Happy days biggrin

Hope you enjoy it beer
Yep, huge meccano kit where spanners, screwdrivers & hammers will see you through!

Mattlan

394 posts

204 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
lovely of motors in the pictures if they are all yours!! Is that a cheeky MX5 RS Ltd I spy?

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Friday 25th September 2015
quotequote all
Mattlan said:
lovely of motors in the pictures if they are all yours!! Is that a cheeky MX5 RS Ltd I spy?
The Eunos is an 1.6 S-Special that I've just sold (by way of contrast!) to make way for the R4.

Eunos has been developed into trackday/ fun road car but after 3 yrs, it's had to make room for the quirky frog!

gforceg

3,524 posts

178 months

Friday 25th September 2015
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I used to know a chap who had a brown R4, which was dubbed the Flying Hovis for hopefully obvious reasons.

Evangelion

7,639 posts

177 months

Saturday 26th September 2015
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Meccano simplicity and hearing aid beige ... who could ask for more!

Shame the Eunos had to go; just sold my RS so I share your pain. It will be replaced one day when prosperity returns.

grumpy52

5,565 posts

165 months

Saturday 26th September 2015
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Why does the thought of driving something like this put a big grin on my face ?
Old things like this are an adventure in every journey .

NiceCupOfTea

25,280 posts

250 months

Saturday 26th September 2015
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Something very appealing about the honesty of these old French rotboxes! My grandparents went through a series of old Renaults (they weren't that old at the time), I miss the days when cars weren't all the same.

I remember the catches/locks on the rear doors on one of them (R6 I think) rusting through and my ever resourceful (but less-than practical) grandfather tieing the interior handles together across the back seat with some garden twine eek

appletonn

Original Poster:

699 posts

259 months

Monday 28th September 2015
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Over the weekend I made a tentative start on stripping & cleaning out the interior. True to the backstory, this is definitely a car that has spent its working life on or around a farm as I must have brushed & hoovered out half of a field from the rear of the car!

Good news is that under the soil & straw, the interior is clean & shiny with only normal wear & tear evident.

Got to jet wash the rubber matting before putting it back in, but otherwise quite happy with what I've found thus far!

Got to strip the front seats & matting out next, clean the seats & door cards etc, but here's a couple of pics of the compost heap that was the interior!










And then the rear compartment after a quick brushing & hoovering, along with the wheel colour that I'm thinking of to contrast with the bodywork...










Before anyone comments on the lack of masking of the tyres before spraying the wheels, all the tyres are fubar to a greater or lesser extent so will be replaced in due course before MOT time!