RE: Renault 4 GTL: Spotted
Discussion
MJK 24 said:
2xChevrons said:
But try and find anyone still using a 2CV as a functional piece of daily transport.
Balmoral Green where are you?!But I'd be very surprised if, even in the deepest bits of rural France where things haven't changed since the Giscard presidency, you found any wizened smallholders or vineyard workers still hacking about in a 2CV just because it's a car that's suitable for their needs and they see no need to replace it rather than any specific affection for the type. A Dyane, maybe, but not a Deuche. But you can find plenty of late-model R4s that are still being used as 'cars' in a purely functional way.
It's like how in the UK you don't find anyone driving a classic Mini just because they find it a handy little car - they're always Mini enthusiasts on some level. But you still find the odd Metro or Morris 1000 chugging about with a pensioner at the wheel because they see no reason to get rid of their 'sensible little car' that they've had since new and the nice man at the local garage changes the oil every year at the MoT.
As for the prices - they are what they are and that's what the market's doing. A 'squarelight' 2CV6 of the same vintage on drum brakes in the same condition as this GTL would be considerably more than £4,750. The days of them being essentially worthless are over. It's like Land Rovers - my first car was a 1982 Series III 88-inch diesel which I bought with a fresh MoT and a choice of hard- and soft-top fittings for £750. These days that wouldn't even buy you a rotten chassis in a farmer's field with a tree growing through it. At the same time I looked at a pristine 1988 Mini City X for a similar amount, which simply doesn't exist these days.
Edited by 2xChevrons on Saturday 14th April 11:20
samoht said:
On many R4s, on each front corner above the bumper, there is a bent metal bar running roughly vertically. You can see them in the first article picture. Does anyone know what they're for? Bumper overriders? Handles to pull on if you get stuck in soft sand?
They're sort of like overriders but they're really there to protect the wing corners and indictor lenses from Parisian parking knocks. The same reason why in the 1970s every 2CV in Paris was fitted with full 'Raid-spec' bull bars front and rear. 
Have we mentioned the "trombone" shift lever, yet?
I drove one of these for 900 miles, from the foothills of the Argentine Andes to Tierra del Fuego, stopping in dusty towns along the way.
At the time, a major portion of the "highway" that we traveled was a single line of concrete blocks laid end to end. I am not joking. Your left tyres rode on the line of concrete blocks and your right tyres bounced and jounced along a dirt path. Every now and again, an oncoming car would appear: at that moment, either he or you would take the extemporaneous decision to pull to the right, while the other car would trundle past.
Given the anaemic output of the moteur featured in the Renault 4, it was just as well that we did not proceed at fantastic speeds. The flat and largely undifferentiated plains of The Pampas would yield the occasional herd of guanacos. A couple of nights we simply pulled over and slept under the stars.
I drove one of these for 900 miles, from the foothills of the Argentine Andes to Tierra del Fuego, stopping in dusty towns along the way.
At the time, a major portion of the "highway" that we traveled was a single line of concrete blocks laid end to end. I am not joking. Your left tyres rode on the line of concrete blocks and your right tyres bounced and jounced along a dirt path. Every now and again, an oncoming car would appear: at that moment, either he or you would take the extemporaneous decision to pull to the right, while the other car would trundle past.
Given the anaemic output of the moteur featured in the Renault 4, it was just as well that we did not proceed at fantastic speeds. The flat and largely undifferentiated plains of The Pampas would yield the occasional herd of guanacos. A couple of nights we simply pulled over and slept under the stars.
Edited by unsprung on Saturday 14th April 14:59
Is that a sneeky sardine can sunroof or panaramic sunroof as it should be in the advert.
Look at that rear, the boot door is not encroached in anyway by c pilars, sills or wheel arches. Just right across the whole of the rear.
Simply, great in a warm country with crap roads.
Perhaps Grodon Murray has one and looked at it when desigining his new Moke Van.
Look at that rear, the boot door is not encroached in anyway by c pilars, sills or wheel arches. Just right across the whole of the rear.
Simply, great in a warm country with crap roads.
Perhaps Grodon Murray has one and looked at it when desigining his new Moke Van.
I went to look at one in the 90s, a red one and found it charming and really rather cool to drive. However, this one was red and Postman Pat was very popular...
Still see loads of R4 vans in Mallorca and Spain, slowly being over-run with Citroen Visa vans.
Not sure what will replace the Visa.
Still see loads of R4 vans in Mallorca and Spain, slowly being over-run with Citroen Visa vans.
Not sure what will replace the Visa.
The only time I was in a significant car accident an R4 was the other party. I was a child with my sister and mum in my step-father's 964 convertible. We came round a corner in Italy somewhere and the R4 was stopped in the middle of the road. Luckily we weren't going too fast and the accident caused no injuries as the front of the Porsche slid under the back of the R4 twisted the driver's side wing quite badly.
It turned out there was a temporary traffic light tucked behind partly behind a small tree which meant my step-father unsighted in a right hand drive car. After sorting out all the insurance details the R4 trundled off with only a slight dent in the bootlid. Whether its chassis was still straight we don't know but I expect it did many more years service.
The Porsche wing was bashed back into place with a sledgehammer and some duct tap for the headlight and it ably took us back to the UK.
I know cars are much stronger these days but I can't help thinking neither of their modern equivalents would have driven away from the accident...
Overall I much prefer the R4 to the 2CV and like a poster above said a quick look at ebay is in order...won't be forking out £5000 though!
It turned out there was a temporary traffic light tucked behind partly behind a small tree which meant my step-father unsighted in a right hand drive car. After sorting out all the insurance details the R4 trundled off with only a slight dent in the bootlid. Whether its chassis was still straight we don't know but I expect it did many more years service.
The Porsche wing was bashed back into place with a sledgehammer and some duct tap for the headlight and it ably took us back to the UK.
I know cars are much stronger these days but I can't help thinking neither of their modern equivalents would have driven away from the accident...
Overall I much prefer the R4 to the 2CV and like a poster above said a quick look at ebay is in order...won't be forking out £5000 though!
My slightly older cousin had one of these when I was 16, back in the 80's, we went out for 'burn ups' in it. The only car that was slower was a 2cv so we looked for them to burn off from the lights.
Comical body roll, so uncool it was cool, first car I ever drove, we got it airborne over humpback bridges, did roof surfing, many other silly things that I would disapprove of 'the yoof' doing now, it did all happen quite at quite low speeds though, even took it on the beach and it didn't get stuck. The reg was SKY808S, so it became known as 'skybobs'.
Great times, I don't want to own one now though.
Comical body roll, so uncool it was cool, first car I ever drove, we got it airborne over humpback bridges, did roof surfing, many other silly things that I would disapprove of 'the yoof' doing now, it did all happen quite at quite low speeds though, even took it on the beach and it didn't get stuck. The reg was SKY808S, so it became known as 'skybobs'.
Great times, I don't want to own one now though.
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