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I saw this on our trip to France. It looks to be in good condition for the age, possibly 30 years old or more. I think they stopped making them in the 90s. When I was a boy In the 1970s we had holidays staying at a gite on a farm - me and my sister used to play in a rusty old Renault 4 the owners had left to quietly decay. This one is definitely in better condition!
I'd commented on your Flickr share that I used to have one of these when I first moved to the village in 1984. The last in a succession of quirky French cars (I'd also had a Peugeot Dauphine in the early 70's) this was even more unreliable and was changed fairly quickly to a newish VW Polo - from memory, the long wheelbase version. This was of course back in the day when all cars didn't look the same!
As well as the dash mounted handbrake coming off in my hand the day before it was due to be traded in (and I was on a hill at the time with 2 very young children in the back seat - good that I had quick reactions then!) it was also prone to brake weakness. Not total failure but the brakes wouldn't kick in until they'd been vigorously pumped several times! On second thoughts, the cars may all look similar, but at least they're safer!
I'd commented on your Flickr share that I used to have one of these when I first moved to the village in 1984. The last in a succession of quirky French cars (I'd also had a Peugeot Dauphine in the early 70's) this was even more unreliable and was changed fairly quickly to a newish VW Polo - from memory, the long wheelbase version. This was of course back in the day when all cars didn't look the same!
As well as the dash mounted handbrake coming off in my hand the day before it was due to be traded in (and I was on a hill at the time with 2 very young children in the back seat - good that I had quick reactions then!) it was also prone to brake weakness. Not total failure but the brakes wouldn't kick in until they'd been vigorously pumped several times! On second thoughts, the cars may all look similar, but at least they're safer!
Cars in the 80s! I bought a demonstrator MG Maestro 2.0 EFI for a very decent discount, just six months old, 1986 C-reg. While it was good to drive (even without power steering) it was terrible for reliability. The engine kept cutting out for no apparent reason (later traced to a faulty crankshaft sensor), the driver's sun visor fell off while I was driving, and the windscreen seal was always flapping around.
My neighbour, when I was a teenager, had a R4 and a Citroen GS - the former being very old fashioned, while the latter was sleek and aerodynamic and very modern. His wife was French
There are still quite a few old French cars on the road in our part of France, partly because of nostalgia, especially with old Dianes and 2CVs. They look quite ridiculous going around corners! But they are very cute.
Good memories! I think the R4 was Renault’s answer to the Citroen 2CV. My first car was a 2CV, originally bought by my father in 1983 as a “runabout” and for me to drive my mother about in - she didn’t drive and he was working long hours and sometimes away for work. When I started work he said I could use it then have it if I saved up money to pay him for it. Not being one to look a gift (two) horse in the mouth I took him up on the offer.
There had been a bit of a 2CV revival in the 1980s and Citroen produced a version called the Charleston so that it what my father had bought. It was fairly reliable but had cold start problems in winter - usually due to damp around the HT leads, some drying off with a cloth and a bit of WD40 usually solved it. I used to do basic servicing myself like changing the oil, brake pads and spark plugs (only two!) - it was easy to work on. One problem it had was rust - it rusted through just below the windscreen and in the rain could drip through inside onto my knees while driving. I was forever treating it for rust and trying to seal the leak. I sold it around 1987 for about £4000, to buy one today in good condition the cost would be around £10,000 upwards.
This is a photo of my 2CV taken in about 1986 - I keep the photo inside this book.
Wish I'd bought an R4 while you could still pick them up cheaply in France. Until very recently you could see a lot of them and other practical old French classics being used regularly as utility vehicles, they command 'classic' prices now.
French families tend to be brand-loyal, or at least they were when everyone there drove French cars. My in-laws were a Renault house, and we had a series of them too. We had a R11 GTX (the sporty one) that could top 100 mph; we know this because that's the speed we were doing when we were caught by the very first police camera-car in Ireland. Our last one was a R21 that we grew to love for its unburstable reliability; there are still a good few of these lugging loads,
BDennis, the 2CV must have been a fun car. A friend of mine drove one back in our college days. He usually hove into view cornering at implausible lean angles; if he'd stuck his arm out the window on left turns, I bet he could've dragged his knuckles on the ground.
Declan
Em1ii and 12-40 f2.8, 40-150 f2.8, 60mm macro, 25 f1.8, 45 f1.8, 75 f1.8.
OM10 and 50mm f1.8. Panasonic GM5 and 12-32.
BDennis, the 2CV must have been a fun car. A friend of mine drove one back in our college days. He usually hove into view cornering at implausible lean angles; if he'd stuck his arm out the window on left turns, I bet he could've dragged his knuckles on the ground.
Yes, the 2CV was a fun car to drive - especially when you’re young and you want to get the max speed out of whatever you’ve got! With the roof down and all the noise of the engine etc going flat out you’d get an impression of speed of course even if stuff was overtaking you. On the motorway I’d drive it with my foot flat to the floor, it would still lose speed up the hills like that. One time on the motorway there was this chap in a Ford something or other desperate to get past me up a hill in an outside lane. He almost made it but in a 2CV you don’t tend to lift the foot off the pedal unless you have to slow or stop so as we came over the hill my car picked up and headed towards 80mph on the speedo...he shook his fist at me!
With the suspension it could take corners really well and it was quite alarming with the lean on it. On a dry road you could take the corners no problem with quite a lot of lean - with the 2CV it was all about maintaining the momentum so this became the driving style!
Every so often I’m tempted to buy another one just for the fun and nostalgia…
100%.
I used to enjoy driving my wife’s Dyane a lot.
You got adept at not slowing down at roundabouts, exploiting the decent road holding and predictable grip, while ignoring the spectacular roll angles and avoiding having to resort to the snail-like acceleration.
It had an ‘umbrella’ style gear change, which was actually quite speedy once you’d got used to it.
Odd coincidence you should start this thread about the very same model of car I took a photo of a fortnight or so ago.
Spotted this Renault 4 in Arnhem, NL during the week of the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden.
Great shot! Interesting to compare to the one I got a photo of, looking through the Renault site what you got here with that shaped grille must be the original model? The one I photographed is I think the last variant produced from 1980 to 1990.
Cars in the 80s! I bought a demonstrator MG Maestro 2.0 EFI for a very decent discount, just six months old, 1986 C-reg. While it was good to drive (even without power steering) it was terrible for reliability. The engine kept cutting out for no apparent reason (later traced to a faulty crankshaft sensor), the driver's sun visor fell off while I was driving, and the windscreen seal was always flapping around.
My neighbour, when I was a teenager, had a R4 and a Citroen GS - the former being very old fashioned, while the latter was sleek and aerodynamic and very modern. His wife was French
There are still quite a few old French cars on the road in our part of France, partly because of nostalgia, especially with old Dianes and 2CVs. They look quite ridiculous going around corners! But they are very cute.
Ian
The cars I had in the 70's when I first passed my test were worse; in particularly the Morris Minor that I bought for £37 10s 6d in 1972 as my first car. It had originally been a Post Office car and was painted their original colour - a very drab grey. I hand-painted it scarlet (as you do!). The air cleaner was very unreliable so I was taught how to fashion a replacement filter out of old stockings (or, in my case, tights - a leg a week!) I soon fell out of love with hand cranking to start the darn thing as well, so upgraded about 18 months later to a Mini. Bearing in mind that I passed my test in 1972, the first car was from 1959 and the second from about 1965 and had already done well over a 100,000 miles. The mini was marginally more reliable - apart from when the gearbox failed. Until the local 'fixer in his garage' could find a second hand gearbox, I was driving round for about 4 weeks with aluminium foil for splines, having to return to said mate for him to put more foil in when things started to go awry again! The final car during singledom was my grandfather's Peugeot Dauphine. He'd had to give up driving due to poor eyesight. On this one the choke didn't work, so I'd have to open up the boot (where the engine was) and hand-prime before attempting to start. Great car, scrapped it when I got married in 1975 and moved to Africa for a couple of years with the then husband. By the time we got back, we could afford better and more reliable cars (although saying that, our first car, a Chevette had a crack in the sump that no one could spot and we kept breaking down with low oil light).
We had several over the years as our second car. Some of the adverts used to show them carrying a calf in the back. No doubt that appealed to French farmers.
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