Clementine's Garage
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Yellow R4
 
Réparateur d'automobiles

4s for sale in Ireland

I would like all of them
 
But what are they thinking back there in Ireland? €1500 for that blue one? There's more holes in that thing than in your average sponge! The others look way overpriced too! A beaten up, rusted and dented F4 without an engine and gearbox for 500 euro's?

I'm kinda flabbergasted, is it like that everywhere over there on the other side of the pond or ... ?
 
Don't forget that the brief period when R4s were manufactured in Ireland (late 70s, I think) was an unfortunate episode : the build quality was dreadful and cars simply rusted away. In a sales brochure in 1982 Renault indirectly acknowledged the problem and stated that it had been seen to. Buy with caution!
 
Don't forget that the brief period when R4s were manufactured in Ireland (late 70s, I think) was an unfortunate episode : the build quality was dreadful and cars simply rusted away. In a sales brochure in 1982 Renault indirectly acknowledged the problem and stated that it had been seen to. Buy with caution!

Benchseat, "the brief period when R4s were manufactured in Ireland" was in fact 22 years - 1962-1984, which is most of the time R4s were produced anywhere.

Are you personally familiar with Irish-assembled R4s? I would like to know your basis for saying that the build quality was dreadful. I cannot any significant difference between Irish assembled R4s and other R4s.

Reliability issues and corrosion were not unique to Irish-assembled R4s, but were actually common in all Renaults and many other marques too. At the 50th anniversary meeting, four out of ten R4s were Irish assembled models and out of the remaining six, all were built after Irish production ended. Of the Irish assembled models, only one had been restored.

I would like to see the 1982 sales brochure to which you refer. The one where Renault acknowledged the problem. I am very sceptical as to its existence but am willing to stand corrected, if you can show it.

Rutger, overpriced classics are not as you seem to suggest, unique to Ireland. There's a Renault 6 with rust blisters for sale on a dutch website right now for about €4000. But people are often deluded about how much their cars are worth, and other people (like me) are willing to pay more than the cars are worth. But I suspect that most cars sell for a significantly lower amount than the price they are initially advertised at.
 
Now now boys calm down. The truth is, introduce a Renault 4 to water with a bit of road salt in it and it will rust like any other car of that time. Marigold was built in Ireland but she's ok, a few little bubbles here and there, but thats not a problem. What is a problem is forum members getting too serious, its just a hobby damit!
As for build quality, they were a cheap form of transport and you got what you paid for. By the way, Marigold hasn't been rebuilt and dosn't need to be.:D
 
Morning all. These are fun little cars and deserve to be adopted, restored and driven by fun loving people. I like to escape into my man cave and enjoy good company when we meet in person or on line.

Look forward to seeing Marigold, Brian and everyone in 2013. Theynay is a strong possibility for Steve and me .

Derek once explained to me why brochures made great play of anti corrosion layers. For a short period cars were zinc dipped to the top of the doors to save cost. Roofs tended show signs first but a layer of traditional wax would protect. Renault reverted to total immersion following complaints and the brochures tried to restore confidence.

Have a wonderful Christmas team. And I've heard a rumour that Lord Stanbury is picking up another gong for masterminding Team GBs Olympic success! Happy New Year!
 
I think that Renault did their best to prevent corrosion, but the steel they used in the 80s was of very poor quality, so the earlier cars fair much better. I guess they were cutting corners towards the end of production. In my French friends' breakers yard in Brittany you can see a marked difference in the level of rust between the two decades of production, 80s compared to 70s.
Hope to see you and Steve at Thenay Mark, happy Christmas to you and all our friends out there in Quatrelle land.:hug:
 
Both the F4 van and the 1991 GTL have been sold.

The 1991 GTL ended up selling for €1000.

I wonder who bought them?
 
Referring to an earlier comment; my father, a 'lad' from Cheam in Surrey, worked in Ireland when I was a kid. I spent a long time there (happy days). I seem to remember that several car manufacturers ASSEMBLED cars in Ireland back then, Renault, Ford, Volkswagen etc (and Dunlop had a tyre manufacturing plant in Cork, my uncle moved over to work there). So any Renault car ASSEMBLED in Ireland would have been put together with parts manufactured in France and under the supervision of Renault engineers. So it's not right to assume that cars put together in Ireland were in some way inferior, why would they be anyway? They were no more likely to rust than a Renault put together in France, same parts after all. My fathers R4, bought in Ireland and assembled in Ireland, was a treasure. We had many a lovely weekend away in the Irish countryside. I have many fond memory of picnics in the countryside with up to 6 of us (parents, kids and school-mates) and all our picnic stuff in the 4L. If only life was so straightforward and pleasant now !!! As I said, Happy Days !!!
 
Hello Mike, well said my friend, same car, different country, you are spot on. Thank you for putting the record straight and for your snap-shot of past times, you must have some wonderful memories of what is a beautiful country. I've been over there a couple of times and I fell in love with the place.
 
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