Look what the cat dragged in

[malcolm]

I've been picking up Renault 4s over the weekend - photos below. The white one is from 1967 and the beige one from 1965 (ish). The beige one (first 2 photos) is in Kenyan spec with all the extra rough road underbody guards.

Both cars have great interiors, but only one has a salvageable body (it's the one with the squished roof and all the moss which has only covered 18,000 miles from new - and even that one could ideally do with a new roof).

Neither have good engines - the low mileage engine in the white car has seized, and the one in the beige car has no compression.

Chassis aren't that great either - both cars need complete floors and chassis side members, and a whole load of repairs in other areas.

So I plan to restore them both. I like a challenge! Only one will restore to original condition (to the earlier Kenyan spec) - the other will be to whatever crazy spec I decide (original exterior and interior, but Gordini hidden beneath).

Have some photos:

 

[ian Stanbury]

..Madness is only a Renault 4 away!!

Clementine

You have really flipped this time ...and I thought I was mad - what you need is a good long holiday in Renault 4 land, take your Mum and your knitting and
bring your train spotting books!!

If you dont watch it you will be in more trouble that Sticky the Stick Insect was when he got stuck on a sticky bun!!

...and by the way,here is a new member, Sticky, checking the oil level on a Geranium coloured 1965 Outer Mongolian built R4.

 

[roodini]

Malcolm, you've got to stop putting pictures of R4 interiors on here! My wife got to the computer before me and now insists, that we have an interior like the first car pictured, the one with no stitching on the seats.
So if your restoration doesn't come to fruition please let me know.
Liam, if you're reading this and have an interior, (seats and door cards), that match the first image, ditto. edwardsrudi@aol.com

 

[malcolm]

They are fab seats - nice and bright with marbled colouring, and they don't seem too uncomfortable. I've never seen this type before (even in photos) so they must be very rare.

I might have a spare interior like the one in the seond photo (I bought an excellent interior from Stuart earlier in the year).

Looking forward to holiday in R4-land Ian.

 

[roodini]

My wife's adamant about the interior in the first car being "the one", and I agree. I prefer the smooth, separate front seats to the bench seat in the second car. Plus it saves having to move the hand brake.
The quest is on!
Enjoy your holiday, don't forget to send a postcard.

 

[malcolm]

You'd still have to move the handbrake - the seats meet in the middle! Would be fairly straightforward to re-trim some GTL seats in a similar style.

 

[roodini]

For those seats i'd gladly move the handbrake, (think I might know a cat whose moved hand brakes!). I wonder if any of the other Renault models have the same seats? Renault commonly used parts from the rest of the range to move surplus stock, maybe R6's?

 

[malcolm]

The trick to moving handbrakes it to find someone with a post '81 Spanish built TL and offering to swap your floor mounted handbrake that for their inefficient dash mounted one.

The Renault 6 is a bit late and luxurious. 4CV seats would probably fit.

 

[Simon.AU]

That beige car looks like a cousin of my 1964 model car.

Those seats are the ones fitted to a majority of the cars assembled in Australia, apart from the pre-1964 model cars which have the hammock type seats. They were a regular production seat on the post-1963 cars (and vans) with a non bench type seat. The vinyl on those seats is incredibly soft and supple if it hasn't been sun affected, the seats being very comfortable over long distances, however the rubber backrest support does tend to perish and break which leads to torn vinyl and the backrest self destructing. So finding good trim is rare.

 

[malcolm]

It would be interesting to see how far our cars are apart - My oval plate number is 315460, but I don't know the first registration date as it knocked around in Kenya until 1966, then ran around in the UK with Kenyan plates to avoid road tax and parking tickets and wasn't registed in the UK until 1967. A letter from the original owners said they had the car for 31 years up to 2002 (which doesn't add up). Either going to be 64 or 65 model year.

Do the Australian spec cars have the very cool petrol tank stone guard and the front undertray that extends outwards of the chassis rails?

 

[Simon.AU]

My R1123 is oval plate 149380, so is a rather distant cousin, but is an oddball in that it was assembled in AUS in late 1966 and first registered in Feb 1967 such was the demand for R4's in Australia. Your oval plate number according to my PR 808 parts book places it as a 1966 model being in the range 289369-463621.

The AUS spec cars are version 80, a RHD poor road tropical spec cars, so would be similar to your car with the front chassis reinforcement (look for hidden rust in the double and triple skinned areas), reinforced upper wishbones, fuel tank guard and that very cool gearbox guard which really works. Does your car have the original cyclone type aircleaner with the natty plastic bowl to catch the dust?

 

[malcolm]

I've got the reinforced upper wishbones, but the air cleaner is the boring ordinary type. The only other unusual thing I've noticed is a rear anti-roll bar which seems the last thing that a poor road car would want.

Thanks for the oval plate numbers - If the '66 model year kicked off in September '65 then mine might well have been made in November '65. That's quite old enough.

Mine is a 602 spec which is a "special version RHD". Given the other options were either normal roads or poor roads, maybe mine was a mix of the two.

 

[Simon.AU]

Mine is a 602 spec which is a "special version RHD". Given the other options were either normal roads or poor roads, maybe mine was a mix of the two.

The Version 602 does seem like an odd bod, as I thought the 60x series cars were smooth road versions, but on looking at the book they seem to be poor non-dusty road versions :-). The non-cyclone aircleaner is a normal fitting, as is the rear anti-roll bar, also it has the later splined (easy fix!) torsion bars rather than the horrible anchor lever things also the early bread loaf grille and dash! Just what I would like! :-)

If you need anything small and postable for the early car in the future let us know and I'll see if I've got it on the spares car.

 

[malcolm]

Thanks for the offer of spares. I think I'm OK for all the obviously early bits, although my dash top needs gluing back together. Other than that I mostly need a new body, chassis and suspension. Mine are completely rotten. I have another body kicking around which will probably be used, but I plan to repair (remanufacture) the chassis. It's number 3 on my list of projects as the others will be quicker to do, so I'm not worrying too much yet.

I wonder why non-dusty cars were sold in Kenya, and how a poor road (by R4 standards) in a hot climate could possibly not be dusty. A cyclone air cleaner would have been very cool.

 

[Liam4R4SPARES]

Great cars ! and i remember both .I was offered the better of the two some years ago by two young brothers from down the West country .I have their phone number if you need it ? might be good to find out the history. The car was it a lot better condition then ! it was a shame Robert Kays ill health forced him to sell them to you as i would have liked to have seen him complete the projects .
I broke two pre 65 cars a few years ago[one was a van] .Robert came and helped out and toke off whatever i did'nt want .The remains of the cars may be still available ? .Let me know and i will sort you out his number also .

 

[Simon.AU]

Thanks for the offer of spares. I think I'm OK for all the obviously early bits, although my dash top needs gluing back together. Other than that I mostly need a new body, chassis and suspension.

I wonder why non-dusty cars were sold in Kenya, and how a poor road (by R4 standards) in a hot climate could possibly not be dusty. A cyclone air cleaner would have been very cool.

That 602 spec is a strange one, especially as the cyclone cleaner appears to work well getting lots of dust in the bowl on dusty roads. I'll keep a lookout for one, I've got lots with one clip missing for the plastic bowl, and then the plastic bowl itself goes brittle when people pointed the intake to the front of the car and the bowl goes brittle or gets melted by the heat from the exhaust manifold. So finding a complete unit is the hard part.

Those early dashboards are a real pain, they are unstickable. Perhaps plastic welding may work, but over here a lot of those early dashes are cracked.

With the chassis, it may be easiest to unstitch the poor road reinforcements then just spot or mig them to a decent chassis, taking care not to create a nice water trap like the reinforcements do from the factory!

 

[malcolm]

I can't find any special rough road bits on the chassis, although I'm trying to identify special bits by comparing it with the other one which is a 400 spec. That's not even listed in my book, but it was supplied new to Leominster (West Country) so can't possibly be a rough road version. Which visible reinforcements should I be looking for?

I think Robert still has enough projects to keep him busy. I counted at least 9 R4s still up there. I've got copies of the original registration documents with addresses of the original owners. Not sure I want to find out the history of the white one, as once it's donated the best parts of it's body and suspension to the other one there won't be much left that's saveable. Unless anyone else wants it for a crazy restoration it'll have a new body, chassis, engine, suspension and become my Gordini powered car.

Plastic welding sounds like a plan for the dash. Kits are £100, and they might be fun to try. Probably I'll have a practice on a less rare thing first.

 

[malcolm]

Here you go Rudi, Some of the really cool seats for sale, and they even come with a free 13,000km '65 car still attached. Just north of Paris.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290020636963

Does anyone else really like the colour Gris clair? I think it's fab