Recent strong winds pulled off the cover sheets from this lot recently, & I find myself faced with the necessity of actually contemplating its future. Sad to recall long journeys across France in this car in its heyday. I think I will give up on the idea of restoring it, & mend some punctured bicycle tubes instead. Re. the body, this comprises a W reg. front half welded to an N reg. rear half. Didnt have welding facilities at the time, so drove the car to the welder with G cramps holding things in place. Front half of car red, rear half black ( hand painted ). Sensation in the town ! Reason for the work was that, at 7 years old & 66 thousand miles, the bodywork was so rotten, I could drive along & view 3 road wheels turning from inside the car. The local Renault Dealer, from whom I had bought the car new, wrung his hands in anguish but refused to issue a test cert, hence the body splicing. I felt like daubing " Renault build a better car " ( the current advertising slogan ) on my red/black hybrid but didnt dare do it. Interestingly, it has covered about 122,375 miles & has never needed new front brake linings, still quite good ( drum brakes, needless to say ). I shall have to attempt the laborious process of advertising the various parts for sale, along with a lot of other Renault 4 stuff,much of which is new old stock. Aaagh, what a hassle !
- Thread starter richard
- Start date
Eoynteenie
Planning an Advent4
- Messages
- 565
- Location
- South Coast
Do I spy a towbar?
A shameful death for a workhorse but least you hold fun memories of her past.
I'm sure her parts will keep many others going thou in england.
A shameful death for a workhorse but least you hold fun memories of her past.
I'm sure her parts will keep many others going thou in england.
David Norville
Enthusiast
- Messages
- 51
- Location
- Spain
A bit of t-cut and a good service....
Oh, not a shameful death, surely ? The last tax disc ( still in the window ) is dated 1991. Back then, I had used it hard until it simply couldnt have got another MOT without an end to end rebuild, & that cannot be done when you are busy working for a living. At that time cheap useable R4GTLs were a dime a dozen in my area, so I picked one up & carried on earning a living. I could have sent my old friend to the scrapyard, but I didnt, & it has died peacefully on its home ground. I have owned 2 R4s & 3 R4GTLs ( & nothing else ! ) over a 39 year period, & covered about 470,000 miles in total in them-thats about 19 times around the world. I had very little mechanical trouble with any of them, although all except the red one shown in my post were used cars when I got them. I shall have to see if I can copy some pre-digital photos of my hard-working cars-that would be a bit of an eyeopener.
mojobaby
Enthusiast
- Messages
- 1,288
Sorry Richard, you're obviously not as sentimental as I am. Can't believe she was only 7 years old when you stopped using her. She looks a little sad, abused and forgotten, piled full of junk.
But as Eoynteenie says, hopefully her parts can be used to restore others
But as Eoynteenie says, hopefully her parts can be used to restore others
malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
- Messages
- 4,520
- Location
- Bedford UK
Rust proofing was really terrible around the early 1980s. It improved a lot on 1984, but the W, X and A registration early GTLs are almost extinct. I was given one in about 1992 (about 9 years old) and it was unbelievably rotten. There was nothing that could be saved. I'm surprised yours is still nearly Renault 4 shaped after 24 years.
The car might be useful for converting an import to RHD. If it is the early GTL the handbrake mechanism is very useful for people with bench seats who want disc brakes.
The car might be useful for converting an import to RHD. If it is the early GTL the handbrake mechanism is very useful for people with bench seats who want disc brakes.
Just what I thought. The guy I shared my workshop with scrapped all my useful RHD bits such as steering box and tube. I unintentionally chucked my RHD front headlamps when I was giving the workshop up, but only found out 2 MOT's down the road that they were Lt hand lens. (And I had swopped the lens over thinking they were the right ones!). So I am in the market for the steering gear and the headlights if nobody offers to buy the whole thing off you.
malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
- Messages
- 4,520
- Location
- Bedford UK
Headlamps are easy to adjust to RHD - http://www.renault4.co.uk/tech-headlamp-conversion.htm
Heh, heh- all good stuff. I did take a practical approach to my everyday motoring, I will admit-very moderate income !There was always a "scrap" R4 TL or, later a GTL, in the garden, providing parts for myself & , sometimes, other local owners. I ran my cars incredibly cheaply-"preloved" steering ball joints, & so on-really satisfying, I live for recycling. Mojobaby-look more closely at the piles of junk in the car, (the tip of the iceberg) ! No flower pots , garden gnomes etc. in there, trust me ! Malcolm is spot on with his assessment of the early 4GTLs ( there were a few V reg. ones about, too.) The worst cars seemed to be the red or dark blue ones. For a small prize-who knows where these early R4GTLs came from ?