Renault 4s from France

[reo24]

People who are fans of a particular marque are usually very clued up on their weak points. When choosing a car you need to look at it, poke about & ensure that you know what you are buying. A friend recently sold a '94 Range Rover 4 litre to a fanatic who paid £4500 for it. - A high price for an old RR! Usually about £1000.
But for a 22000 miler with all extras & no rust? The new owner sold it on 3 months later for £8750. It really was a "minter"!
I credit the members of this club with enough common sense to know what they are looking at & I'm sure that they know the cost of welding etc enough to know that the least welding required makes for a more useable classic rather than just another old banger.

 

[Jason the Dauphin]

I'd agree with most of what you say - you certainly won't get a 'mint' R4 for £1200 although that nice 1968 LHD 'trophy' one only fetched £770 in auction, MoT'd and ready to go. Yes I saw the pristine Dauph' and yes a Japanese collector paid a lot for it. Mind you I doubt most Dauphs are worth 12grand just because of that. Doubt many (any?) are as good and unless you find another Japanese collector...indeed that scruffy zebra striped example a year or so ago made about £500 quid. And that R8 push button auto keeps being advertised for over 5 grand and doesn't seem to sell as does that Spanish 4 van which started off advertised at £2500! And yet for £770 just a few weeks ago you could have had a solid 1968 model R4 saloon.

I think though people would pay a premium for a decent solid French 4 but as a labour of love rather than any kind of investment, you'd have to accept you might not get back the cost of buying, importing, registering etc if you resold it. I had an Ami 6 a few years back I paid £800 for but in the UK it was just another rusty Ami worth less than it cost to bring it here. No matter: I accepted that fact because I wanted one. Equally more recently a very rusty scruffy MOT failed Ami 8 which cost £2000 in repairs over 3 years but my justification was I wanted one! It was worth maybe £800 on a very good day! My current Dyane is worth a grand tops even though I spent a grand on a recon gearbox, clutch and brake overhaul in May 09.

 

[reo24]

And your point is...?

 

[mike4gtl]

the 1968 you refere to, was it maroon? only if it was it made alot more than that and the owner is on this site.

michael

 

[Jason the Dauphin]

No the maroon one made £2000 odd didn't it? So if that's the yardstick we judge all by then a top notch one is worth £2000 odd. The one I'm referring to is the muralled 4L Trophy one which was originally advertised at £1495 with (short-ish) MOT and then went to auction with no reserve finishing at £770. Still looked a good car though, certainly looked a usable sound car anyway. Not pristine like the maroon one though. I think I've attached a pic, maybe you know something I don't about it like it was some kind of four wheeled disaster area, but sure looked okay to me.

I made a clutch of valid points earlier. Like with every other car club in the world are you telling me all classic car price guides are wrong and that really they undervalue your choice of car? I've been fair - I can see why someone would pay a premium for someone to seek out and bring a car to them as I stated earlier.

 

[renault4mad]

looks as if they gave that trophy 4 a cornish reg.. OCV...
I once had a TL OCV 232R which is around London still now

 

[Jason the Dauphin]

Ah so that's where it was registered! Certainly worth a train trip at either the asking or winning bid price I think.

Like the fact the old 4 you had is still about too

 

[kevinandkate]

Can I just air a note of caution with French 4s. It is assumed the French don't salt the roads therefore tin worm doesn't appear. Well if the car is originally from a city or even a large town it will likely have been exposed to salt, as grit is used extensively in these areas just not out in the sticks where we are. Fifi has suddenly burst out all over with corosion, around the rear seat belt mountings, back corner of the sills inside the car, usual lower edge of upper rear wings and inner wings same place, base of windscreen, also, tragically the rear suspension mountings top surface near where the sills are rotting. Control technic due February next and I think it may be a catastrophic failure coming up. If the list is too great then the big scrap yard in the sky will beckon as I cannot afford to pour lots of money into her as I am retired on a fixed income. So 82000 kilometres, 1 previous owner and origins in the City of Orleans mean nothing, she is still rusting away as she would have done in the UK. A lack of care in her first 20 years as befits a car owned by the local council!!!. So do not assume all French cars will be rust free.

 

[ggcton]

Very good advice the same applies to Spanish cars.
If they are from the north or the islands they may be no different to the UK.
You must examine every car with care and decide its value on condition.
I paid well above the UK market price for my 5 Alpine Turbo but it was rust free and the cost of welding a poor one would have been even more.
The only pont I have been trying to make is that a sound car can save a fortune in repairs and is worth much more than a old banger.
Gary