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Renault 5 automatic Mk1 1983 on Ebay

herbacious_harley_37

herbacious_harley_37

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Hi Folks!

As you may know I have an automatic licence and I currently have an automatic F Reg Supercinq. There is a Y reg 1983 5 Dr. automatic Renault 5 for sale on Ebay. It is SORN and would require being towed away. Although I love my Supercinq Ideally I would like to own a Mk1 as I previously had 3 Mk1 automatics between 1988-91. I am thinking about going to look at it. The description says that it does start but just needs a new battery and has some rust. In my experience of owning 3 Mk1's the real problem areas regarding rust are the sills and rear wings. If I were to buy it I have a garage that I would keep it in whilst returning it to being roadworthy of course buying a car that is SORN is a gamble as to what exactly needs doing to make it roadworthy. If I do go and look at it what are the other rust areas that I need to look for aside from the sills and rear panels?

Here's the link:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1983-rena...49184&pid=100015&prg=1006&rk=1&#ht_500wt_1169

Regards

Harley :D
 
If I don't buy it I really hope that another Renault 5 enthusiast does as there are so few R5 Mk1 automatics left - I feel that I should point that out and really hope that this car does not end up being scrapped which would be very sad :cry:
 
Hello :)

As you know, Mk1 R5s really do know how to rust! They can rust just about anywhere but worst is usually around sills, rear suspension (open boot and have a look) front floorpan, rear quarter panels, bottom of 'A' pillar where wing bolts to sill (and this one does look like it has issues around there) and just about anywhere else as well!

I'd advise having a good look at the doors as well as Mk1 R5 doors in decent condition must be like hens teeth these days.

It'd be nice to see it saved though, Mk1s are very rare now and 5 door versions even more so.

Probably worth having a read through the sections on Malcoms R5 TX on here as it would give you an idea where to look.

Good luck!
 
Lobster,

Thanks I did note that the offside front wing looks a bit bubbly, in my experience the front panels are or were easily resolved I bought one for my first Mk1 a 3 dr T reg and my dad replaced it for me it was just a case of unbolting the old wing and replacing it with the new one of course that was in 1989 and I don't know how easy it would be to order a new front wing . We also had to replace the o/s sill and that was more complicated and my dad was a welder by trade. I may well go and look at it but if its too rusty wont bother as I'm disabled I cannot do any restoration work myself and would have to get someone else to do it for me. I did pass up another 5 dr. Mk1 auto in May that had a rust hole in the n/s rear door and some rust on the seam of the o/s rear door at the bottom mainly because it was over in the east of England and the seller offered to transport it to where I live at cost but wanted the money for the car in his bank account first and I wasn't going to pay before seeing the car. It looks like this car hasn't been legally roadworthy since 2010 and so has probably sat outside for that length of time. I could buy it and store it in my garage for restoration later on but then I would have to put my Supercing outside on the hardstand in front of my house and my Supercing is in A1 condition with just a few superficial paint related rust spots and has been garaged for all but a few months of its life (it's an 1988 F reg) so now that it has a garage again I don't want to have to put him out in the open long term.

If I do go and have a look I will post about it's condition.

Regards

Harley
 
Ok well I went and looked at this car today. The sills have rust in them, looking at the nearside sill front on there is a large hole and I think that Lobster could be right and that the bottom of the A pillar could be rusted. On the O/S the step area above the sill which is visible when the drivers door is open. The N/S front wing was a bit bubbly and there was rust in the tailgate just under the rear windscreen. The doors looked ok although the door card on the drivers door was bent back in one corner. The battery was flat but the seller kindly jumped started the R5 for me various parts of the engine was also in a very rusty condition. I checked the automatic transmission fluid and there was no rusty bits in the fluid - on the Mk1 automatic Renault placed an oil reservoir above the automatic gearbox and this reservoir can rust leading to the rusty pieces entering the automatic gearbox and thus rendering the gearbox and therefore the car useless the automatic transmission fluid did look a rusty brown colour though but the car has been off the road for nearly 2 years. The mileage was around 26,900. The owner didn't offer to show me any paperwork, V5, past MOT's etc but given that this R5 needs a lot of work to restore it. I really hope that someone buys it who can restore it as it would be a shame if it is scrapped.
 
Renault 5 mk1 automatic reappeared

Hi all.
This renault 5 has reappeared as a 'restored' car

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221195165060?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

and I very nearly bought it today! Just noticed your post in time so many thanks. It's been poorly resprayed as you can see and the vinyl roof removed. Still rusty and can't see it will survival another winter without serious rust repairs. Battery tray was completely gone, bonnet was rusty as were both doors and the A pillar at the join of the drivers door and inner wing. I did ask the owner (though in actual fact it was his girlfriends) if it had been resprayed/bodywork etc and he denied. I suggested he be a bit more forthcoming on Ebay!
These may be rare but I consider I've had a lucky escape so thank you!
 
Thought it looked familiar when I saw it on eBay :)

Something about it just just doesn't look right though. From the pictures it looks pretty good which would mean that the asking price is way too low if its as good as it appears. Obviously it isn't...
 
Jones you had a lucky escape there! I also saw this re-listed on Ebay and thought it was familiar but didn't click that it was the one that I looked at last year. Well from what you found wrong with it - it is worse then the things I found and I am unable to lay on the ground in order to examine things like the sills which I know from experience of my first R5 mk1 automatic are one of the weak spots with the R5 Mk1. The other R5 mk1 auto that was on Ebay last year when it was being sold by a classic car garage in Peterborough is up for sale. I couldn't get up there to look at it the seller offered to sell it as seen and trailer it down at cost but I wasn't comfortable with that so passed it up. Have just looked it up on Ebay but the auction has ended when I looked this morning the bidding was in the £1300's the seller had a reserve and buy it now price of £2650. Also the mk1 that you looked at Jones the seller did note that there was a problem with the automatic gearbox and the Haynes manual advises to leave the auto gearbox to an automatic gearbox specialist as they are so complex. The R5 MK 1 and Supercinq have a geared automatic transmission with three forward, 1 reverse and 2 set gear options after D on the selector of 2 and then 1 - btw. Well I hope whoever buys it finds all these things that is wrong with it before they buy and are able to restore it it would be a great shame if it was to be scrapped :( !
 
And this B reg Supercinq is interesting as it must have been one of the first Supercinq automatics and as you can see has been supplied with a vinyl roof like the mk 1 autos used to have. I think that they must have stopped the vinyl roof on the Supercinq automatic fairly soon after production of the Supercinq began as I have never seen a Supercinq with a vinyl roof until I saw this one on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RENAULT-5...3906677?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item35c5545b75
 
Guess what???

Its back on Ebay!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/renault-5...9281349?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2a2cbe15c5

You can see straight away that its had a respray. I wonder if the rusty parts - the A pillar battery tray etc have been dealt with or if they are still rusty?

Its located in Hampshire as am I and I'm temped to go and have a look not that I'm interested in buying it as I love my Supercing Henri Tudor II am now pampered by the likes of power steering and electric front windows that the wonderful Supercing offers.

Question is is this mk 1 automatic worth buying and saving as there are so few automatics around ?

Regards

Harley
 
Last edited:
The slated unloved R5 Mk1 will not ever appear on Ebay again....it has found its home

Hi All,

This actually not so bad for 30yrs old Mk1 '5' has since becoming the FINAL Ebay owners of this lovely French classic have had an amazing summer getting this beauty fully roadworthy :).
With a lots of luck in re to picking parts up cheaply and 'a bit' ;) of elbow grease in regards to rust treating all those areas previously discussed on this forum, this gem has since purchasing in May 2013 knocked up a fantastic 700miles, taking us to RetroRides gathering last month at Prescott Hill in Gloucestershire, Dorset Steam Rally just 2 weekend's ago and Cropedy Festival, Oxford also last month!:cool: :D
(Tongue-in-cheek:) Please rest assured that this little gem WILL NOT be appearing on Ebay EVER again!! :o
And will eventually get a proper re-spray but definitely all the TLC such a Classic and rare vehicle deserves.
Hope you all enjoyed reading the update of the infamous, serial Ebay 'Golden R5' - happy to post some pics and video to show that she is up and running and rust treated (but have bought original manufactured, unsprayed n/s and o/s front panels and have acquired 4 spare doors to restore in time to come with the re-spray)!

Happy motoring to all!

Zee
 
Excellent news. The Mk1 R5s are fabulous and well worth looking after. I've got a TX (still not quite finished). Love to see pics of the car.
 
Zena

I'm really pleased that this R5 has a good home sorry I have only just read the update to this thread my excuse is that I started a masters degree in September in Medieval and Renaissance Culture back at my old Uni Southampton University and consequently I don't have as much time to browse the web on non academic things and have only just gotten around to looking at whats been happening in this forum. However I am so pleased that you have the car I think I said further up the thread that it deserves a loving home and someone who can restore it and its obviously found the right person. I had three mk 1 automatics in a row I can only drive an auto due to having a disability. I passed my test in 1987 in those days there weren't too many small automatics around. A neighbour up the road who was in her 40's when she passed her test in around 1984-ish took me out in her mini once not long after she passed her test but I had a friend who had a W reg 3 door manual GTS that her mum bought her after she passed her test. She was bought an R5 as her mum also had an R5 and my friend used to take me out a bit in that so it was a small car in which I had the most experience in and so when it came to choosing a small automatic looked for an R5.

I got my first Renault 5 in July 1988 I have a photo of it in a box or trunk somewhere. It was a black 3 door 1979 T reg GTS. The R5 automatic came out in '79 and I think they only offered it in the GTS spec but I may be wrong thinking about it mine was probably one of the first R5 auto's in the UK and I remember that it originally was sold to a lady in London. I had it for about 15 months it was quite rusty and so was sold and another R5 auto bought. That wasn't so rusty it was an X (1982) reg but the head gasket went which was costly and so when a local garage advertised another R5 auto which was 3 door W (1981) reg in blue I had that but at the time my hospital specialist wanted me to drive an auto with my left foot (which I don't need to do anymore). That required a conversion in terms of moving the accelerator across the other side of the brake but there wasn't much room due to the central console in the mk 1 so I sold it to a friend and bought an A reg Metro automatic as that didn't have a central console that went right down to the floor. Sadly my friend drove my last R5 mk 1 into a ditch and wrote it off which was a great shame as it had only done 26K when I bought it. I liked the gear selector on the Mk1s which were wider and more oblong with the underside of the top part being pressed in to allow it to move from P, R etc but some of the Mk 1 autos were fitted with the more traditional T shaped gear selector as I have seen photos of these on the web.

I'm an archaeologist and in terms of typology I would argue that the mk1 R5 is more 'French' looking in it's interior styling. If you look at my avator you can see my present R5 auto on the left a Mk 2 F reg called Henri Tudur II (Tudur is the Welsh spelling of Tudor) named after my first R5 auto who I called Harry Tudor (the second one was called Alfred Aeling - as in ailing due to its head gasket issue and was a pun on the Old English word Aethling meaning prince, and the 3rd one which my friend wrote off was named Augustus Caesar as the 3 letters on the number plate was UUG). I bought Henri in May last year he is my pride and joy he also had only done 26K when I got him. The bill of sale dated August 1988 was stapled to the manual and he cost just over £4k in 1988. He was sold in 1991 to a person who worked overseas and kept him garaged whilst away for 11 months of the year so he is in good nick. In terms of typology the interior of the mk 2 supercinq was clearly influenced by the appearance in 1980 of the Mini Metro the interior seems to me to be much more like the Metro more European looking then the very French mk 1. Anyway please do share your photos of your restoration project we would love to see them!

Regards

Harley :) !!!!
 
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