all SEXY bitz gone to Renault4-heaven??

[reidalpine]

keeping an avid eye on ebay/LBC/blocket/Finn et.al. I notice a scaringly "drying-out" of all those sexy bits..Where's all Robri/Quillery/Cipa/Autobleu/Ferry/Record/Gradulux/Saprar/GH/Robergel/OLD/Drouin/Peco/-bits to fit our R4 -Gone???
-I see some Fergat/Dunlop wheels go for crazy prices-which I'm cool with -having some factory-fresh ones in the garage(swap material for some of the above)but even the more "mundane" stuff like chromed bumpers,chromed love-handles,chromed rim-covers,chromed rear-lights
etc. seems to have vanished alltogether-I'm talking original pts here Copper/nickel/chromed & polished Not Ching-Chong chomed to last 3months.Where they at??

Picking scrap-yards for years I haven't exactly come across loads of shiny/sexy-bitz on scrapped cars,so again-Where they at??
-Anyone seen f.x wind-deflectors made to fit R4 lately? didn't think so...
Time to consolidate me thinks..anyone got other brands/products to add to my "Christmas-list" over-Please do!
-Roffen sleeps under duvee now,so can't take pixes,but quest goes out to anyone having ANY optional/period stuff on their R4 Pixes/brand/what-it-is.................. -R.

 

[Lobster]

I agree. I've been trying to find chrome love handles and a few other sexy bits for mine but there just isn't much about and anything you do find is lots of £££s / €€€s

A few years back there were loads of R4s and Mk1 R5s that bits could be plundered from but alas no longer. Thats just the march of time I guess...

 

[Eoynteenie]

love handles..............?



what?

 

[Lobster]

 

[reidalpine]

-been looking for wind-deflectors for some time-came across some hideous ones that built outwards some 25cm from side-window looked as tho'they came right off a Tiger-Moth or someth' so luckily sold on by now.anyone seen more normally shaped ones?I have 2 complete sets R+L/unused/boxed chromed SEIMA rearlight lenses in case someone on here has any of above... -R.

 

[Azazello]

I think I fell in love with r4 just a few years too late...

 

[reidalpine]

never too late to fall in love with a good thing Andrea!
-Any chance of still finding some Abarth-exhausts to fit our R4 in Bella Italia?? years ago I had a nice Abarth exhaust-pot but it only fitted the CV4. Also had an Abarth 2-outlet chromed and red (megaphones)on my Vespa Piaggio GS 150
+ Vitaloni California(retrovisore elletricco(?) off of a Ferrari on my Fuego Vroouum!

 

[Azazello]

Mmm... never heard about this stuff... Just found off a couple of Dell'Orto carburettors on ebay, months ago...
I was referring to times when scrapyards were full of r4 and r5 to rob... Now r4 are rare and yet robbed, and r5 are a mirage... And even scrap prices are raising up.

 

[Lobster]

It slightly upsets me to think of the things I have got rid of over the years that I wish I had now - R5 alloys, an early 5 TS that went to the great scrapyard, couple of Gordini engines, full set of Gordini wheels (refurbished and with good tyres) that I sold for a pittance, a decent 5 TS that I gave away (!!) when scrap was really cheap and I couldn't sell it. Loads of sexy R5 bits - California mirrors, Hennessy hot up kits and absolutely allsorts besides.

Heres an example - about seven or eight years ago I decided I was fed up with old rusty cars and wanted something reliable and fast. So I bought an Alfa Romeo.... Anyway, that meant that I sold my R5 Le Car 2 together with a mountain of parts and genuine, brand new Renault panels - wings, quarter panels, fergat wheels, sills, lights and loads more. Heres what was in the boot...

 

[reidalpine]

I know where you're coming from Lobster. best we have some qualudes so we don't remember all.. I've still got 1st dibs on a complete 5TS Much Much too good to scrap as it only misses one new engine-mount to sail through Mot,but I have this (sick?)idea of having the motor souped up to be a Real-Wild-One for Roffen. The Fergats I have are 5,5" wide,so a little too wide for me.Did they make them in 5" or better 4,5" at all?-I seem to have seen them in a 4L(GTL)-ad where they appear slimmer..Any idea? If anyone has them to fit on our F4 I would gladly swap (100% new unused&undamaged 5,5"-ones) -Inside of rear ones rubs on these wide ones
-Andrea.- you don't remember Abarth...and here I was thinking you were as old as the Colloseum or thereabouts?? c",) -R.

 

[Eoynteenie]

....what are they for? really? i use them to pull the car about the drive but don't have much faith in them because of what they are bolted to and felt it wasn't why they were there.

 

[Azazello]

Abarth is quite a famous name and still today new fiat 500 has an Abarth version, and even very old 500 are running with Abarth engine and so on (with rear bonnet always open, to ensure sufficient air to flow...), but I didn't ever met any Abarth bit specific for R4, on my frequent shopping times on Ebay...

I have the same problem: my fergat wheels are 5,5", I didn't know there were 2 sizes and bought the first one I found at a very good price on subito.it (the italian version of lbc)... Now I have them on my car, fittet with 145 tires that look a bit flattened and with inner tube because they were not suitable for tubeless...
So the wheel diameter is less than the original one and the speedometere does not read the truth, and the left wheel touches on the antiroll bar...
Is it normal? I will try and change silent blocs, maybe is a little moved to left...

 

[reidalpine]

as the R4 used to be a student-drive and we all know the nerf-bars, I think the lovehandles was designed to give bikes around campus a gentle kiss so more like nerd-bars actually..... c",) -I think it best to keep near as poss.to original size/width
re.wheels.the slimmer the tyre the less drag and undamped weight etc and I also find my 4 to behave best around corners this way. Going from 135 to 145 doesn't seem to pose any problems,but even 145 will be too slim to be safe mounted on a 5,5 Fergat-rim in my opinion -depending on how you drive ofcourse.Me-I like going round corners full tilt,so opted out of wider ones
eyeonteenie-they are def Not meant to pull the weight of the 4 by...

 

[DavidN]

Back in 2009 when I did the restoration of my R4F6, I was able to find lots of used or NIB parts cheap on eBay.
2 Years later the parts became rarer and rarer and the prices seems to have increased a lot (depending on increased demand of course).
I was lucky to get me some "love-handles" recently cheap though, but finding really rare parts like special rims or chrome accessoires is indeed very hard nowadays.

One one hand it is a pretty sad thing, as collectors seemed to have find R4's interresting and getting the prices up so to restore, service and maintain our cars isn't that cheap anymore. But on the other hand the value of our rare cars starts shooting up and finally gets adequate to it's rare status which is a good thing in the end.

Cheers,

David

 

[alewis]

To be honest the spares situation is alot better than for alot of other cars.

Peugeot 505's are case in point front headlights seem very rare and when they do turn up there over £100 each

Also some parts for newer cars seem quite tricky to find and expensive as the parts seem to change year on year for some cars "Oh the 1997 version thats different to the 1996 version and the 1998 version" at least with the R4 they didnt change it many times.

 

[Azazello]

Going from 135 to 145 doesn't seem to pose any problems,but even 145 will be too slim to be safe mounted on a 5,5 Fergat-rim in my opinion -depending on how you drive ofcourse.Me-I like going round corners full tilt,so opted out of wider ones

I do not know english laws, but in Italy is not legal to drive with different tire than the ones you have written in your car's documents... And for r4 we have only 135r13 and 145r13 to choose from.

 

[godlike]

But in Slovenia (if they don't stick out of the wing) you can have them written to the normal homologation, but it isn't cheap.

 

[reidalpine]

I do not know english laws, but in Italy is not legal to drive with different tire than the ones you have written in your car's documents... And for r4 we have only 135r13 and 145r13 to choose from.

rule here is you can alter tires -If within +/- 5% of rolling-diameter....

 

[snailshed]

Regards the rare chrome bits etc maybe people just don't realise a) what they are and b) that they are valuable to someone. I mean honestly if you were not an R4 fan and you found a pair of love handles at the back of a shelf in a garage, you could look at one for ten years before working out what it had came from or was for. If you were say clearing a recently deceased relatives house, 99% of people would chuck them away without a second thought.

Equally though, as the cars keep passing into the hands of enthusiasts it might just be that theres comparatively more people in the know hoarding the choice bits. Just because they are not coming up for sale does not meant they don't exist any more...

 

[alewis]

This is why I recommend to people about things they are not sure about
- stick it on ebay
- you never know what people have interest in!