Apres Thenay

[malcolm]

Popped over to the Moulin Bodin after Thenay at the invitation of Lord Stanbury. Guess who else was there:



Michael (mike4gtl) had popped over for a few days and he let me drive the Traction. Brilliant fun. We had a day out at the beach. It's still windy over in France.

France is like a big toy box. Plenty of old French cars rusting away. Passed an Ami 8 in an open garage:



A Citroen SM and Simca 8 parked outside an industrial unit:



And best of all a couple of Rodeos. Turns out there's also one on leboncoin fairly close to where I am now.



Stopped off for BX parts on the way home



Ian's car still works so we lined them all up. Good to see you Ian, Mike and Graham - it was a good couple of days.



I'm now precisely 7.5 hours east in a secret location in sunny Burgundy (or it could be a location in plain view in overcast and rainy Burgundy).

 

[alewis]

The Traction does look fun !

Have many rodeos made it to the UK ?

 

[malcolm]

I don't think the Rodeo was ever officially imported into the UK. Haven't heard of any over there.

But good news team! There's one coming over shortly. I'm staying with Mary and Chris (Bluebell and Claude van Rouge) in a now sunny Burgundy and we went to look at one this afternoon.





It's a 1972 car and seems to have the original parts. It had a new chassis 20 years ago which still looks good. It won't hold 4th gear and there are cooling issues, so I'm popping back tomorrow with a spanner to make sure I can get it running properly before buying it.

Most amazing thing today - the owner's son runs a top end vintage car sales place. Here are some photos:

 

[ggcton]

Great pictures Malcolm.
If you come across a Renault 6 tow bar in your travels I would be interested.
The ones you get in UK look as if they were made for tanks. Gary

 

[renault4mad]

wow..i know were you can get parts for the rodeo if you buy it..

just think what the insurance will be for all those beauties...

 

[malcolm]

The car is missing the rear section of the roof, roof frame, and side screens. I don't think I'd bother with the side screens but the rear roof looks cool and I'd like that. Hoping to get the contact number of the bloke who makes new roofs from the seller. Would be looking for a frame.

 

[renault4mad]

Hi Malcolm,
Eric Bachelerie from 2CA Concept Composites Auvergne in Arlanc have all the parts you may need plus they will send you a pdf with part numbers and prices. Really helpful with my pickup rear panels. Had them in stock, im just saving up for them now..

email address rodeo@2ca.fr
www.2ca.fr

hope this helps.
cheers
Andrew

 

[malcolm]

Excellent, thanks!

I spent the morning mechanicing on the Rodeo so I could drive it back. Just needed points, timing, brakes unseizing, fuses twiddling, and the tyres pumping up. I think it also needs a driveshaft - there's a graunching noise every wheel rotation.

I think I'll need seatbelts for the UK MOT. Later ones had them in the roll hoop. Anyone know how they tend to be fitted to earlier ones?

 

[Beige Belgian]

The Rodeo looks great fun Malcolm, I'm not being rude and its merely my opinion but they are quite ugly little cars! Still great though, and I would love one of them for the Summer!

Dunno if you know, but is the single seater a Cisitalia?

 

[malcolm]

I think the Rodeo might have been hit by the ugly tree. Should be fun locally in the sunshine. Not so great for the 500 mile trip home.

There is info about the shiny cars on www.acclc.com

 

[alewis]

Looks great !

Could you fit lap belts ?

 

[malcolm]

I'll probably go with 3 point. The later cars seem to have a big wide roll over bar with a seatbelt mounting attached. Whatever i do I reckon most of the body will need to come off before I can find something not plastic to attach things to.

 

[barnfind]

It reminds me a bit of the VW 181 that I had. That had lap belts and no third fixing for a shoulder strap. I used a full harness fixed back into the rear bench seat belt mountings, and tried not to think about what would happen if I rolled it!

 

[alewis]

at least the plastic shouldn't rust !

 

[simonandjuliet]

Rodeo seatbelts

Great purchase ! they are so much fun and you can carry a full length ladder on the passenger side - just drop the screen.
Re seatbelts, personally I would stick with lap belts because I wouldn't trust anything attached to the roof bars - once you get the body off you will see the bars are only bolted to a thin metal frame which runs along the lip of the tub. Mine is currently in bits if you want to see photos.

 

[malcolm]

It would be good to see loads of pictures of yours. I'll probably have this one apart a bit so it's good to see what's inside and what is original or added. Would love to see a restoration thread about yours.

Having another look at the brakes on mine this morning. There's been a bit of bodgery going on in there. Where do you normally buy parts for cars in France? Could put an order in to Melun Retro Passion, but would motor factors likely have bits in stock?

Wondering whether to pull the side off when I get home and put some structure inside to support seatbelts.

 

[barnfind]

at least the plastic shouldn't rust !

No, and boy do the 181's rust. Much worse than the R4. I did manage to get it back into decent condition, but was sick of the sight of my welder by the time I'd finished.

 

[simonandjuliet]

Brake parts

I must admit to buying most parts from eBay UK (much cheaper than eBay France)! However if I can't get what I need I buy from a local 4L specialist in Narbonne - he tends to work out a bit cheaper than Melun or Franzose and he is only down the road. I have never been back to Renault since they charged me about £20 for 2 exhaust gaskets...

I will start a new thread for the Rodeo, but just on the seatbelt subject , a couple of pics to show you what is underneath . I have scrapped this chassis and am repairing another F4 chassis to fit instead.

The vertical posts are only pop-riveted on but maybe you could weld them to the chassis and then triangulate an additional support to take a seatbelt mount

 

[malcolm]

Thanks for the photos. Looks like the body sides will need to come off to sort out a bit of structure for the seatbelts. I'll give the chassis a good rust proof and sort out the grp in the floor. Just need to make sure I don't get carried away.

Went over to Switzerland to see a friend at the weekend and had a lot of fun on the Alpine passes. Gordini sounds like a rally car going up them.

 

[mike4gtl]

Hi Malcolm, did you get back ok? My rings are on their way out