At last - a Renault 4 forum!!!!!

[Steve Hennessey]

Hello all - I've owned Renault 4's on and off since the mid seventies. I remember that my first one was a 1967 6 volt model that took me everywhere. Being in the motor trade at the time, people offered me good money for 4 so I sold it. I soon missed it and bought another but the pattern repeated itself. I had 6 of them in all and gained a great deal of knowledge from working on them. I did not have a 4 from 1980 until about 6 years ago. I jumped at the chance of a GTL with 70,000 on the clock. Totally reliable, it gave me good service over the next 80,000 miles until I took it off the road to prevent it deteriorating further. It's now awaiting it's new chassis and I've got almost every conceivable part to rebuild it to new condition.
I hope to be able to contribute to this forum and to pass on any knowledge to help keep these wonderful cars on the road.

Steve

 

[malcolm]

Welcome to the forum Steve. There didn't seem to be any English speaking Renault 4 Forums around which seemed like a missed opportunity.

Were you able to order a new chassis from Renault or the Dutch guy? I wondered if you had information on the supply situation. How far has work progresed on your car - I can post some pictures here if you send them to me by e-mail.

Thanks for joining the forum. You've given me some good advice in the past, and will be an asset to this Renault 4 community.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

I got my new chassis from the local Renault dealer about 3 years ago. I'm not sure what the supply situation is at present, but if you ring the parts dept at West's of Cambridge and ask for Stuart, he will tell you. Stuart has been an absolute gem in helping me obtain parts and he LOVES Renault 4's. I can't praise him highly enough for the help he has given to me.
Before I got my new chassis, I bought all the genuine parts to rebuild one, so when I get my new chassis built up, I will expertly repair my old one and pass it on to somebody who needs it.

As for sending photos of my re-build, I have not started it yet ops: The idea was to get all the parts together and then commence, but other things have had to take priority.

Steve

 

[Bruce E]

Hello

Just want to say hello. I have a '67 R4, with a body in mint condition (never out in the winter) and a rebuilt engine (got rusty from so little use!) so I am having fun driving around Stockholm in this little classic.

The previous owner was a collector with eight 30+ year old cars, and this was the pick of the litter.

Regards from Sweden,
Bruce

 

[malcolm]

Welcome to the forum Bruce.

Your Renault 4 sounds very nice. There is something very wonderful about original, unrestored cars - always something is lost in restoration. If you can send a photo I'll put it up here for people to see.

 

[RichardIRL]

I have only had one Renault 4 I would really call my own, since it is mine to keep forever and not to pass on to somebody else. There have been many, many Renault 4s in my family, and I have been in Renault 4s since before I was born. My Grandparents on both sides had them.

Since I got the blue one in 2000, it has never been an everyday. It has some bad rust on the chassis, but since I love it so much, this will be overcome and hopefully sooner rather than later.

The interior is the nicest I have ever seen on a post-1982 Renault 4. It has black plastic seats which never get sticky and feel really nice and look great. The interior struck me with how fresh it looked, and I was surprised to find an incredibly good sound system in the car when I got hold of it, and it cost nothing to acquire it. I have replaced little bits of the interior like the gearstick and digital clock to make it look its best. I also change the parts of the exterior so the car looks in showroom condition, even if underneath, it is anything but.

Hopefully it will receive its new chassis before too long. The next phase after that will be to figure out how to stick it onto the car.

The car has cost quite a bit, though I have wasted money on a lot of parts that I don't really need. The chassis and high cost of insurance are the only two things keeping him off the road. It goes on the road for trips and drives, but only on temporary insurance.

I don't care about Renault 4s being original or not. I am all in favour of modifying them, as long as it's tasteful.