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R4 Jogging

When you drive one of these rare R4's it's easy to get to know people who share the same "love" to these cars.
A few weeks ago I had three of them visiting me after my F6 passed the MOT.
Both of the orange coloured R4 sedans are the "Jogging" editions.
They both came with a factory sunroof and trim strips on the sides.
That was the only difference I noticed, but I'm far no expert in this.

David
 
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There were two Jogging editions. One is the "well-known" one, available in the French market (the one al1 is referring to), and the other the "unknown", like these on David's photo.
These were in fact, normal GTLs with that special "jogging" decoration applied by the German dealer (I am a bit unsure about the origins of the glass sunroof). Of course they were available only for the German market (around 1985 I think).

Now about the original Jogging. It was marketed as a limited edition GTL, and only sold in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Differences in equipment were the following:
-standard colour scheme: 319 white body with Blanc Cimes (colour code unknown) plastic parts such as bonnet grille, ventilation grille, door handles,mirror and dashboard. Bonnet grille strip, bumpers, and door plastic stripes are Bleu Calanques in colour (unknown code, too). All plastic parts are not painted over, but rather moulded in their colour.
- rainbow strips decals round the car, and "Jogging" emblem decals on bonnet and tailgate
- tubular seats with special covers (blue with vinyl rainbow strips on their centres). The rear one is identical to these fitted on basic R4 version of the time. The front ones are unique and not fitted to any other Renault. The look much like the early tubular bench seat split in two.
- matching door cards
- sunroof like the one available for any R4, but with Bleu Calanques fabric instead of black.
- press photos show a matching sports bag that was supposedly given with the car, I have never seen it on a contemporary Jogging photo.

Renault announced its launch on 15th May 1981, and a production number limited to 5000 examples. Personally, I don't believe they reached that number of production and/or sales. Few people must had been willing to pay more than the standard GTL cost, and having that R3-like interior! What's more, we would have seen more of them surviving nowadays. There are no special equipment numbers or serial numbers denoting Joggings from normal GTLs.

Here are some interesting photos: http://www.r4-4l.com/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=73

I own one of them since 2003 (I had posted its story here: http://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2865). I have been using it regularly for almost a year. What I haven't been used to, are the looks of the people! (Greek people are very conservative when it comes to car design / colour scheme). Ten out of ten people would think that it is a "customised" R4, not a factory version. :-D Otherwise it is as good as a sunroofed GTL can be! (if only I could have disc brakes up front...but I don't really like to modify it).

What I really need is to find some suitable front seat frames, and I am really stuck for the moment. These visible on the photo are actually 2CV ones. When fabricating them from scratch I didn't take into account that the 2CV has no seat crossmember, so the seats need to be higher. So, when I fitted them ,I ended up sitting so high, that they were useful only for the photo...
 
My friend sent me this photos from scrapyard in Přerov, Czech Republic. There are one R6 TL and two R4 - first serie with sunroof and rare german version of Jogging with roof window. I want buy the seats and other small parts from Jogging, but scrapyard workers want sell only complete cars, they want 5000Czk for each. The cars are in bad condition, but I can help you, if you want buy it, I need only seats for my restored Gtl 1987. http://leteckaposta.cz/990320064
 
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