Renault 4 value

[RichardIRL]

I'm wondering what the car pictured below is worth.

It's a 1980 model, which appears quite original. It's for sale at €2,200.

I didn't have a proper look underneath due to rain and due to probably not being able to recognise severe corrosion anyway, but I took some pictures which may or may not give a clue as to the condition of the chassis.

There was something strange about the way the front right wing met the main body panel as seen in the 5th picture down, as if it was seamless there. The hinge I took a picture of (in the same picture) is the only one with any apparent rust.

I'm considering buying this car, depending on what price I could get it for. I would appreciate anybody's opinion on how much (based on the limited information I have given) it would be worth.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

Could I suggest that you will be buying yourself a lot of work. In my honest opinion it's way over priced. On the other hand, if you have unlimited funds then it would make a good car. It looks like a TL to me - you haven't said much about it.

 

[malcolm]

I'd avoid it too - respray and badly fitted wings can be a hassle, and the floor looks like it's on it's way out. It might fetch 500 euros.

Southern France is a better bet - you can pick up rust free cars over there for less money.

 

[pepper]

I was going to say similar to Steve, Jeez €2200 must be getting towards top money for a mint/perfect car!

 

[RichardIRL]

Could I suggest that you will be buying yourself a lot of work. In my honest opinion it's way over priced. On the other hand, if you have unlimited funds then it would make a good car. It looks like a TL to me - you haven't said much about it.

It's a 1980 Renault 4 TL, originally assembled here in Ireland.

The floor actually looks perfect from inside the car. As for the chassis, I couldn't really get a good idea apart from the front end double skinned part looked suspect enough to take a picture of...

I can see that it would involve a good bit of work, which would be inevitable in this climate.

I knew €2,200 was unrealistic even before viewing the car, even though the pictures in the ad didn't reveal anything.

So €500 is the consensus?

I'm interested in an original Irish R4 from this time (1975-82), or an F4 van which were sold here until 1989.

Either of those are going to require a good bit of work.

Which parts of a chassis cannot be repaired if they are corroded?

 

[malcolm]

Everything can be repaired, but I'm in the third year of a restoration project at the moment so the repairs can take a bit of time.

I'll not touch cars that have been messed around with. I assume any work done has been done to a poor standard, and I'm generally right. To put right something that's been fiddled with always takes 3 times as long.

The advantage of this one is the chassis doesn't appear to have been messed with. My guess from the limited photos is it needs parts of the floor panel and repairs to the chassis sides.

How much has the body been messed with? If it's had a complete respray that would put me off, especially with the filler bodge in the rear of the front wing. Other bits of rust might be waiting to pop through. Would need 4 new wings and repairs to the mounting surfaces at a guess and a bare metal respray. The repair on the broken exhaust suggests a make do approach to repairs.

If you could find an old granny car that's been sitting in a garage for 20 years and hasn't been repainted it would be a much easier and cheaper restoration, even if the condition looks worse.

EDIT> if that one has only been resprayed near the repair it might not be so bad. But it won't have a test with that exhaust so I'd still guess the same sort of value.

 

[RichardIRL]

The rear of the front right hand side wing was the only aspect which didn't look right. I took a picture of it for this reason.

It is very unlikely that the car was resprayed, due to the presence of the original decals which came on 1980-1981 R4s.

The decals are also slightly faded around that front right wing, as you can see in the picture (very slightly).

There is a bit of rust in the rear wing of the same side, but no sign of rust in the main body part above the rear wing, the wing on the other side seems perfect.

Would rust at the top of this wing indicate rust lurking in the main body panel above?

 

[angel]

That "little rust at the rear wing" could well mean that a nasty inner wing welding session is waiting you when you remove the wing... :-(
I agree that for 2200 € you should be offered a near perfect R4. Their values are, fortunately or not, still low.

Are these decals original for the Irish-built R4s?

 

[RichardIRL]

Agelos do you think it's likely that the rust has spread to that extent? Is the only way of finding out to remove the wing?

I know I'm asking a lot of blind questions here, but I appreciate the answers.

I think the side stripe was for Irish R4s. It's definitely original.

There was an Irish Safari model too, I have been told. I don't think it was anywhere as interesting as the French one.

 

[angel]

If you lift the rubber wheelarch cover, then you will be able to see if corrosion has expanded to this area. But it involves unscrewing some self tapping screws that hold the cover in place.

These stripes are very 80s...and don't mix well with the chrome stripes...but after all they are original.

 

[RichardIRL]

I actually think they look more late 60's than 80's, and don't think that they clash with the style of the car in principle. The Renault 4 Plein Air, the Fiat 595 Abarth, Mini 1275 GT all had vaguely similar stripes.

It's just the way they are placed below the aluminium line makes them look quite fussy and confused.

Either the aluminium line or the black stripe alone would complement the lines of the car, but with both together it doesn't work that well.

That said, they were on so many R4s with these stripes here in Ireland that they don't look at all out of place to my eyes. I actually like them and would definitely keep them if I got this car.