- Thread starter malcolm
- Start date
Hi Clementine,
It's interesting what you say about other Plein Airs. I have a friend who worked at Renault for years from about 1970 - he was partly responsible for the Rendezvous Team which drove 3 Plein Airs all brought into the country in 1969 (and repainted yellow by Renault). As far as he and Renault were aware there were only ever 4 brought into the UK in right hand drive form. Mine is one of the original Rendezvous Team cars which has been in dry storage since the early 80's and is in very good original condition. Are the others (with one possible exclusion) original surviving right hand drive models by Sinpar? Kind regards. Kevin
It's interesting what you say about other Plein Airs. I have a friend who worked at Renault for years from about 1970 - he was partly responsible for the Rendezvous Team which drove 3 Plein Airs all brought into the country in 1969 (and repainted yellow by Renault). As far as he and Renault were aware there were only ever 4 brought into the UK in right hand drive form. Mine is one of the original Rendezvous Team cars which has been in dry storage since the early 80's and is in very good original condition. Are the others (with one possible exclusion) original surviving right hand drive models by Sinpar? Kind regards. Kevin
malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
- Messages
- 4,519
- Location
- Bedford UK
I recall 3 cars changing hands on eBay last summer - two at the same time, so we had to come up with a collective noun to describe them: http://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=284
Two of them were yellow. The first looked like it had crashed into a pot of body filler and seemed to be missing most of the unique trim parts. The second looked original so could have been another Rendezvous Team car. The third was a red one owned by Stuart in Leicester, and I believe it was an original one, though the bodywork looked like it had mostly been replaced so can't be sure. The only other I am aware of in the UK is a white one owned by one of the organisers of the Renault owners club.
What was the Rendezvous Team? I couldn't find any mention of them in a Google search.
Two of them were yellow. The first looked like it had crashed into a pot of body filler and seemed to be missing most of the unique trim parts. The second looked original so could have been another Rendezvous Team car. The third was a red one owned by Stuart in Leicester, and I believe it was an original one, though the bodywork looked like it had mostly been replaced so can't be sure. The only other I am aware of in the UK is a white one owned by one of the organisers of the Renault owners club.
What was the Rendezvous Team? I couldn't find any mention of them in a Google search.
malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
- Messages
- 4,519
- Location
- Bedford UK
The eBay listings have long since disappeared, but the titles remain in the URLs:
Stuart described his red one as "RENAULT-4-PLEIN-AIR-yes-a-real-one"
The second Yellow one: "1969-Renault-4-Plien-Air-Convertible-1-of-only-4-in-UK" (so presumably also claining to be a real one)
Can't find any description for the first yellow one, but some talk about it here: http://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=94
Stuart described his red one as "RENAULT-4-PLEIN-AIR-yes-a-real-one"
The second Yellow one: "1969-Renault-4-Plien-Air-Convertible-1-of-only-4-in-UK" (so presumably also claining to be a real one)
Can't find any description for the first yellow one, but some talk about it here: http://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=94
Sorry for delay in responding, been away for a couple of days.
I bought the 69 "1 of 4 in UK", in October last year. It had been owned by the same man since 1976, he had researched it with Renault around 1980ish and used to show it in the early 80's, it's been dry stored since 1984.
The car is all original, needs a little tlc to get it on the road (mainly brakes - anyone got a new rear compensator) and a new hood.
The Renault Rendezvous Team were a Renault UK promotional/advertising group who took 3 Yellow (the Team colours) Plein-Airs, and possibly other unusual models - I can check, to Renault sales promotions around the country. My car was registered new and owned by Renault between 1969 and 1972 for this purpose. The car has only done 46,000 genuine miles (36,000 with the previous owner) from new and my friend who used to work for Renault (and drove the car for them) said they used to be transported to each event - therefore minimum mileage. I am told that the registration numbers were consecutive mine was YGY 881G, this may help in identifying any others.
My friend (John Bennett) now runs his own specialist Renault garage in Farnborough Hants, is active with the Renault Classic Car Club and has confirmed that the car is the genuine article.
I have a great deal of information from the previous owner (albeit mainly photocopied) relating to the car.
Hope this is of interest.
Regards.
Kevin
I bought the 69 "1 of 4 in UK", in October last year. It had been owned by the same man since 1976, he had researched it with Renault around 1980ish and used to show it in the early 80's, it's been dry stored since 1984.
The car is all original, needs a little tlc to get it on the road (mainly brakes - anyone got a new rear compensator) and a new hood.
The Renault Rendezvous Team were a Renault UK promotional/advertising group who took 3 Yellow (the Team colours) Plein-Airs, and possibly other unusual models - I can check, to Renault sales promotions around the country. My car was registered new and owned by Renault between 1969 and 1972 for this purpose. The car has only done 46,000 genuine miles (36,000 with the previous owner) from new and my friend who used to work for Renault (and drove the car for them) said they used to be transported to each event - therefore minimum mileage. I am told that the registration numbers were consecutive mine was YGY 881G, this may help in identifying any others.
My friend (John Bennett) now runs his own specialist Renault garage in Farnborough Hants, is active with the Renault Classic Car Club and has confirmed that the car is the genuine article.
I have a great deal of information from the previous owner (albeit mainly photocopied) relating to the car.
Hope this is of interest.
Regards.
Kevin
malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
- Messages
- 4,519
- Location
- Bedford UK
Absolutely, thanks. It's good to get some background on the rarer cars. Your one sounds like a good one. I'll split these posts off into a new thread so people can find them.
For interest here are a couple of photos of the one that Stuart sold last summer. The registration isn't in sequence with yours, and the interior has an early '70s look to it, but this one has had a lot of work.
For interest here are a couple of photos of the one that Stuart sold last summer. The registration isn't in sequence with yours, and the interior has an early '70s look to it, but this one has had a lot of work.
Hi Clementine,
Interesting photos. As far as I am aware the Plein Air was only ever available in white. Renault had mine resprayed yellow for there 'Team' and I expect the one in the photos has been resprayed red at some point in the past.
Mine has the original Sinpar hood and zip in side panels, unfortunately all past being serviceable. However, it seems that the two front original side panels (three sections each side) were fixed inside the body and not outside as shown by the clips on the red car. This probably accounts for the fact that very few survived as any rain running off would have just come into the footwell. Bad design for the UK climate!
Mine has two separate seats in the front and unfortunately the drivers seat is not original, it was replaced by the previous owner along with some purpose made runners to allow him more room as he was 6 foot 8 inches tall!
I'll keep you posted on progress.
Regards.
Kevin
Interesting photos. As far as I am aware the Plein Air was only ever available in white. Renault had mine resprayed yellow for there 'Team' and I expect the one in the photos has been resprayed red at some point in the past.
Mine has the original Sinpar hood and zip in side panels, unfortunately all past being serviceable. However, it seems that the two front original side panels (three sections each side) were fixed inside the body and not outside as shown by the clips on the red car. This probably accounts for the fact that very few survived as any rain running off would have just come into the footwell. Bad design for the UK climate!
Mine has two separate seats in the front and unfortunately the drivers seat is not original, it was replaced by the previous owner along with some purpose made runners to allow him more room as he was 6 foot 8 inches tall!
I'll keep you posted on progress.
Regards.
Kevin