Mint Renault 18 spotted

Silvera

I spotted a mint silver Renault 18 saloon today, parked outside a business off the Belgard Road.

It looks to have been very well restored - immaculate paintwork, bumpers and alloys. Either that or it has been in mothballs all these years (didn't get an upclose look at it)

It has a xxx HZU registration (silver on black plates).

I'm sure BrianD3 will be pleased to hear about this

beanderb4

I pulled up at the lights beside this guy a few weeks back, at least I think it was the same guy. He told me it was his fathers car and he had just recommissioned it. It really was mint.

Irish-trucker

I seen the same car i think in the carpark of woody's D.I.Y in Tallaght 2 weeks ago - i spotted it -my da could'nt get over how clean it was

HZU is a 1981 reg is'nt it ?

BrianD3

Silvera wrote:

I'm sure BrianD3 will be pleased to hear about this

Damn right

Did you see if it was a chrome bumper one or one of the later plastic bumper cars. I always thought the chrome looked better although a plastic bumper car is still a welcome sight as 18s have disappeared off the road in the last few years. I'd say it's around 10 years since I last saw any sort of R18 on Irish roads. There is one for sale the B+S at the moment though.

IIRC someone on this forum mentioned that a guy he knew was restoring an R18 turbo. Maybe the same car that Silvera or beanderb4 saw.

Saw a Renault 20 myself in the carpark at the Midlands Amercian car show in 2004. Original Irish reg, looked original and unrestored.

Has anyone seen a R14 lately or even in the last 10-15 years? Thought not! Evil rusters they were.

Alfasudcrazy

The 18 was a slick car when it came out. I never drove one though. I saw one recently (can't recall was it here or the UK) but was struck by how visible all the exhaust/suspension bits were.
When you are so used to modern cars having these invisible it somehow looked unsightly.

My favourite classic renault is the 12 or if I saw a neat original Mk I renault 5 I might think about it.

manta mad

theres a renault 18 parked up in a farmers yard, the two tone grey model .
its between balinasloe & loughrea it dosent look to be in bad condition.

all the priests used to drive 18s didnt they.

greglo23

the 2 tone ones were the 18 American. they had the 1600 crossflow engine which came from the 16 TX. great engine but the 18's were awful crap. i used to work in Wilton Renault in Cork in the 80s and they broke our hearts. gearboxes were dire as were the shocks , wiring, brakes, wishbones, distributors etc, etc. about the best car they had at the time were the 20 and the 5 Gordini. my favourite of all were the 16 TX and the 4 which were a hoor to work on but were bloody marvellous cars. my dad had a TX and it was good for 125 MPH and a GTI or XR3 couldnt live with it especially on the twisty bits

Citroen Guru

Renault 16s were great cars. Just like riding around in your favorite armchair. Auto's were very heavy on the steering and sometimes refused to go backwards.
My favorite were th rear engined Daupines and Floride/Carravelles.

greglo23

my family were Renault nuts and between us we had a 1954 3.5 , numerous 4's including a 3 speed and left hooker vans , 5 , 9, two 10's , three 12 s , five 16 s including a TX , two 18 s , a 20 TL on gas and two 25 s converted to diesel. Phew oh and i had a Dauphine which i gave my friends kid a toy tractor and trailer for a swap. unfortunately it was too far gone to restore and i had to dump it

BrianD3

That was some Renault collection greglo23! And I thought my family were Renault nuts

I've never driven an 18 but was passenger in them loads of times. I did like the cars but wasn't a huge fan of the "fat face" styling. The 18 was quite a conventional car compared to say the original 5 or the 16.

All Renaults from this era seemed to suffer terribly from rust with the 14 probably having the worst reputation. I last saw a 14 in 1989.

Even when i was in France a few times in the early-mid nineties you'd think there'd be loads of old Renaults still on the road in their home country. But there weren't, they were dying out at a rapid rate even back then.

dubtom

I saw a 16 in town last week, i couldn't believe my eye's, it's years since I last saw one. They were incredably comfortable. A friend had one, all electric, most of which didn't work and very cool gear change on the steering colume.

Silvera

BrianD3,

The 18 I spotted has chrome bumpers. It's wheels looked like Turbo wheels, but I'm pretty sure it is not a Turbo model.

The last R14 (brown metallic) I saw 'in the flesh' was one parked in the yard of the Renault specialist I used to work for . It was driven down to the yard by a renault employee (c.1992) to have some rust attended to. However, the owner was in no rush to have it fixed and we reckoned he only wanted somewhere (free!) to store it.
When I was leaving that job in 1996 it was in a pretty sad state - I think it ended up being brought to the local dump!

While on the subject of older Renaults.....

I see this UK car dealer (who specialises in '80's cars) has a mint R11 Turbo for sale -

www.the80semporium.co.uk/home/

Silvera

Oh, and the reg : xxx HZU = March 1982.

BrianD3

Silvera, AFAIK the R18 Turbo model was introduced at the same time as the plastic bumpers. So I'd say you're correct to say that the (chrome bumper) car you saw wasn't a Turbo.

Yeah saw that website with the R11 turbo before, think he also had a couple of R5 GT Turbo "Raider" special editions when I checked.

One car that I always thought looked interesting was the original R5 Gordini/Alpine Turbo. Never drove one or even saw one in the flesh but having experienced the cooking models of the R5 they had a lot of character and were good fun so the Turbo was probably better still. Website on them here
http://www.r5gordini.co.uk/

And here's a site about a guy and his love affair with his R18 GTL
http://www.renault18.com/index2.htm

MercMad

IIRC someone on this forum mentioned that a guy he knew was restoring an R18 turbo. Maybe the same car that Silvera or beanderb4 saw.

........thats was me and that car hasn't seen the light of day yet, its a lazer blue type colour with a CZO reg!

The Turbo came out in 1981 so it seems strange that a chrome bumber would have a1982 reg.Maybe old stock or something !

green-blood

oh I wish I'd seen that, same story my father had an R18 estate, I loved it, and I'd love one again

cxcully

I saw an old guy in a maroon Renault 9 waiting to pull out onto the N6 at Aughrim,outside Ballinasloe 2-3 months ago.I was nearly going to stop the car/follow him to his destination to chat to him and make sure the car was not scrapped if he was getting rid of it!It would be a real shame if it was casually scrapped-you never see 70's/80's Renaults anymore.Definitely looked like an old farmer,not a Renault enthusiast.Respect.
There's a metallic silver Renault 11(9 with hatchback or is it the other way around??!) rotting on someone's driveway in a tough estate in Ballinasloe-old style Reg.Driving through Toomevara in Tipp,saw a silver Renault 9 in good shape infront of a pub.love that 80's interior.Asked inside-belongs to a former President of the GAA from the area!A few miles outside there down a boreen (very obscure part of Ireland!) there was a red renault 18 parked up in a field.Unfortunately beyond restoration I'd say.
Citroen fan first,but I do have an affection for 80's Renaults.....and it's great to see a few survivors from the NCT/REPS cull.then again,could have helped if they'd rustproofed them...

Litcagral

manta mad wrote:

all the priests used to drive 18s didnt they.

Yes our Parish Priest had one. It was a beaut - two tone black/grey and I think it was an America II (??) special edition.



Apologies - off topic.

I saw a 1995 Renault 5 recently. Did they not finish when the Clio came out in 1991/1992?

MercMad

Yeah but the reintroduced them when the Gov. scrappage scheme came along so they could gain all the low end sales. The cars were still being made so why not !

Not sure if it worked though, since you hardly see any ever !

Now can we get back to talking about "Classic" cars.................ahem !

BrianD3

Litcagral, the R5 was sold as a budget model long after the Clio was introduced. I think the R5 was sold here till about 1997. Although perhaps it wasn't sold here continusously after the Clio was introduced (eg the 5 it may have been dropped and then reintroduced)

As for R9s and R11s - up until a few months ago I used to see a red 1985 R11 in Granard Co. Longford. Driven by an old guy who looked like a farmer, car was in OK condition. Haven't seen it for a while though so it's likely that it either got scrapped or the owner died. Also saw a R9 parked in Liffey Valley shopping centre about a year or two ago. Looked like it had been restored or at least resprayed. IIRC it was a kind of beigey yellow.

All other "numbers" Renaults are getting scare these days too. The 21, 25 and phase 1 R19 are uncommon. There are still a good few phase 2 19s around but their numbers are dwindling rapidly.

Silvera

Don't forget, if any body wants to save a 1989 Renault 21 saloon, there is one parked up/abandonded/scrapped just as you turn onto the Thurles road in Templemore (about 100 yards up the road on the r/h side of the road).

green-blood

how about a resto projct R6

http://klassik-garage.homepage.t-online.de/sonst3.htm

Anan1

Silvera wrote:

Don't forget, if any body wants to save a 1989 Renault 21 saloon, there is one parked up/abandonded/scrapped just as you turn onto the Thurles road in Templemore (about 100 yards up the road on the r/h side of the road).

I remember reading somewhere that 2.0 Renault 21 saloons are longer than 1.6s. Apparently they had to extend the whole front of the car to mount the bigger engines longitudinally, whereas the smaller motors fitted transversely!

Blue850

My landlords son has just got a mint standard 88 R5 turbo in from the UK, he's only 19, how long will it survive?

Max_Damage

Blue850 wrote:

My landlords son has just got a mint standard 88 R5 turbo in from the UK, he's only 19, how long will it survive?

Five to six months tops. It will be raped and a garish bodykit will be put on, guaranteed.:(

In reply to the OP, I saw that Renault 18 a few months ago at the Templeouge cross roads, really stood out it did, far cleaner than the rest of the cars around. Kudos to the owner.

BrianD3

Anan1 wrote:

I remember reading somewhere that 2.0 Renault 21 saloons are longer than 1.6s. Apparently they had to extend the whole front of the car to mount the bigger engines longitudinally, whereas the smaller motors fitted transversely!

Yeah I heard about the different lengths/wheelbases before but can't verify if it's true or not. It's definitely correct to say that some of the engines in the 21 were mounted longitudinally, others traversely.

The engines in a lot of the older renaults (original 5, 4, 16) were also mounted longitudinally driving the front wheels with the gearbox stuck on the front! Gaining access to the timing gear could be an "interesting" job also the wheelbase on some older models was different on the left side than on the right

greglo23

your correct about the wheelbase brian. the left side wheelbase was shorter than the right side on cars with torsion bar suspension because the bars were mounted one in front of the other. i know of one panelbeater who burst open the left hand chassis of an R4 in an attempt to get the wheelbase to match the r/h/s.
the main difference with the 21 was as was noted already the transverse or longitudinal mounting of the transmission. the front wings were completely different because of this and could not be swapped.
the strangest thing i've ever seen in a renault was the 21 timing belts. one model had a 52 tooth belt and the other 53. if mixed up , disaster, because of creeping of the pulleys. only the french could come up with something so ridiculous.

Silvera

Blue850 wrote:

My landlords son has just got a mint standard 88 R5 turbo in from the UK, he's only 19, how long will it survive?

There is also a white J-reg (1991/1992) Renault 5 Turbo around Gorey - young guy driving it .......might not last too long either!

The thing is that, sadly, younger drivers often don't appreciate the original spec of such cars and end up sticking on tacky modern bits and pieces.

ds20prefecture

I'm not a huge fan of La Regie, but I like R10s, R16s, R4s and base spec R5s. The late 80s R5 GT Turbo was a seriously quick car, with somewhat more predictable handling than the Gordini.

There's also something very classy about the first shape R25s - the Safrane was not an upgrade, looks wise.

MercMad

Yeah I worked on a few of those R21's. The difference in length was obvious if you looked at the gap between the front wheel arch and the door. Made them very ungainly looking !

I have heard tales of gunter mechanics cutting holes into the bulkhead, replacing the timing chain, and welding back the hole ! !

green-blood

saw the 18 HZU yesterday, stunning, such a cheap, unassuming, ordinary car really stood out in todays traffic.

I'd gladly give him a couple of grand for it

Occidental

Had a friend with an 18 Turbo when they first came out. Great to drive and wonderful suspension. I'd also agree that all 18 Turbos had the plastic bumpers.

Can anyone confirm that towards end of production, Renault were throwing Turbo alloys on a lot of the special models?

MercMad

Can anyone confirm that towards end of production, Renault were throwing Turbo alloys on a lot of the special models?

Certainly the last in line 18's had a very high spec, metallic, E/W, S/R, tinted glass, C/L and alloys ! Whether the wheels were exactly the same or not I dont recall !

Blue850

coming back from kilbeggan, i saw a R11 at a petrol station in ballinasloe CI reg, also in ballinasloe, saw a OIM reg Polo 83? and a Merc SL on ZV plates all in the space of 5 minutes

Citroen Guru

MercMad wrote:

Yeah I worked on a few of those R21's. The difference in length was obvious if you looked at the gap between the front wheel arch and the door. Made them very ungainly looking !

I have heard tales of gunter mechanics cutting holes into the bulkhead, replacing the timing chain, and welding back the hole ! !

I've done that in the past, and on DS's too.