One of the last Renault 4 build in Ireland

carchaeologist

In this months article on the R4 in Irish Vintage Scene, they mention the car has a separate chassis? I didn't think this was the case ? Is it?

mb1725

Yup, but oftentimes it's as rusty as the body!

carchaeologist

mb1725 wrote: »

Yup, but oftentimes it's as rusty as the body!

Ah! I thought it was just the 2CV and the VW Beetle that had seperate chassis. Always assumed the R4 was monocoque.

desmondo8477

Hi
This is the R4 in the above pic. It is here in Ireland

Xlaxeo

desmondo8477 wrote: »

Hi
This is the R4 in the above pic. It is here in Ireland

Des mondo have you any recent pictures of the yellow R4?

desmondo8477

Currently the front doors are off the car as I have been working on it since March. Slow work but getting there. Re did brakes and under seal +++ lots of other work. Will try to post some photos at w/e.

Desmondo

desmondo8477

Here are some photos you might like before I bought the car.

fatbhoy

This is a bit random, but in 1979 when the Pope visited Dublin, me (11 years old), my brother (13) and my mother got a yellow Renault 4 taxi from Ranelagh to near the Phoenix Park. We spent the day there in the park watching the Pope's address.

_Conrad_

So, any actual R4 nerds here reckon it's worthwhile for myself and the father to get two R4s for basicly scrap money? One running one not. 80s cars.

carchaeologist

_Conrad_ wrote: »

So, any actual R4 nerds here reckon it's worthwhile for myself and the father to get two R4s for basicly scrap money? One running one not. 80s cars.

If Ye have room for them why not? Better than seeing them scrapped.

_Conrad_

carchaeologist wrote: »

If Ye have room for them why not? Better than seeing them scrapped.

Any idea of difficulty finding the bits to get one or both of them into useable condition?
And yes there's plenty of space. Well, outdoor space

bijapos

Some perfectly maintained original Irish Renaults seen at Terenure today. Nice to see them writing up a bit of history on the car too, wish more people would do this.

Xlaxeo

_Conrad_ wrote: »

Any idea of difficulty finding the bits to get one or both of them into useable condition?
And yes there's plenty of space. Well, outdoor space

All the bits for R4s are easily available.

There are numerous sources, among them Renault dealers, and new reproduction parts producers such as franzose

http://www.franzose.de/en/Renault/R4/Tueren-vorne-hinten-Anbauteile/

Hermy

bijapos wrote: »

Nice to see them writing up a bit of history on the car too, wish more people would do this.

+1

_Conrad_

Xlaxeo wrote: »

All the bits for R4s are easily available.

There are numerous sources, among them Renault dealers, and new reproduction parts producers such as franzose

http://www.franzose.de/en/Renault/R4/Tueren-vorne-hinten-Anbauteile/

Ah, i must look at that link now

G Luxel

Took this still off the RTE documentary ''Bad Fellas''....there a Renault forecourt showing all the new renaults of the time..........probably before 1968....

Tea drinker

We had a `1975 R4, very economical but very rusty! Prone to headgasket failure too... Comfortable car for it's size. It was a 4L so quite low on power, but as a 15 year old it was about all I could handle.
God be with the days of honda 50's and R4's !

I must try and source an R4 for a project. Other one I could undo my childhood problems with would be a Pug 104, had a nice ZS model after the R4. Great little driver, but unfortunately the tinworm ate her too. Did a rebuild on that one out to 1219CC or something.

dingding

welder wrote: »

Thats a great find Jim !
I wonder was the first owner the ESB ? When I worked in Turlough Hill in the 80s We had few of them up there and the reg seems kinda familar ! A good few of the apprentices learned to drive in them !
Best of luck with it

Learned to drive in one myself in the ESB.

ianofitz

Lauder wrote: »

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This one lives near me in Clontarf, Dublin. Always see it driving around. An elderly woman has it from new. Amazingly (or apparently) it has a full Renault main dealer service history and was recently resprayed through Renault.

i too live in clontarf and always wanted to know about the car. is it still going around?

InTheTrees

I had one for about six months. On loan. When i was about 18. I remember the gear stick coming out of the dashboard took some getting use to.

Once I was filling it up, and a guy came over to me and said "i didnt know these came in diesel?". Oops, I'd half filled it with diesel. So I finished filling it with 4* and it ran fine.

Draye

MY first one, was my first car, when I was 16. My dad didn't want me to learn how to drive on his car so I bought my own one. Went to an old lady that got a scare while driving her own 4L and was getting rid of it. So she told me I could have it if I bought a new battery and passed the NCT. JOB DONE !

Had it for six years. Went all over france, took a trip to switzerland, and finally moved to Ireland with it. Unfortunatly, Irish roads were mercyless and killed it after 5 months. Sold it to a collectionner in county Wexford.



It was a 1989 one, 4gears, I added the radio console from an other one, it was an old GDF ( Gaz de France ) one so it had a red levier to disable the battery. The original colour was grey, then that lady had it painted marroon and I ... painted it blue... with a roller... I know... But I was sixteen... and pennyless...

Got a another now... You will be able to see it loads around east galway and galway city. it a 1985 one.

Capri

Snapped recently for sale for $7k in PhnomPenh, !!!! Jap-spec with a/c AND sunroof. LHD is a 'status' thing in Japan

kasper

Draye wrote: »

MY first one, was my first car, when I was 16. My dad didn't want me to learn how to drive on his car so I bought my own one. Went to an old lady that got a scare while driving her own 4L and was getting rid of it. So she told me I could have it if I bought a new battery and passed the NCT. JOB DONE !

Had it for six years. Went all over france, took a trip to switzerland, and finally moved to Ireland with it. Unfortunatly, Irish roads were mercyless and killed it after 5 months. Sold it to a collectionner in county Wexford.



It was a 1989 one, 4gears, I added the radio console from an other one, it was an old GDF ( Gaz de France ) one so it had a red levier to disable the battery. The original colour was grey, then that lady had it painted marroon and I ... painted it blue... with a roller... I know... But I was sixteen... and pennyless...

Got a another now... You will be able to see it loads around east galway and galway city. it a 1985 one.

very nice wouldnt mind getting another one in the future ,but i dont have the space ,enjoy it

bijapos

I saw a green RHD R4 Van on the N11 near Stillorgan yesterday, reg 87 D 20??? so it must be original Irish. if it's the original colour it's probably ex-An Post. Looked to be recently resprayed or restored.

Anyone know anything about it?

jimmyw

Draye wrote: »

I The original colour was grey,then that lady had it painted marroon and I ... painted it blue... with a roller... I know... But I was sixteen... and pennyless...

Your not the first person to do that,a relation also did that years and years ago which happened to also be a 4.I would have kept it maroon, looks nice. I have a liking for this too, quirky cars:cool:.

Draye

jimmyw wrote: »

I would have kept it maroon, looks nice. I have a liking for this too, quirky cars:cool:.

Well no I couldn't. We are not talking of a nice paint, it was homemade and the colour had lost it's shine and was strating to flake of in some places. It looked like the car was covered in a dark shade of rust from a distance... So blue it became ^^

And I had to do a bit of bodywork as well with fillers and stuff so it would have looked absolutly terrible.

Haggis_Dad

I wants one!!:rolleyes:

any tips?!

also, if getttin hold of a LHD, will insurance butcher me, or I should be fine due to classic status?!

thanks!

Anan1

Haggis_Dad wrote: »

I wants one!!:rolleyes:

any tips?!

also, if getttin hold of a LHD, will insurance butcher me, or I should be fine due to classic status?!

thanks!

Insurance has very little to do with the car and almost everything to do with the proposer. Shop around.

Haggis_Dad

Anan1 wrote: »

Insurance has very little to do with the car and almost everything to do with the proposer. Shop around.

sorry for the OT, but last time I checked Left Hand Drive vehicles were subject to ridiculous hikes in ins. price - due to the perceived risks of impaired visual coverage of blind spot etc?!

Anan1

Haggis_Dad wrote: »

sorry for the OT, but last time I checked Left Hand Drive vehicles were subject to ridiculous hikes in ins. price - due to the perceived risks of impaired visual coverage of blind spot etc?!

Any LHD loading will be a % of the premium rather than a set figure.