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The car

johnny082 said:
Reminds me of the Renault van that was given me many years ago when my car gave up. Used it for a long time travelling around Yorkshire Moors with no problems at all
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i had a renault 4 car which i cut the roof off for around the farm brilliant cars when that died i bought a 5 even better a floor gear change
 
Dave the cyclist said:
Done a few cycling holidays in Majorca over the years and seen quite a few Renault 4s repurposed as chicken houses when they reach the end of their days on the road
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I remember the Renault Dauphine, an accident looking for someplace to happen, rear wheels collapsing. Also the 5, not good on the highway. The dealers closed up very quickly.
 
When I was working in Brum we had a battery business next door, the boss came round and told us he'd bought a new Renault Dauphine at a bargain price from a dealer in London.
When he collected it and came round to show it off one of the lads said "I've seen that car before." Can't have it's only just arrived here." said the buyer
Our lad went to his locker and brought out a motor magazine, there on the front page was this very car, it was the one supplied by Renault to the press and had been used by their testers for all the road test write ups.
No wonder it was at a bargain price. :)
 
It's almost 65 years to the day since I passed my driving test, for some forty years I worked in motor industry and I have never bought a new car. Trying to remember some landmarks, a week after the test we hired an A40 took it across Exmoor to Woolacombe. On our return bought a Wolseley NF, drove for BFBC 2litre LR to Pyrenees ,Slovenia, Lisbon. Then a Healey BN1 to Athens. Hillman Imp to Bologna Then grew up things like a couple of Riva Estates. Citroen Dyane, good for bales of straw and livestock etc Citroen ZX. Currently have a Mitsubishi Colt, some seventeen years old, passes it's MOT each year, that's tempting providence!
 
Too many years ago I needed to visit a customer. The company I was working for hired a Citroen Dyane for me (!). To be fair, it was new then. It was like driving a trampoline.
One of long line of cars I have owned was a Citroen BX, sporty model. The previous registered owner was a well known entrepreneur of high tech vacuum cleaner fame. That went rather well. I chopped that in for a Citroen ZX, which was a bit more sedate.
Looking back right to car number 1, I have never owned a real sports car, although Julie has a thing about Morgans.
Over here, the contrôle technique (MOT) is every 2 years so that stress point comes less often. Garages, that service and fix things, and (MOT) stations that test have to be separate enterprises. Thinking about it, I have never owned a car new enough that it didn't need an MOT yet.

Andrew.
 
boilerman said:
Wish I could find the photos of my old cars, of course, they could be in albums, and not on the PC :)
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We have just had a good think. I could probably manage at least one photo containing each car, for some, several photos. As for the actual cars, either a long way down various scrapyard piles, or even recycled into tin cans. My last beans on toast may have come to me in part of one of my old cars.
Andrew.
 
Twenty odd years ago I took a car to a main dealer for an MoT and was given a list of failures and a bill of around £600. I had the corroded back box replaced then took it to a different garage who showed me in person that all the other “failures” were, in fact, nothing of the sort and it passed their MoT. I gave up on main dealers after that.
Regarding Renault, I owned a Mk1 Kangoo (a spiritual successor to the Reanault 4, really) for five years and put nearly 100k on it. Apart from regular servicing it never needed a thing, was totally reliable and proved to be the most practical car I’ve ever had. Brilliant. Ok, it was ugly but it did an admirable job.
 
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