You can a copy of October 2015 edition here

56 LA RENAULT
10/2015
renaultclassiccarclub.com
Club Officials
Chairman
Vice Chairman
Club Secretary
Treasurer
Membership Secretary
La Renault Editor
Gary Creighton
John Pigeon
Tony Topliss
Fred Parker
Fred Parker
Fred Parker
Registrars & Coordinators
4CV / 750
R4 / R6
R5
R8 / R10
R12
R16
R15 / R17
R18 / Fuego
Alpine 110
Dauphine
Floride / Caravelle
Competition Secretary
Spares Coordinator
National Events
Wales
Scotland
Ireland
North West
Yorkshire
Lincoln & Yorkshire
East & East Anglia
South East
South West
Robin Redrup
Derek Flavell
Tony Topliss
Nigel Patten
Robert Doran
Paul Draper
David Kelly
Richard Birchenough
Phil Gardner
Malcolm Rogers
Malcolm Rogers
Nigel Patten
Robin Redrup
Len Kiff
Dave Wheeler
Steven Swan
Seamus McElvanna
David Austin
Peter Bell
Derek Sparks
Duncan Topliss
Len Kiff
Tony Nappin
Robert Doran
2
01507
01507
01476
01825
01825
01825
327784
328364
573212
712916
712916
712916
01480
07816
01476
01276
01395
01962
01978
01270
01446
01933
01933
01276
01480
01992
02920
01738
07751
07850
01606
01845
01476
01992
01329
01395
434984
586642
573212
25426
271116
793375
843253
764912
710682
357556
357556
25426
434984
420305
309815
633788
057707
656663
44586
597942
563753
420305
285160
271116
Editor's Ramblings!
[email protected]
The most obvious answer is the magazine.
I have now been editor for a few years and
have churned out nearly thirty magazines.
I am quite happy doing this and unless I
fall under a bus or get eaten by one of my
giant rabbits I will continue to do so. I cannot do it by myself, however, and rely on
you - the members - to help me out and
this is where the diversity of cars becomes
one. (A variety of articles in the mag). We
have regular correspondents, whose names
you all recognise, and then we have others
who send in occasional contributions. When
I asked for Renault 16 memories I hoped
that you would rally round and you did. I
sincerely hope I haven't lost anything on
the way but an upgrade to Windows 10 has
made one or two programs behave in a
very odd way. Our accounts are now all in
American dollars and I can find no way to
return them to pounds. I am not totally
computer illiterate and I have the support
of two teenagers and three twenty somethings to help out if need be and we are all
stumped! If you sent something in and it
hasn't appeared please let me know and I
will instigate a search for the missing
items!
W
elcome, to this, our largest magazine ever! It breaks two records
at the same time, the most number of pages and also the largest number
of copies printed, three hundred and fifty!
For a little club this is a huge achievement.
If you consider that the population of this
country is approaching sixty five million
and a popular magazine such as Classic
Car Weekly, available in retailers throughout the UK, has a circulation of only twenty
thousand, the whole classic car market is
actually tiny. Factor in the number of older
Renaults currently on the road and our own
potential market is also ... extremely tiny!
We have two renewal dates, April and October, and notices go out in the magazines
for those months. Most of April's renewals
have now come in and, once again, we
have had a very high percentage renew.
What concerns all of us on the committee,
however, is the number of more recent
members who do not renew, which brings
us to the question - what do you expect
from your club? Nearly sixty members have
4CVs / 750s, just behind them is members
with Renault 4s. The only real similarity
between the two cars is that they have a
Renault badge so how on earth can we
keep both groups of owners happy? We
also have a lot of 5s, 8s, 10s, 12s and 16s,
again totally different cars. My own cars a
10 and a Caravelle have nothing in common with a 16, so what do we do to interest everybody?
So, anyway, the point of all this rambling is
to say an enormous thank you to those
people who did write in. I was really impressed that so many members took the
time to send me their own Renault 16
memories - some in the very distant past!
However large or small, your contribution
is very much appreciated. In particular
Richard Allen who has spent hours and
hours gathering material together and, I
suspect, is using a steam powered computer running Windows 95 or earlier!
I would also like to say an enormous thank
you to Mark Waller at Renault UK. Gary
contacted him regarding the possibility of a
small contribution to our stand at the NEC
and he really has come up trumps, funding
a considerable part of our display.
3
Mark, thank you very much!
Editor's Ramblings!
01825 712916
Also, thank you very much to Dave Stevens for his artwork which he has contributed
without charge. If you are at the NEC this year do come and visit us. Our stand will obviously feature various different models of the 16 in celebration of its 50th birthday. If you
get lost we are opposite the Renault Owners' Club, next to the Fiat Owners' Club and
X19 Owners in Hall 5.
In other news ... Duncan Topliss has launched a Facebook page. For those of you who
are on Facebook this can provide an immediate way of contacting other members and
like minded people and we hope that it will grow rapidly. The Yahoo Group is still out
there but when I upgraded to Windows 10 I lost my log in and so can't post anything.
The Facebook page is far more satisfactory! While on the Topliss family our very best
wishes go to Tony for a speedy recovery and we hope he is soon back behind the wheel
of his 16. As he told me, his operation was a bit like a "cut and shut"!
This summer has been a busy one for Renaults in the press. My Caravelle was in Classic
& Sportscar (picture previous page) and the same magazine also ran a feature on the
16 with three of our members' cars. The centre page of this issue of La Renault features
a picture courtesy of Classic & Sportscar, the picture was taken by their photographer
Tony Baker. (As was the one on the previous page).
And finally ... don't forget the NEC and the AGM.
First picture ever of the R16.
4
See pages 31 - 32
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
5
RENAULT 16
An Earthquake Rekindled My Interest In A Renault 16
a Mini, I was not in a position to acquire
a 16 until the end of the eighties. The
cars I eventually saw were either falling
apart or were rusting very badly; at
which point, I resigned myself to the
fact that I would never end up owning a
16 during my lifetime. Furthermore, I
started to lose interest in the car as the
years went by – until February 2011.
As you may recall, it was during that
time that the city of Christchurch in New
Zealand was badly damaged by an
earthquake. For me, it was a very lucky
escape, as the earthquake struck the
city just seventeen hours before I was
due to arrive there to spend the first
night of my holiday. Even so, I had to
hastily rearrange my itinerary on arrival
in New Zealand, as well as assuring
other family members and friends in the
UK that I was fine.
As a result, I ended up going to Nelson
to start my trip around the South Island.
Whilst looking around the town, I spotted a Renault 16 going past me, which
certainly brought on a bit of a mid-life
crisis.
T
he very first time I went in a Renault 16 was c.1968. At such a
young age (I was only six at that
time!), I did not fully appreciate what a
great car it was, until I started to learn
to drive. Unfortunately, owing to a lack
of finances and also confidence in driving a somewhat larger car compared to
The possibility of owning a 16 as a classic car only dawned on me when I was
looking around the ‘Wonderful World of
Wearable Art and Collectable Cars' museum on the outskirts of Nelson the following day. Moreover, my garage at
home had sufficient space to accommodate an additional car, next to a Renault
Avantime, so at least I could keep my
future car protected from the elements.
6
On my return to the UK, I started to
look through the various classic car
magazines to see if any 16s were being
advertised for sale. The breakthrough
finally came in March 2012, when a TL
Auto came up for sale near Merthyr Tyd-
Anthony Horwood
fil, however the car needed extensive
work to bring it up to an acceptable
standard. Then shortly afterwards, like
buses, two more 16s came up for sale –
a TL Auto at a local garage and a TS at
an auction. Being a manual, the TS
would have been my preferred choice,
but it had been off the road for the past
ten years. Not knowing what I was going to be taking on from a liability point
of view, I decided not to attend the auction to place a bid. On the other hand,
the body work and interior of the TL
Auto were in such good condition for its
age, that I went ahead and purchased
the car.
come, which enabled me to take the car
over to France in order take part in the
recent 50th anniversary celebrations of
the 16 this year. This would not have
been possible, had it not been for all the
advice and help I have received from
fellow 16 owners within the club, to
whom I am extremely grateful. Furthermore, I am very indebted to Mike
Stokes for sorting out the ‘Can of
Worms’ I gave him last year, and for the
continuing improvements he is making
to my car, as this will enable me to take
part in more trips and events. Finally, I
wish to pass on my sincere thanks to
Malcolm Bailey who kindly sourced my
car in the first place, thus fulfilling a
long time wish to own a Renault 16.
Soon afterwards, I found out that the
car had belonged to a former RCCC
member, who had sadly passed away.
However I did meet up with his widow
who very kindly gave me past service
records dating back to when the car was
first registered in this country, as well as
other literature relating to the 16. Also,
the car was affectionately known as
‘Thum’, due to its number plate being
‘THU 245M’.
There certainly have been quite a few
challenges since the acquisition, as the
car had been out of use and not been
serviced for some while. These have
been steadily (and continue to be) over-
Finally, making it to France for the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the Renault 16.
7
When Renault Set The Standard
W
Michael Hamilton's beautiful example
hen Renault released the first press photographs of its “1500” in October 1964, it
unknowingly introduced drivers to a new form of motoring life. Fifty years ago, the
idea of a medium-sized, front-wheel-drive saloon with five doors aimed at the sort of
young architect who affected Jean Luc Godard shades indoors, would have been as outlandish
as Edward Heath playing keyboards for Gerry & The Pacemakers. Renault’s first front-driven
hatchback was the R4 of 1961 but that was a rival to the Citroën 2CV, while the 16, as the
“1500” was now badged, was an alternative to the Simca 1500, the Peugeot 404 and the
Citroën ID19. The 16’s aluminium 1,470cc engine was new, and also powered the Series 1
Lotus Europa. There were front disc brakes and the styling by Philippe Charbonneaux was distinctive and airy; there was little of the thick-pillared gloom still felt by the occupants of an
Austin A60 Cambridge in this slice of effortless Gallic design. The soft ride was designed to
cope with autoroute and rural track alike, while in order to accommodate the torsion bar suspension, the 16 had an asymmetrical wheelbase, the distance between the wheels on the left
being nearly three inches longer than on the right.
The 16 was formally launched in March 1965 and at that time the combination of a 1.5-litre
power plant and a hatchback invariably meant an estate version of an utterly conventional,
rear-wheel-drive family saloon to most British drivers. BMC made smaller front-drive saloons
but neither the Mini nor the Morris 1100 was ever officially offered as a hatchback. Although
the Austin A40 Countryman had a tailgate and “two-box” styling, it was a much smaller,
cheaper and far more conventional car than this new offering from Renault. The 16 was in fact
the best of both worlds, a saloon with a hatchback and the space of a van if required. “Today’s
car for today’s man,” stated the adverts and Renault’s publicity made much of the seven different seating configurations; the rear bench
could be adjusted fore and aft or removed
8
Andrew Roberts
Wind tunnel testing from Richard Allen
altogether and, should you so wish, the backrest could be suspended from the ceiling. The
dashboard looked as though it hailed from a science-fiction B-film spaceship and the handbrake
was a masterpiece of awkwardness, but these minor foibles could not mask the 16’s blend of
comfort, versatility and sheer verve. In the UK the £919 asking price of a 16 GL might also
have bought you the leather-trimmed respectability of a Wolseley 16/60 but that already belonged to a past England of smog and Woodbine cigarettes. Meanwhile, the distinctly French
Renault represented the opportunity to become renowned as the Alain Delon of Weybridge.
In 1966 the Renault 16 became the first French product to win the European Car of the Year
award and two years later the TS version was fitted with a 1,565cc engine and extra instruments to make it a veritable Cortina 1600E rival. September 1973 saw the debut of the ultimate 16, the TX, with a 1,647cc engine and a rear roof spoiler.
The equipment list included central locking, electric front windows and a five-speed gearbox
with which to tempt Dolomite Sprint owners towards front-wheel-drive motoring, but for all of
the TX’s flamboyant Gordini wheels, it was still very recognisably a 16. Renault did not believe
in change for its own sake; a steering column-mounted gear change, originally fitted to create
a completely flat floor, was retained until the end of production. When the last 16 left the Renault works in January 1980, few other young pretenders – the chronically underdeveloped Austin Maxi, the VW Passat, the Chrysler Alpine or even the Citroën GSA – could ever seem to
match the 16’s sheer charm or its impact. Sales in the UK were strong but few examples remain on British roads, largely due to corrosion. But whether a cherished survivor is the sober
looking TL or the quad headlamp magnificence of the TX, any 16 is a vivid reminder of the
heights to which a mass-produced car could
aspire.
9
From The Archives ...
S
ome years ago, member David Wadsworth sent me the letter opposite and the
photos on this page. He has not renewed this year and I have been unable to
make contact.
10
11
23
Tony Gomis
John Waterhouse
W
I
hen we returned to the UK in
1983, I set about getting myself a suitable car. I wanted
something comfortable, versatile and a
good tow car, as I was already competing in the R8G and, later, in the Alpine.
An R16, preferably a TX, fitted the bill.
By chance, I came across one at a local
Renault dealer, Red Lion Garage, in
Barnes, SW London. It was in metallic
grey, 30,000 on the clock and ideal for
me; however the dealer was reluctant
to sell it, preferring to pass it on via
'the trade' because it had a couple of
minor faults, including what they
termed a gearbox leak. Clearly they
didn't want any complaints from
stroppy customers. By convincing them
that I was a Renault enthusiast, and
had reasonable mechanical understanding, I was able to convince them
to sell it to me on an 'as seen, no come
-backs' basis.
My father’s 16TS, when brand new in
1970 in Adelaide, South Australia.
The gearbox leak consisted of a mild
weep, requiring topping up every 5000
miles or so. I've always believed that if
a Renault of the 60's and 70's DIDN'T
leak, then it couldn't possibly be a
genuine one ...
I had the car for four years. We did 30
or 40 thousand miles, with absolutely
no problems. I towed the rig (well exceeding
the
max
towable
weight ...) out to Spain several times.
It was fast ( by the standards of the
time), very comfortable and exceedingly versatile. My only gripe was the
absence of somewhere to park one's
left foot, because of the proximity of
the clutch pedal to the central tunnel (only a problem, I suppose, on
RHD cars). I regret selling it, it was a
great car, and a trusty friend.
see you are looking for R16 photos. Given the slightest encouragement …
A 16TS at Collingrove Hillclimb in South
Australia (the Sporting Car Club of SA
claims to be the second oldest such club
in the world)
Description opposite top.
12
John Waterhouse
Easter camp, near Adelaide, South Australia, 1982.
Four friends all with R16s – quite popular in Oz at the time!
velour seats, metallic paint, the steel
sports wheels and a TX steering wheel,
but really were bog standard 16TS models, albeit by then with the much
stronger South African front suspension. We had two of them and they
were fabulous – I used to cruise at 140
kph between Adelaide and Melbourne.
(Bottom of previous page). A 16TS in
the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon,
cruising through a creek bed in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.
I want one too, but with power steering
and air conditioning not driven from the
wrong end of the camshaft!
A couple of photos of our 1976 16TS
Special, one owner on from us. This car
is completely original and drives near
perfectly (by now at some 220,000 km I
imagine) and lives in Melbourne. The
16TS Specials were the final batch assembled in Melbourne and had French
13
T
he celebration of the Renault 16,
50th anniversary took place over
the weekend 14th-17th of August
where eleven R16s and one R5 took part
in the event and twenty four of us attended the celebrations. Many of us had
an unpleasant journey getting to the
Hotel Rendezvous in Skipton having encountered bad weather and accidents,
but the hotel soon relaxed us with its
warm welcome, polite staff, excellent
food and comfort.
We had a spectacular cake made by my
local baker to celebrate the occasion
with different coloured R16s emblazoned
on it. One of the hotel staff kindly had
us stand on the stairs and took a flattering picture of us all. We had the cake
after our evening meal and it tasted delicious.
The Saturday started with a short drive
and walk to Goredale Scar where a big
12
14
Tony Cansfield
surprise awaits when you finally turn the
corner at the end of the path. It is like
walking into a great cathedral but with
no roof. A waterfall bursts out of the
rock and tumbles down to a stream.
Next we drove one and a half miles to
the village of Malham, parked up and
then walked to Malham cove, a natural
feature of rock face of some three hundred feet high and one thousand feet
wide, shaped like a great amphitheatre.
Some of us walked up on to the top of it
where you discover a limestone pavement full of clints (blocks) and grykes
(gaps). Over millions of years, water
and ice has fractured the rock to cause
the patterns you see today.
We pulled out of Malham at 12 am to
drive 49 miles to Bolton, the late Fred
Dibnah’s home, and had to arrive there
for 2 pm. Now it is one thing in itself to
begin to think where guests would like
to be taken and shown, but working out
the timescale to fit all the things in is
something else again and you can’t help
having the fear of coming across an accident on the road that might hold
things up or a road closed sign.
Well, it was to my horror the latter suddenly appeared. Leading five of the cars
along twisty narrow lanes, and ten miles
to go before we got onto the motorway
the last thing you want to see is a
“ROAD CLOSED AHEAD”. I slowed right
down wondering what to do but decided
to gingerly drive on with the others following, expecting any moment the road
would be barred off. We passed another
sign and I was getting rather worried.
However we came to a third sign that
had cones beside it where we were able
to drive on through. Road works were
being done but the council had moved
the cones to allow access during the
weekend.
We arrived at Fred’s old place for 1.45
pm in good time for the gates opening,
where Leon Pownsney, the current
owner greeted us. He suddenly went
into a frenzy when he saw all the R16’s
parked along the road and wanted to
take pictures, because he once owned a
16 in the same colour as mine, sea
green metallic, and seeing them brought
back memories.
15
The visit was very entertaining with
Leon pointing out the intentions of
Fred’s projects, the problems Leon had
had getting permission for opening the
place up to carry on as Fred would have
wanted and to make people aware of
the beauty and fundamentals of Victorian engineering. Alf Molyneux, one of
Fred’s best mates who steered the Aveling and Porter traction engine on the
Renault 16 Anniversary Tour
and banks of Yorkshire, but anyway, it
didn’t worry Gerry and he managed
magnificently the rest of the way.
Driving over the moor to Reeth, we
were passed, going in the opposite direction, by a convoy of old Bentleys. The
hills came alive by the hoots of melodious horns making the sheep do a dance.
Then something spooked Richard’s car.
He told me, when we got to Reeth, that
it suddenly went into auto wash, spraying windscreen wash everywhere. He
had to frantically stop and pull the wiring off the water bottle pump to stop it.
Reeth, in Swaledale, was our lunch stop,
where we parked on the green to give
the public a chance to have a close look
at our lovely motors.
“Made in Britain” TV documentary in
2005, spoke of his encounters and
amusing times in being deeply involved
with Fred and his amazing life and character.
Tan Hill Inn, the highest inn in England
was our next stop where it was rather
busy and we just managed to safely
park all the cars off the road. I asked
Patrick if his beer tasted any better at
altitude and he said “Yes, most definitely!”
Until now we were all enjoying our anniversary except it seemed for some of
our cars, which have a way of telling
you and at the most awkward times,
that something is wrong. When we
parked at the castle, Gerry’s hand
brake, of all things, stopped working.
Well this wasn’t a good thing, especially
when you are motoring around the hills
We then turned south, driving out of
Arkengarthdale back into Wensleydale
to Hawes. This road is part of the famous Beamish reliability run where one
hundred and fifty vehicles older than
1956 take part in a one hundred and
fifty mile jaunt taking in some real hard
driving. When we arrived in Hawes I
learned we had nearly had a casualty,
because Robin’s Renault 5 front wheel
Again, while driving to Tan Hill the
spook that Richard experienced earlier
jumped onto my car and started to
make the instruments go off and come
back on but this turned out to be a loose
fuse.
On Sunday we drove to Castle Bolton in
Wensleydale where we were entertained
by a falconry display. It is a castle of
interest with nice gardens where Mary
Queen of Scots resided for six months
after she was defeated in 1568 at the
battle of Langside.
16
Pictures: Anthony Horwood
got the wobbles. John was ready with a
tow rope, (just in case), but a bit of elbow grease applied to the wheel spanner did the trick.
built by two thousand navvies and a
hundred of them were killed in constructing it.
We hope you like the picture as it took a
few goes to get all the cars parked with
Robin’s R5 propping the ten 16s up like
a book end.
Having bought some cheese from the
Wensleydale creamery, petrol and other
nice things, we set off for the famous
Ribblehead Viaduct. Up in the wild and
bleak fells of Whernside, Blea Moor and
Simon Fell, stands this magnificent
structure built for the Settle to Carlisle
railway in 1870. At one hundred and
four feet high, twenty four arches
stretch a quarter of a mile long. It was
With that being the crescendo of the
scenery and final stop off, we headed
back for the hotel. And by the way, the
weather greatly improved for the Saturday, Sunday and Monday so I hope you
all had a much better journey returning
home.
17
Renault 16s et Moi!
clever design touches like the recessed
cup holders found on the lid of the passenger glove box or quirks with its different length wheelbases like the Renault 4
and 6. The reviews gave mixed views,
some fair, yes that handbrake lever is in
an awkward place, some just plain silly,
'the spare wheel takes up too much space
in the engine bay' ... really? Just remove
it, it takes 5 seconds! but on the whole
though it was rightly praised.
My first encounter with the Renault 16
was my dad's '73 TL. Back then the
choice was between a 16 and a Maxi and
my dad, who had been recommended a
16 by a friend, headed first to the Austin
dealership. "Ok, why should I buy a
Maxi?" he asked the salesman.
The photos show my green 76 TX and
the green 72 TS I found in Clapham on
eBay. The photos of the TS were taken
many years before I found it and came
with the car's documents. It was in a
really bad state.
"Because it's British" he replied.
"Give me a really good reason to buy it,
rubbish the Renault." He couldn't. The
result was one shiny new Renault 16 on
our drive. With red paint and black vinyl
trim it became very much a part of the
family for the next nine years carrying me
and my siblings to school, my dad to
work and towing the caravan for our holidays, a vital component for our family
needs. As kids we stuck our sweet wrap-
W
hy is it that some cars are excluded from the top table of
celebrated cars? Is it dare I say
lazy or even prejudiced journalism? A
fashion thing? The Renault 16 definitely
deserves major recognition but doesn't
really get it or seemingly begrudgingly so.
I've always wondered why. What does it
have to do to be recognised?
I'm obviously biased towards the car but
doesn't being the world's first modern
hatchback count? Just a little bit? Such a
fundamental change in car design and yet
even now, it's just regarded as an unusual
car which did well for its time ... well yes
and the rest! Focuses, Cavaliers, Golfs,
Maxis etc all owe a massive debt to the
Renault 16. It's easily the comfiest car
I've ever been. Both in terms of seats and
ride and has rather nice touches like the
column change gearshift and forgotten
18
Piers Caunter
pers in the rear ashtrays and created
holes in the vinyl on the front seat tops by
jabbing our fingers through. Mind you, on
a hot day that vinyl couldn't half sting you
with the heat as you sat down!
It was not without its issues. If you operated the rear door handle on a freezing
day, it tended to stay frozen open
thereby requiring a sturdy rope to tie the
door shut till it got repaired. Then the
passenger side window became detached
from its runner and required a deft hand
to guide it up and down. Another time it
was handling terribly and my dad put it in
for repair. 'Oh it needs a new driveshaft
gaiter' said the dealer. Money changed
hands but the problem remained. 'Don't
understand it mate'. It turned out to be a
rear tyre that had been curbed quite severely and was badly out of shape. The
spare tyre fixed that issue. If only Watchdog had been around in those days ...
for some reason in its rear light cluster ...
Despite its strange past that car took us
to France for a holiday and still did the
school trips until it, like the previous car,
overheated and gave up. It remained
parked up at ours for many years before
it too headed to the scrappy. Over that
time and as it rusted away, I discovered
lots of expanding foam that Renault saw
fit to spray in the sill cavities, not good as
it helped corrode the sills, indeed foam
was sprayed in many R16s I believe.
Eventually it succumbed to an overheating engine which we were told had to
come out for repair and would be uneconomical. Not having the money, it sat at
home for a year before being towed to a
scrap yard where it sat for a few years
generously donating its gearbox to another ailing 16 somewhere before it finally
went to that great scrap yard in the
sky ...
By this time my dad had moved on from
70s Renaults and no 16s were in our lives
until I passed my test. Of course I had to
have a 16 and a beautiful light blue TX
conveniently came up for sale where my
dad worked. Scraping together the £250
the fellow wanted, I brought back my
very own 16.
By now I was bitten by the 16 bug as was
my dad and I pestered him to get another
one. This turned out to be another '73 16
TL with green paint and white vinyl trim,
almost identical to the '73 16 TS seen in
the club.
This car had had a rather chequered past
as it had clearly had a rear shunt at some
point in its history as the rear parcel shelf
was badly rain damaged and strange
welding had taken place in the boot. I
remember also discovering a set of keys
for another mystery Renault 16 hidden
19
It was a gorgeous car. Super comfy, electric windows, central locking, that five
speed gearbox. I was in heaven. Trouble
was the car wasn't too far off heaven itself. The MOT two months later sealed its
fate, in fact it failed on so much that the
refusal certificate looked like War and
Peace. Worn bushes, exhaust, rust, well
mainly rust to be honest, especially in
that Achilles heel for 16s, the rear suspension mounts. If only Renault had protected that a bit better, there'd be a lot
Renault 16s et Moi!
accident damaged 16 in my regular scrap
yard which were welded onto my TX.
I used to love scrap yards, I miss the
sense of anticipation as to what lurked
within. My regular scrappy didn't have too
many 16s in there but I do recall the
heartbreak of seeing a mint '79 TL with
gleaming red paint with a dirty great Volvo
on top of her. I had the theory that the 16
was inherited by someone who didn't want
it so decided it was easier to scrap than
sell. It still niggles me to this day. Its engine bay was gleaming, very low mileage.
Very frustrating! Amongst the other forlorn 16s dotted about the yard, I remember one had its rear doors welded up,
probably owing to rot in the door latches
like my TX. Interesting too how you'd see
how times and fashions have changed, for
instance, go faster stripes spelling 16 TX
on one and bright orange seats in an old
automatic. I did discover an old Renault 12
brochure in a car which was a nice find.
more around now I imagine. It's fair to
say that I learnt a lot about what to look
for when buying a 16 with that car, barely
two months of motoring and it was scrap.
Undeterred I searched for another and
found a P reg green TX in the Exchange
and Mart for the princely sum of £100. It
wasn't too rusty but it had a dud starter
and was carried on a trailer back to mine
to have the starter from the blue car fitted. This is not the easiest of tasks on a
16 as many an owner will testify, mainly
as there's an exhaust manifold in the way.
A day of fettling and swearing, shifting the
rustiest of nuts, more swearing and losing
lots of skin on my fingers and the starter
was in! The car started up fine and duly
collected its MOT. Hooray! I loved this car,
it was more travelled than Michael Palin
judging by the amount of travel stickers on
its tailgate and had a great turn of speed.
However the rear door latches were somewhat dodgy, being crudely held in place by
filler. Luckily I found some mint ones on an
Eventually due to my own dim-witted stupidity my green TX set fire to its wiring
loom because I'd fitted the wrong regulator and the thought of rewiring the whole
loom coupled with nasty rust appearing on
those rear suspension mounts again conspired to end its illustrious career. It was
definitely my favourite 16 though.
12
20
Around the same time I was given a tip off
about a '79 16 TL auto with a broken auto
box that was sat at the back of a Renault
dealer. I had a look and she was actually
in great shape and had only done 46,000
miles. Another £25 changed hands and
she was brought home. I knew this wasn't
a terminal case as not long before I'd seen
a 16 auto for sale down the road from me
that had been converted to a manual,
which I wasn't even aware could be done,
and so I decided I could fit my TX's gearbox to the TL. The mounts were the same
and with a weekend of lots of faffing,
swapping of the flywheel and adjusting the
gear linkage, I successfully fitted the man-
Piers Caunter
Clapham, a '72 16TS was for sale. It was
very rusty but I bought it and had it towed
to Mike Stokes to see if it had any future.
After ascertaining that it sadly had had its
day I decided to have Mike back-retro my
auto by swapping the late TL dash for the
TS one, swapping the plastic grill for the
chrome grill, having its vinyl seats, and
converting it to the manual five speed box
found in the TS. Yes, I know, five speeders weren't standard on TS cars but this
one had one, so all good! I've always
thought the early 70s 16 TS cars were the
ultimate 16s and the chrome suits the car
better than the plastic. So I've got a TL
with TS trim and a TX gearbox. It's a Renault 16 TLSX perhaps! Apart from these
conversions I've fitted front fog lights and
had the distributor changed from its cassette points to the more sensible, traditional points from an early 70s TL. Now I
have my ideal 16 and the gearbox suits
the TL engine but there are still jobs to do
in the future, including getting the head
stripped for hardened valve seats and
sorting a water leak from the pump.
ual five speed box and was rewarded with
a car that ran me around very happily until
my job in London forced me to sell it, perhaps she's still out there ...
Otherwise, apart from a scrap 16TX I
bought for parts, that was it for a few
years but I couldn't lose the 16 bug. I decided that next I'd do up a 16 for a project. Seemed like a great idea! A welder
was bought, trolley jacks, the works and I
managed to find a suitable sounding 16 for
sale in Cornwall on eBay. My friend who
lived near the car in Penzance, and who
probably thought I'd taken complete leave
of my senses, towed her up to mine and I
set to work with renewed vigour. Trouble
is that very quickly you can realise you're
out of your depth and with minimal welding completed, I realised it was utterly
beyond me and I gave her to Mike Stokes
for free. I believe that some of her interior
lives on in his beautiful '71 TS.
My current 16 came from Mike. Again a '79
16TL auto, I bought it as it was in amazing
condition and with a staggeringly low mileage at less than 20,000. It really was the
apocryphal tale of being owned by a little
old lady who only used it to go to the
shops and it is the nearest I've ever got to
buying a new 16. It drove and indeed
drives splendidly but on motorways the
auto box did used to whine at anything
over 50 mph, just crying out for a 4th
gear. By chance, around the same time,
just round the corner where I lived in
My 16 still gets admiring looks from the
public, everyone over 35 seems to remember them fondly. If I have any regrets, it's that I really wish I could use her
more than I do, but work tends to prevent
me from using her as much as I'd like.
She's not just a car, she's a character and
few cars in my view can get close. Whenever one comes up for sale I always have
an urge to save it, they are so rare they
should be grabbed and treasured! I wish I
had the money to buy them all and restore the lot. I remember seeing one in
the TV show 'The Bill' being trashed just
for a stunt, heartbreaking!
I guess we all have a favourite amongst
our cars but for me the Renault 16 got it
spot on. Character, practicality and bags
of fun. The ultimate classic car! Are you
listening classic car magazine writers?
21
Happy 50th Birthday!
Renault 16 Celebration
T
his year being the 50th anniversary of
the Renault 16, the club has been active in 16 circles. Club members have
attended two events in France and Tony
Cansfield kindly organised the 16 weekend in
Yorkshire.
hotel in Bruges. The others, Patrick Trench
and Tony Cansfield were going directly to Le
Havre.
Needless to say we were caught up in the
Calais industrial problems and our train got
to within five minutes of Calais when it
stopped for the best part of an hour in the
tunnel before returning to the UK. We set off
again in the evening and eventually got to
our hotel about 9 pm, in time for dinner but
too late for our planned walk round the centre of town.
The main trip to France was by invitation of
CAR Sandouville and took place in the Le
Havre area.
As a Club we had decided to make a bit more
of the event so added three nights in Bruges
before moving on to France.
Jackie and myself stayed with Robin Redrup
on the evening before departure as we were
going together in my TX. Mike Stokes joined
us in his TS and we set off to meet Anthony
Horwood at the tunnel to cross to France.
Richard Allan was going on the Dover to Calais ferry and we planned to meet up in our
The following day was spent in Bruges exploring the many historic sites and eating and
drinking the local fare. We also had a trip on
a canal boat to take in the sites from a different perspective.
22
The next day, six of us headed off by train
to Ghent while Anthony caught another
Gary Creighton
train to Ostend and Richard headed off
down to Le Havre in time for the tour of
the Sandouville plant on Friday. We were
very impressed by the Belgian train service as it was cheap, clean and very quick.
Ghent old city was a larger version of
Bruges with a castle, canals and some
very picturesque old buildings. Once again
we had good food and another river boat
tour.
on two days of touring the Normandy
countryside visiting many villages, Fecamp
and Le Havre. Saturday saw judging of the
cars and a good meal with dancing and
singing in the evening ending at midnight
with a firework display.
Monday and it was time to head back to
the tunnel and home again after a most
enjoyable week. Once again Richard, who
was travelling by ferry, was caught up in
the strike and migrant crisis and was
forced to spend an extra night in Calais.
Friday saw the rest of us leave Bruges and
head for our hotel for the main event in
Normandy. Our hosts CAR Sandoville laid
23
24
25
The Long Distance Runner
I would still own and be driving this car
almost 40 years later, where has the
time gone! A short warranty was given
with the car and I seem to remember
that the rearmost silencer was replaced
under it. Not long after the warranty
had expired a driveshaft did the same
thing and considerable cost was incurred
in replacing it.
For over 6 years the 16TL gave us reliable and of course supremely comfortable motoring, being used for commuting and frequently in my work as a TV
and VCR service engineer and also to
take us on holiday both in the UK and in
Europe. Many trips were made to
France, but in addition we journeyed to
Italy visiting such places as Venice,
Genoa, Pisa, Lucca, Sienna, Florence
and at one point getting lost [long before sat nav] ending up in the marble
quarries at Carrara!
F
ew cars get to beyond 12 to 15
years old, even fewer to 25 years
and very few to 45 years of age.
DUK 833 J is one such car that has survived to this great age.
DUK or The Duke as coined many years
ago by Tony Cansfield [the organiser of
the recent, extremely successful, 50th
R16 event] was a very average, just
over 5 year old 16 TL sitting in a line up
of second-hand motors on a garage
forecourt on the southern outskirts of
my home town of Rushden in Northamptonshire. Finished in a very matt and
faded 947 green metallic with a pale
beige vinyl interior, with around 63,000
miles on the clock and a price of, I
think, about £800. It seemed to fit the
bill. A test drive didn't show up any
problems, so with the help of a loan
from my parents-in-law DUK was duly
purchased. Little did I realise at the time
The trip which took us to Florence was
at a point in time when DUK was fitted
26
Richard Allen
failed. Looking up the nearest Renault
dealership in my European dealer book,
we made our way to them. The building
proved to be a wooden shed halfway up
an Alpine pass. My Italian is non existent, but on showing the parts' man the
faulty part he disappeared into the shed
and just a few minutes later reappeared
with the correct replacement part. After
fitting this no further problems were
encountered.
with aircon and the difference in temperature between the inside of the car
and the outside was the greatest I have
ever experienced. Florence is positioned
in a bowl and can get very hot indeed.
However Italy was not the farthest afield
DUK ventured. In 1978 a journey of
3,400 miles was undertaken to what
was then Yugoslavia, travelling through
France, Germany, Austria and Italy.
Yugoslavia was, at this time, communist
and very poor, the hotel was rather run
down, food basic, roads rough [no problem for a R16] and petrol sold only by
the communist state petrol stations. It
was branded PETROL: no ESSO, Shell,
BP, Total etc only PETROL!
Over the years R1152-600-36561 to
give DUK its manufacturing number, has
tackled many of the highest and most
difficult of Alpine passes, probably the
most famous being the Stelvio with
around fifty hairpin bends on either side
of the summit. However, the scariest
two, were the Gavia very rough and unguarded and the Timmelsjoch also unguarded and icy !
During this long drive on an Alpine pass
the car started to overheat. I diagnosed
that the thermal switch in the radiator
which controls the electric fan had
27
The Long Distance Runner
vert the car to the electric sunroof option, so I travelled to a farm in Suffolk
where I purchased a roof cut off a scrap
16 TS. Fitting this was a massive job
involving unpicking a large number of
spot welds to free the donor roof panel
from its frame, and repeating the same
operation on my 16, which ensured that
the roof pillars and frame of DUK were
not disturbed. Over a period of about
two years much work was done and in
1985 DUK took to the road once again
complete with a brand new engine from
Renault, still untouched to this day, fully
repaired chassis and of course new
MOT.
At the end of 1981 DUK now eleven
years old failed its MOT. Like most 16s
of this age it was suffering from quite
advanced bodyshell corrosion, and was
in economic terms not worth repairing.
A one way trip to Charlie Perkins or
Frank Beales the two nearest scrap
yards seemed imminent, but a friend of
my wife's offered me storage space off
the public highway in a tumble down
barn and the 16 was duly driven there,
where it was to languish for around two
to three years. In 1984 I suddenly developed an interest in the car again and
decided to restore it, helped by the fact
that Renault, at the time, were selling
brand new engines complete with all the
ancillaries for a very reasonable price.
Not having any previous experience in
restoration or welding, I moved DUK
from the barn to my domestic garage
and began to strip it down. One huge
advantage I had was that in the mid 80s
virtually all panels could be bought new,
including the chassis rails, and prices
were amazingly reasonable. A spot
welding gun was purchased as was an
arc welder with a brazing attachment
and work began. I also wanted to con-
28
Now the R16 was no longer my every
day driver and entered its classic / collection era, but was still in frequent use.
Cars don't like not being used. Mike
Stokes of Marlow Motors and R16 restoration supremo used to say cars wear
out in use, but deteriorate more with
lack of use. During the 90s DUK was
used once again for some memorable
holidays including one to Norway sailing
from Newcastle to Bergen on this now
sadly closed route. Norway must be one
of the finest places in Europe to drive
Richard Allen
with magnificent scenery, extremely low
traffic densities and total lack of aggressive driving, the only down side being
high costs especially of alcohol and petrol. Another journey made with Joy's
college friend and her husband, Janet
and Colin Marshall, was the 2,400 mile
trip to Cannes on the French Cote d'Azur. When I took the car to Menton near
the Italian border, it was here that I
photographed DUK in the same setting
as was used for some of the original
press pictures during the R16 launch in
January 1965.
The years pass and in 2010 DUK had
deteriorated once again and was in a
very poor condition, another restoration
was urgently needed, this 2nd restoration was put into the hands of Mick
Stokes of Marlow Motors Kettering. As
some of you will know, Mick is without
doubt the most skilled and knowledgeable person in the UK when it comes to
16 restoration, being responsible for the
survival of at least 75% of all R16s left
in the UK. DUK was pretty bad and challenged even Mick, but he rose to the
challenge and returned the car in a solid
sound condition, presenting me with a
very considerable bill, which, to keep
the car alive, was money well spent. At
the same time he fitted a type 385 five
speed gearbox which I had acquired
some years earlier. This transformed the
car making cruising much quieter and
more relaxed, not to mention more economical. Shortly after completion of this
work both Mick with his partner Maureen
in their R16 TS and myself in DUK set
off for Benoit Diringer's 4th European
R16 Rally in Alsace, France and then
onto Switzerland for a short holiday in
Wilderswil near Interlaken. Another two
thousand plus mile journey completed
without trouble. However, shortly after
my return a brand new driveshaft which
had been fitted as part of the gearbox
upgrade failed, just a few hundred metres from Mike's workshop. What looked
to be perfect welding had failed, leaving
the car stranded on a busy roundabout
just off the A14 - a good thing it didn't
happen in the mountains of Alsace or
Switzerland!
29
In 2013 I decided to repaint the car as it
was a patchwork of different paint applied during repairs over many years.
Before repainting, various panels were
The Long Distance Runner
the highpoint was taking the car, which
I have owned for 40 years, back not
only to the factory but the actual assembly hall where it was first built 45
years previously. Then driving round for
several laps of the test track with some
of the present day work force watching.
Marvellous!
Already in 2015 my R16 has covered
nearly 3,000 miles over all types of
roads, in all types of weather coping
with traffic conditions which were unimaginable fifty years ago, proving I believe that the Renault R16 was with out
doubt one of the most innovative and
influential cars of the post war period.
Its influence can readily be seen in
many of the cars of the 21st century.
Built to carry you and your passengers
over all roads in all weathers in perfect
comfort and safety was a line from an
early brochure. It was true in 1965 and
it is still true in 2015. DUK itself is now
in fine fettle and ready for many more
years of comfortable and reliable motoring, who knows it may well outlast me!
either replaced N/S front wing, or repaired two doors and the bonnet. This
work was very skilfully carried out by
Mark Verne of Saltfleetby near Louth in
Lincolnshire, before refinishing with
modern paint by Proline at Earls Barton
near Northampton.
This brings the story of this remarkable
survivor, now with almost 270,000 miles
on the clock up to September 2015.
Almost 45 years since R1152 36561
rolled off assembly line number 1 at the
Usine de Sandouville, near Le Havre in
Normandy, on the 22nd of October
1970.
There are two 50th anniversary celebration events which the car and its owners
have attended. The first one in France
during May and the second in Yorkshire
in August. Both of these were immensely enjoyable, however, for me,
30
The History Of Project 115
P
roject 115, the brainchild of Renault
CEO Pierre Dreyfus [not a car man
but a French civil servant] was born
in the late 50s out of the failure of project
114. Project 114 was a car destined to replace the not especially successful Fregate
in the middle to upper market. It was to be
a conventional 3 box design: engine, cabin
and boot with a 6 cylinder engine driving
the rear wheels and, I believe, a form of
fluid suspension, the prototype still exists
in the Renault Heritage Collection.
indeed for Renault.
The chief engineer, Yves George, was the
man in charge of the mission, his team
consisted of Gaston Juchet the young designer/stylist who was responsible for the
shape that still seems adventurous and
unique over 50 years later. Claude ProstDame was in charge of body structural engineering, Jacques Blondeleau suspensions,
Michel Petricenko engine and also involved
was famous independent French industrial
designer Philppe Charbonneaux.
Dreyfus however had other ideas. Although
most definitely not a car designer he saw
the future needs of middle market customers in the 1970s. Young professionals with
families, people with small businesses,
travelling representatives etc. who needed
a vehicle which would double as a car and
a van with the virtues of both and the vices
of neither. Renault already had a successful
utility vehicle in the R4, but the new model
would be much larger, more refined, sophisticated and stylish and would incorporate as much of the most modern technology as possible, consistent with an affordable selling price.
Project 114 was duly cancelled, both on the
grounds of high manufacturing costs and
Dreyfus's insistence on this ‘entirely new
breed of car’. One advertising slogan that
really did mean what it said and project
115 commenced. Of course, dual purpose
cars had been around for years, but they
had always been very low volume adaptations of existing saloons. The new Renault
would have the dual purpose concept at its
core, there would be no other versions,
just what we now call the hatchback
though of course this term had not yet
been invented. This was to be a massive
gamble by Dreyfus, an entirely new design
with absolutely nothing carried over from
previous models, a colossal amount of new
technology both in the body and the mechanical engineering. A brand new factory
and new workforce was required to build
the car, the huge investment necessary
made the project an enormous gamble
Part One
Work, which began in the autumn of 1959,
proceeded well and by 1964 the first prototypes were up and running, the very first
picture ever published of the new car appeared in the Automobile Magazine issue
221 dated September 1964. While the basic shape had been finalised many details
had still to be completed. The magazine
billed the car as La Nouvelle Renault 1500
for at this point no name had been decided
on. This picture was the first public sighting
of the model which was to become both
immensely successful and influential to the
great benefit of Renault's image and fortunes.
31
Whilst all aspects of the car's engineering
were to be cutting edge, the body shell was
especially problematic to the engineers.
With no bulkhead behind the rear seats
and with a large opening in the back, the
rigidity of the shell would be severely compromised, so a number of design innovations were introduced. Seventeen world
patents would be made in the process.
Deep main chassis rails pressed from 1.6
mm steel would form the basis of the car,
together with side panels pressed in one
piece and double skinned, which would
greatly contribute to the car's strength. All
this would be further aided by deep fully
box sectioned cant rails [the outer frame of
the roof] this made for a really strong rigid
structure contributing to a strong, safe and
refined car. Another aspect of the body
work development was the large amount of
wind tunnel testing undertaken to both
The History of Project 115
reduce aerodynamic drag, in the interests
of fuel economy, and the pursuit of low
levels of wind noise. The designers wanted
a car with very low levels of noise, in order
to make long distance travel both comfortable, and, by reducing fatigue, safer. The
R16 would also benefit in the area of safety
by being the first Renault to undergo scientific crash testing, and also the first to have
3 point seat belt anchorages from day one.
R16 engine technology was also to introduce a world first in that it would be the
first front wheel drive car to have the entire engine and transmission unit manufactured by high pressure die-casting in aluminium, chosen for low weight and high
thermodynamic efficiency. This was to
cause many problems, which were not fully
overcome when production commenced
and many early cars suffered from overheating and coolant loss due to porous cylinder blocks! Such is the price of progress.
32
Richard Allen
On January the 4th 1965 the car was
launched, earlier than was wished by the
company, this was bought about by the
scoop pictures published in the L’Automobile magazine. The motoring press was
taken down to the Cote d’Azur for the
launch at Juan Les Pin and the assembled
journalists drove the car not only along the
coastal roads, but also up into the snow
covered roads of the Alps Maritime. The
early cars found much favour with the
press, but there was criticism of a number
of aspects of the design most of which
would receive attention in the months before the public launch at the Geneva Motor
Show in April. During this intervening time
200 cars were lent out to key customers,
to test and comment on, so that further
improvements could be incorporated. Dreyfus was determined that the car would be
the success he wanted ....
To be continued.
My 16
I
Philip Martin
hindsight is a wonderful thing. So I'm
glad I now have this one, not only to
relive my past, but to experience the
current day pleasure of driving it on
modern roads which it does so
well. With a 5 speed box and power
steering it would be even better, but
how far do you stray from originality? Electronic ignition is as far as I
have gone so far.
Having had experience of holidays in
France and knowing how bad the roads
were then, and how well Renault 16s
coped with them, it was the obvious
choice when I saw that Maltese roads
were even worse. As the editor of Classic Cars noted this month after driving a
TX, the suspension reminded him of a
DS, praise indeed!
am the very lucky owner of this
1968 16TS, reputed to be the oldest
TS in the UK.
It was restored by Simon Pocklington
from whom I obtained it. It has since
been resprayed and together with new
carpets, bonnet, tailgate and window
rubbers it now looks quite delightful. I
don't see why it shouldn't last for another fifty years. This car is well known
within the club as Gary Creighton and
Mick Stokes are some, amongst others,
of the people who have owned it at various times. Talking of owners, I have a
very long letter from Ruth Dinsmore
whose father owned it from new, before
her, detailing the life it led, so I have a
very personal history of the car for the
first thirty seven years of its life.
An R16 TS just like this one was my first
new car, bought in 1972 when I lived in
Malta. I should never have sold it, but
12
33
Someone, I can't remember who, suggested that the R16 started the
hatchback trend, and I was inclined to
believe them until I read about, and saw
a picture of, a 1937 Citroen Commerciale, which was probably the first. Apparently Renault advertised the 16 as
being just the job for independent
minded owners who wanted the looks of
a saloon with the luggage space and
flexibility
of
an
estate.
This car will be appearing in the Classic
and Sportscar feature later this year, as
well as at the NEC in November. There
aren't many of these left, so we need to
look after t hem very care fully.
Wheeler's Workshop
Etretat town hall scrutineering - Saturday
South African built R8 Gordini 1135
amounts of gear oil in the bell housing
and on the clutch, a perfect cause of
juddering clutch issues, then I found
that the pilot bush in the crankshaft was
badly worn away, allowing the first motion shaft to flop around which caused
early failure of the oil seal in the bell
housing allowing the oil to leak out.
The competition year has seemingly
passed quickly, with the Etretat annual
bash for the band of UK competitors
looming rapidly on 28th August, then
Rally Day at Castle Combe and the
FDMC Sprint Royale.
After the May, Prescott La Vie en Blue
Hillclimb issues I had with severe tramping off the start line, I decided to pull
out the engine and box to investigate
the internals of the box itself as it had
done four seasons of competition without any servicing/inspection and also to
do a few small jobs on the engine while
it was out.
The first thing I noticed was the copious
34
So that explained the juddering, the box
was then taken down and all parts
washed and inspected carefully, I
changed the primary lay shaft bearings
just in case, but generally all was well. A
set of new oil seals and a new pilot bush
were ordered which were duly fitted
when the reassembly commenced. I
changed the clutch shaft as well, to a
borrowed item from Phil Gardner's A110
330 box, and fitted a “Speedy Sleeve”
Dave Wheeler
moval of the rear fuel tank [estimated
10lbs dry] and 4 lbs for the cover plate
as well. I have also removed the redundant rubber servo pipeline which saves
a surprising 3.3 lbs. but gives more
space for the future coolant pipe work
installation. The battery cable [not
weighed] is now inside the car in modern lighter cable, freeing up more room
underneath.
kit to it which is a thin walled stainless
tube which gives a groove free surface
for the new oil seal to run against.
I contacted Helix regarding the clutch oil
contamination and followed their advice
by washing all components with Hexane
based Wynn’s brake cleaning fluid. The
paddle friction surfaces being four pucks
of mainly sintered brass were soon oil
free and I decided to try running with it
as time was running away for using Helix’s re-tipping service of the plate by
return post.
As time was becoming tight I decided to
leave the heavy rear radiator system in
place to allow for some road testing
time of the now oil free clutch, but I did
fix an annoying problem with the operating cable dragging on the speed
humps wearing away the plastic sheathing allowing water ingress and sticking.
While the rear end was stripped out I
instigated phase two of the rear axle
improvements by removing the R8G 4
shocker cross member and installing the
lighter reinforced Dauphine single
damper system cross member which is
some 8lbs lighter, and saves a further
5lbs on the discarded pair of shockers
and an estimated 5 lbs over the Gordini
swing axle additional brackets, giving a
total of 18lbs or 8.16Kg which is about
the same as the weight saving of the
steel bonnet change to the fibre glass
item.
I shortened the overall length by 50mm
by stripping carefully 40mm of outer
spiral casing and wrapping all the remainder with self amalgamating tape
and also dripping oil into the inner wire.
I then sawed off the pedal end fork, and
tapped a thread on the rod so adjustment at that end could be carried out as
well to loose the inner wire slack, I
swapped the clutch pedal as well for a
re-bushed item as the clevis pin boss
area was worn. The cable is now only
slightly drooping under the box and is
silky smooth in its operation.
I checked over the rear VW brakes conversion while the R10 swing axles were
on the bench, all is fine and looking
good, the big U/Js were also treated to a
service with new Hardy Spicer joints
being fitted just in case.
The Rear Gordini radiator, fan, expansion tank, oil cooler and steel panel ensemble weigh some 33lbs, 15kg dry,
which I was hoping to not reinstate as
the front radiator kit is still waiting in
the wings to be fitted. This is only 10 lbs
lighter including the oil cooler/2 fans
and copper pipe work but its weight is
redistributed along the underside and to
the front of the car. This allows the re-
The engine was cleaned and in doing so
I changed the original African cast
102mm dia crank pulley back to the
standard R8 132mm dia steel item, to
increase the alternator revs at idle in
anticipation of compensating for the
loading of 2 x R16 front radiator cooling
fans when I eventually fit them. The
grooved R8 pulley was also treated to a
“Speedy Sleeve” to provide a good
groove surface for the new oil seal.
35
Models
Wheeler's
Workshop
David Austin
Sunday Morning at Parc
Ferme in the Fog
Tim Jeffrey and Bob Gibson
The French event itself was full of surprises, and not so good weather moving
in on the Sunday, compounded by the
organisers' electronic timing issues on
Saturday's practice / 1st timed run being delayed by a severed communications cable.
A new water pump was fitted being the
now available “Gros Debit” improved
impeller design giving more flow. A quieter silencer was fitted during the reassembly so as not to annoy the
neighbours too much.
The car's weight saving/redistribution
process spread over two years is reaching the end now and my estimated target of 243.97lbs or 110.166kg [17.42
stones] has not quite been reached as I
have still retained items such as the carpets and under felt and the rear petrol
tank and water radiator etc. but I am
currently up to 223.95lbs 101.58Kg
[15.99 stones] all weighed on the bathroom scales.
As early evening was now upon us we
eventually made it up to the start line
but as Duncan Richardson, who was behind me in the Alfa said, "you couldn’t
have written it any better" the heavens
opened with a short heavy deluge making the ascent a suck it and see, grip
wise.
The next day [Sunday] we had fog in the
morning with an overcast sky for our
final two afternoon runs as the moderns
were active in the morning.
I will in due course publish my progress
chart of all individual lightened item
weights recorded from door handles to
suspension cross members to drilled
hinges.
These final weight saving targets throw
up issues with the car being driven to
events and not trailered as was the case
last weekend when I drove 538 miles to
Etretat and back via Newhaven Dieppe,
so fuel carrying capacity is to become an
issue and losing the rear eight gallon
rear tank will be a blow.
My times were generally two seconds
slower than last year, while others improved. The surprise of the event was
Christopher Williams in the 4CV Proto
finishing second to Bob Gibson with a
tremendous drive. Pat Bridger sadly succumbed to big end bearing failure during
the previous day's practice.
36
The sky became more threatening as we
rushed to pack away our kit ready for
Dave Wheeler
Vera Patten and Pat Bridger size up the menu on Saturday
evening at Yvetot sur Mere.
prize giving in the marquee. Just as we
finished, a terrible thunder storm was all
around us resulting in the Parc Ferme
field being under water and the local
tractor being busy extricating bogged
down cars and trailers. Michel Deldon’s
house was flooded as well that evening.
loss of idle and a stuttering misfire at about
7500rpm. I have since checked the cylinder
compressions at home and it's the head gasket issue returning but I drove it home without
oil /water mixing and coolant pressurisation as
the 2 cylinders are “blowing” into each other
which is thanks to the R5 GT Turbo kevlar
head gasket Siamese fire ring design allowing
this.
My Engine went off song on the last two Sunday runs, which started earlier with a sudden
It's now head off time, again!
Parc Ferme on the Friday afternoon in good weather.
37
R4 Registrar
[email protected]
T
he French meeting in Thenay was
great fun, with a number of Brits
turning up, many of them travelling a serious distance before even getting onto French soil. Our regular B & B
that is a stone’s throw away from the
event is becoming equally popular too,
with Stuart and David and their partners
staying there also.
us were under the large tent quaffing
rosé or beer, whilst watching the band
doing renditions of British punk such as
London Calling by The Clash and even
more bizarre, God Save the Queen by
the Sex Pistols. As you can imagine I
can not really add much more to this!
We love this event and hopefully the
organisers will be able to keep it going
in the future.
The weather on the way down was 38
degrees (Thursday) but on the Saturday
in typical style we had a thunder storm!
This was not really a problem as most of
We used the cream Gordini powered R4
and it was ready just in the nick of time
due to me fitting a programmable ignition system which at first would not play
ball.
38
It is a long story, but in brief, after making and fitting the heated sandwich plate
to heat the manifolds, the car ran much
better and no longer iced up, but then it
was pinking. I reset the ignition timing
to the factory setting and it kept stalling. If I adjusted the idle speed a fraction it would race at over 1500 rpm,
back it off and it would stall. I realised
Derek Flavell
that it needed more advance at low engine speed, but less at higher revs. This
can only be properly done with an electronic system. The distributor advance
weights have to be locked solid and in
my case (twin 40 DCOES), I needed a
throttle position sensor. Fitting the sensor was a nightmare as the stupid design of the manifolds means that they
are so close together that the linkages
have to be mounted on the outer ends,
with the two centre shafts cut off! The
throttle sensor also needs to be
mounted on the outside shaft which
meant completely remaking the brackets etc. allowing the throttle arm to pass
through the middle of it all. After doing
all this, and rewiring the car as required,
it started up straight away on the factory set map. I booked into my local
rolling road with my laptop and the software required only to find that as soon
as any info was added the system went
AWOL and figures of 255° advance
came up.
We came to the conclusion that it was
faulty. After contacting the supplier we
found that some other units had experienced this unknown problem, but they
were convinced that it was a software
issue. Time was running out for our
French trip, and after several attempts
and emails back and forth, I was visited
by one of the unit’s designers who was
also desperate to find this obscure fault.
It turned out to be a problem with Windows 8, which my laptop runs on. We
borrowed an older laptop from Becky’s
work running on XP and the system
worked fine. I rebooked the rolling road
session two days before we were due to
leave for France and after setting it up I
am over the moon with the engine’s usability. It starts much more easily and
runs well at whatever rpm range you
are in.
39
To give an example, the original set up
10 years ago, had twin 45 DCOES and 4
speed gearbox, it was always freezing
up and at speeds below 70mph it really
needed to be in third gear to run
smoothly. Now it has twin 40s, and a 5
speed gearbox and will cruise at 50mph
in top gear without complaining. We
used two tanks of fuel the last time we
drove to Thenay in the car with the old
set-up, this time we used 1 ¼ tanks and
were four up this time too. The car has
a small increase in power overall. But
the big difference is that the 5 speed
gearbox and the programmable ignition
together as a package make for a really
usable car!
R4 Registrar
I
[email protected]
R12 Estate
had noticed on hot days that the
electric radiator fan was working
overtime, the engine was getting up
to working temperature, but then struggling to shed the heat, the fan would cut
in and even once out on the open road it
was slow to bring the temperature
gauge back down to the normal middle
position. This was made worse by the
regular crawling through London’s traffic
and over speed bumps. I had the radiator re-cored when I built the car, using
some modified, from standard, R12
tanks and a copper core.
On closer inspection it turned out that
the radiator core was crumbling to dust
between the rows of cooling pipes. There
had never been any leaks from this radiator before, but the quality of the
core’s material was obviously poor. It is
a much more expensive route to have a
custom made aluminium version, so I
decided to have the original one recored again. This was done and all is
now working fine again, with the temperature gauge back in its normal position. Mileage to date 53,000.
Orange R12
Once again I am running short of time to
get the article ready for La Renault so
hopefully the pictures will give a good
idea of what is going on with the car.
The TS seat frames were in a terrible
state and took a major effort to repair all
the broken springs and fixings. I used
some old spokes from a bicycle wheel as
these are sprung steel and worked really
well. After I painted the whole lot with
anti-rust resin, I have given them to my
trusted trimmer to work his magic.
A full report in the next issue.
40
And Now For Something A Little Different ...
T
wo somewhat different 16s. Above we have a two door saloon version which
never saw the light of day beyond this prototype, snapped on the Renault
stand at this year's Retromobile in February. The red convertible belongs to
club member Wim Boer from The Netherlands who brought the car over here for the
Yorkshire event.
41
4CV Registrar
Robin Redrup
shire Dales organised by Tony Cansfield.
There were 10 R16s and my R5. We had
a fantastic weekend visiting The Fred
Dibnah Heritage Centre, the Wensleydale cheese factory and the Ribblehead
Viaduct.
P
eter Baker has decided to sell his
4CV that he bought from Richard
Lewin. It was on eBay at the time
of writing, so if you are interested, contact me and I will see if it is still for sale.
Jody Scheckter’s son was looking for a
4CV so I have let him know as well.
While on our R16 travels in France, we
stopped at a Renault Dealer for a coffee
and this was the sole 4CV seen throughout the trip! We joined in with 65 other
R16s to mark the 50th Anniversary of
the model.
Welcome to Bob Humphries who has
bought a 1956 4CV from France. I met
Bob at the wet Knebworth Classic Car
Show on bank holiday Monday. He was
partly there to receive a front wing from
Gary which was in ready to bolt on condition!
Just a point about body panels for the
older classic Renaults, Auto Panels of
Castleford do not exist anymore! They
do have a fabulous website but this has
not been shutdown. I had been looking
for a pair of front wings for a R18 without success but thanks to Wim Boer a
pair is on its way from the Netherlands!
Thanks Wim.
I am ashamed to say that I have not
had the CA VA SEUL 750 “van” out this
year! I have been using my 1993 R5
instead mainly because of the distances
of certain events. One event was the
R16 50th Anniversary run up to the York-
Fred Dibner’s righthand man, Alf, who
gave some very interesting and humorous talks.
42
And Finally ...
W
ell, if you've got here and
you're still reading you're a
real star!
I hope that those of you who may not,
perhaps, be as enthusiastic about the 16
as some, have enjoyed this special edition as much as those who are. We do,
however, have a special treat for you on
the last four pages. Yes, I am afraid that
it is more rambling from me!
Original artwork from the Autocar’s
technical evaluation of the R16 in 1965
courtesy of John Waterhouse.
Our intermittent series, "My Other Car
Is ..." features my 125S. Unfortunately,
there are so few left that there doesn't
seem to be any club or support for it.
Having said that, parts are available
from Italy and the iconic twin cam engine has proved relatively easy to obtain
spares for. If you have a classic which is
not a Renault, perhaps you may like to
send in something for this feature.
This year to celebrate 50 years of the
R16 the club attended an event in
France organized by CAR Sandouville.
We also put together a touring weekend
for R16 owners in the Yorkshire Dales
which took place in the summer. The
format for our Yorkshire trip was two or
three nights in a hotel either Friday/Sat/
Sun or Friday/Saturday for those wishing to return to work on Monday. Tony
Cansfield put together two days of touring The Dales and visiting places of interest.
Next year is the 70th anniversary of the
4CV and the 60th of the Dauphine. The
question is, whether 4CV/Dauphine
owners would like us to plan something
similar. We would chose an area suitable
for classic car driving and would then
have to decide whether to use an hotel,
camp site or a mixture.
These things take some time to plan so
I would like to know if club members
would be interested in such an event. If
so, please contact me on 01507 327784
or you can send me an email at:
[email protected]
Gary Creighton
43
PS: Don't forget the NEC & the AGM!
My Other Car Is ...
A Fiat 125S
W
Having never been to Malta before we
really didn't know what to expect, but
even in October there was plenty of
sunshine and lots of dust.
ell, I think the Renault 16 has
had enough coverage now, so
let me tell you about my stunningly beautiful Fiat 125S which was, I
suppose, a direct rival of the 16.
Three years' ago we had a holiday on the
island of Malta. Having five children, six
cats, seven rabbits, a mad spotty dog
and a very old reptile we tend not to all
go away at the same time and so it was
only a select party of Parkers leaving the
devoted wife at home. As it turned out
this was a very good decision!
44
We were driving along one day and
spotted a Fiat 125 in dark green at a
petrol station. I reminisced (boring the
offspring again) about my early cars.
Having crunched my Renault 10 in the
spring of 1973 I went though a succession of Fiat 124s followed by a Polski
Fiat 125p and a Lada 1500. Unfortunately, the Eastern European cars weren't a patch on the original Italian ones
and around 1980 I managed to locate
an elderly 124 Special T with the beautiful revvy, twin cam engine. Sadly, the
rust had already taken hold and it didn't
last very long. (As I understand it, the
Italians sold the technology to their cars
and manufacturing rights in exchange
for Russian steel. The steel was rusting
long before it reached Turin and the rest
is history). That was the end of my Fiat
experiences for a long time.
Fred Parker
Back to the holiday ... A few days later
we were in a town, whose name I forget, and there was a sign beside the
road pointing to the Malta Motor Museum, it appeared to be the ground
floor and basement of a block of flats.
We paid and went in. On the ground
floor there were some reasonably interesting cars and it had a very pleasant
atmosphere. We went down some
stairs, round a corner ... and there she
was. Well, it was love at first sight! Harriet claims that my face went as white
as the car with shock, which may well
be true. A chat with the museum owner
revealed that the 23,000 miles were
genuine and it had belonged to a
teacher who bought it new, kept it garaged, used it only at weekends to take
his old mum out and never used it on
the heavily salted roads during Malta's
harsh winters. A deal was done for an
exorbitant number of Maltese shillings
and it was arranged that the car would
be despatched in a container to the UK.
Now, I could write a book on my disappointments with my car purchases over
the years and as was illustrated recently, I still haven't learnt! For the next
ten days I worried about how it might
get damaged and wouldn't arrive in the
perfect condition I had seen it in ... or
was it?
At last, the transporter arrived, the car
was given a shove to get it off and it
refused to move. The brakes were all
locked on! With a bit of persuasion we
managed to get it on the drive, the
45
My Other Car Is .....
A Fiat 125S
We drove down a suburban street with
houses and no garages. Then Benjamin
spotted a dead Ferrari, overgrown with
weeds in a front garden. Yes - it was Go
Performance Cars, although the Ferrari
wasn't a particularly good example of
Mario's work! We rang the doorbell and
his wife answered. She took us past two
enormous black Labradors, little piles of
poo in the garden, towards a shed at
the bottom. Not totally reassuring!
transporter left, I turned the key and
that beautiful twin cam engine burst into
life. Three minutes later there was
steam everywhere and it was quite obvious that there was something seriously
wrong. Sadly, it had sat with very nasty
tap water corroding rapidly inside the
engine for many years. A decent mixture
of anti freeze would have avoided the
problem entirely.
What next. Some things I can do, others
are way beyond me. By an amazing coincidence I had been reading Auto Italia
and they mentioned a guy by the name
of Guy Croft who earns a living solely
from these twin cam masterpieces. Off
went an email. Back came the reply "not
viable!" Hummmmmm ... "Why" ...
"Cost" ... "How much?" ... "More than
you can afford!" etc.
The door opened ... it was like Dr Who
opening the door of the Tardis! A beautiful, spotless workshop, glossy red
painted floor, room for three or four
cars, engines on stands in various states
of assembly and there was Malti (my
Fiat) up in the air on a four poster lift.
It turns out, from conversations with
other twin cam enthusiasts that this is a
fairly typical response! To cut a very
long story in half, he eventually agreed
to rebuild the engine and it took him a
year to do so. The care, precision and
attention to detail was quite incredible. I
can only imagine that he loves his engines as much as I love my cars and
rabbits! (After wife and children, of
course).
I discovered that Mario moved into the
house around thirty years ago, built his
garage at the end of the garden and has
been there ever since. He specialises in
Italian cars and especially Ferraris. His
knowledge is incredible and when he
was younger he had 8 Gordinis and
knows the 8s and 10s inside out. (He
recently proved to be a real star in resurrecting my 1980 Audi 100 bought off
eBay unseen, having spent 10 years
resting in a Dublin barn ... but that is a
story for another time).
Mario is totally charming. Benjamin and
I went to see how he was getting on.
An interesting fact: the gearboxes on
these cars do not use a regular gearbox
oil. Over the years he has worked on
many Lancias, Fiats etc which use the
twin cam engine and gearbox as in my
car. He tells me that mine has the best
change of any of those vehicles because
All went smoothly. I had done the
brakes myself before the car went to
Mario and he checked it over thoroughly
and dealt with anything that needed
doing.
The next stage was to get the rebuilt
engine back in the car. A job I wasn't
looking forward to as it had been a right
pig to get it out. Guy emailed and asked
what my plans were. When I showed
some hesitation he said that he had two
approved engine installers! The nearest
one being Go Performance Cars in Surbiton run by Mario Grech-Xerri. And guess
where his family came from ... Malta!
46
12
Fred Parker
and so it is now putting out a little more
than its original, quoted BHP. 0 - 60
comes up in well under 10 seconds, top
speed I have no idea (yet) but in 5th
gear it cruises in almost silence apart
from the wind noise around the old gutters and quarter lights.
it is such low mileage and it has not been
damaged by using the wrong oil. The
correct oil is the same as used in some
much older cars, a straight SAE 90.
As the car was eventually finished in
February of this year it was delivered
back on a trailer and I had to wait until
the roads had been washed clean in April
before taking it for its MOT. It passed,
first time, no problems at all. Incidentally, the plate on the car was one I rescued from a Renault 10 1300 so that is
as good an excuse as I need to have the
car in a Renault mag!
How it compares to the 16 for driving I
do not know as I have never driven a 16.
On the little country roads it feels a bit
cumbersome and old fashioned, but
point it to the motorway and off it goes,
like a rocket. I forgot to mention that
Guy Croft actually builds racing engines
Its first trip was to Coventry and no, we
did not come back on a transporter,
instead I received a charming letter
from the Police telling me that I had
exceeded the speed limit and I was going to be beaten over the head with a
truncheon until I promised to go slower!
47
I really wanted to take it to Rouen at
the end of September but was booked
for a hip transplant on the Friday of that
weekend. I have now cancelled the operation and will go to Rouen instead!
(Weather permitting - as if it goes out
in the rain it may well dissolve).