Renault Dauphine
"Truly unencumbered by the engineering process."
"At the time, it cost about half the price of a Volkswagen... which was half the price of everything else. How could Renault do this? Simple. It had half as many parts."
"This car topped out at 45 mph. Since the minimum speed on the Florida Turnpike is 40, patrol cars would follow me, waiting for me to hit a hill so they could ticket me."
"From a historical perspective, it's a shame that the French spent their Marshall Plan dollars on automaking."
"A side impact by a bicycle totaled my Dauphine after only one year."
Renault LeCar
"I'm convinced that the body metal for this car was supplied by Reynold's Aluminum."
"Like any French restaurant in America, it was overpriced, noisy, moody, and would put you in mortal danger if you had an accident with anything larger than a croissant."
"Our Le Car couldn't climb a hill fully loaded, so the passengers had to get out and walk up."
"I left it unlocked overnight, and it was finally stolen. The insurance check paid for a textbook."
I had a '73 Renault 12.
Strange little car...
Among its traits was the fact that I had to readjust the timing to suit the weather. I just got out, twisted the distributor until it ran right, then ran it for the rest of the day.
4 passenger, but a trunk that would swallow a Christmas tree (and did!).
I lived in a small town and drove it at 12 y/o (on Saturdays). Authorities weren't sure it was a car.
Remember Doug,
The French copy no one.
And no one copies the French.
Cheers,
knews hound
Ha-ha-ha
I had a friend in high school that had one.
He had to supercharge it to keep up with a VW. Seriously