RENAULT 4 TL (1989), CHASSIS N. VF1112C0001307897, ENGINE: 4 CYLINDER, DISPLACEMENT: 956 CM3, POWER: 33 cv, BODY: FIVE DOOR SALOON, GEARBOX: MANUAL, DRIVE: LHD, A PERFECT, LOW MILEAGE, LATE R4
In 1956, at the dawn of the French postwar economic and motoring boom, the new Renault Chairman, Pierre Dreyfus, requested a new economy motor car that was to take the place of the small and uncomfortable rear engined 4CV, as well as challenging the basic but effective Citroen 2CV. The R4 was born: a car that was not beautiful but still pleasing, not futuristic but technically advanced, not performance-oriented but practical, comfortable and reliable enough to enjoy more than twenty years of success and eight million units produced. It was produced until 1992 in different versions, with engines from 600 to 1100 cm3, and the practicality of a small ‘do anything’ station wagon. By the end of the 1980s Renault had to stop production in its South Paris site, as it was causing too much pollution. All the factory’s chroming was done on an island on the river Seine, and that was too much for a factory that, in the last fifty years, had been surrounded by the growing Capital. The “Quatr’elle” production was then concentrated in a satellite plant in ex-Yugoslavia, which continued for just a few years as the car was not adaptable to the new pollution and safety requirements. This car is from this period, and as such it has the updated interior with the R5-derived steering wheel and dashboard. It is a low-mileage example (roughly 52,000 miles) that has been completely renewed by the previous owner in 2017. Most of these cars have been driven over phenomenal mileages and consumed to the last breath of their life, and this specimen represents a very rare opportunity to purchase a pristine example. Personally, I can testify this is a great little car that can do everything and go anywhere, owning an 850 cm3 specimen I bought new in 1980! The vehicle is in excellent mechanical condition but for safety reasons, we advise the purchaser to have it checked over and to replace the fluids, filters and perishable elements.