Group: alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove · Group Profile
Author: Larry GreenLarry Green Date: Jul 22, 2008 17:57
Harry Keane wrote:
> "Larry Green" wrote in message
> news:s0jhl5xkle.ln2@news.flash-gordon.me.uk...
>
>
>
>> Talking of strange car features does anyone remember the in-dash gear
>> lever fitted to the early Renault 4 and 5 series cars? It resembled a
>> golf club sticking out of the dash. It looked weird but once you got
>> used to it the thing worked well. Shift changes were pretty slick and
>> it just seemed a natural place for it after only a couple of days.
>
> Yes, we had a Renault 4 from '72 (moved up in size from a Mini following
> arrival of first child) to '74 (moved up in size to an estate following
> arrival of second child) and it was excellent. The gear change was very
> precise and, as you say, very slick. The linkage went all the way
> across the top of the engine to the gearbox which was almost under the
> front bumper! The best thing was going round corners at anything more
> than 10 m.p.h., and seeing the look of horror on the faces of drivers of
> oncoming cars, all of whom were under the impression that the Renault
> was about to turn over. A lovely car, and so economical on fuel...
> Mind you, it needed servicing (albeit only a little service) every 3,000
> miles, so that more than made up for it.
>
I really liked Renault's and had several of them. Started with a 1968 Renault 16
which was given to us by a friend after I was made redundant from my job as a
sales rep and lost my company car. It had been a 'spares' car for his own 16 and
needed a lot of work especially as once I tried to fire it up I discovered it
had been left with no anti-freeze in it during the winter and the block had
cracked! I replaced the engine and gearbox in my driveway in a blizzard in a
weekend with the help of a buddy who was a Caterpillar mechanic! It was written
off several months later when my ex-wife was rear-ended at a roundabout.
Then we had the Renault 5 which was a lot of fun followed by a Renault 14 and
finally a Renault Fuego which was surprisingly nippy for a normally aspirated
1.6L straight four! It stuck to the road like glue too and I can remember
'racing' a Mazda roller-skate over the moors from Leek in Staffordshire to just
south of Sheffield before we went in different directions. He tried everything
to get past me but just couldn't do it and when we finally went our different
ways he drew alongside me smiled, winked and waved before turning off! There was
a BMW or Merc on a trip down to the Forest of Dean who thought he was going to
show me a clean pair of heels too but he disappeared in my mirrors once we got
on the twisty bits!
--
Larry the Limey
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