Posts Tagged ‘renault’

Back in Black – Pair of Renault 17 Gordinis

August 9, 2011

While taking something of an unintentional hiatus from writing here, I stumbled across a pair of Renault 17s for sale. Knowing the significant amount of interest this car is still generating, I couldn’t let the listing pass without doing a quick writeup. Since it’s a black car and the pictures are tiny, it’s hard to judge much of anything, but the fact it exists and was driven as recently as a few weeks ago does say something about its condition. And worst case, you have a mangy, spider-infested parts car to show you how things should look… when a car is mangy and spider-infested. You can find them listed for only $850 – how could you go wrong?? – in Scottdale, PA.

1979 Renault 17 Gordini plus parts car

Kudos to the seller for having the balls to open up the hood – I was uncomfortable enough finding dead black widows and their sticky webs (hint: they don’t stick to blue surgeon’s gloves) under the hood in my former Lancia Beta. If he’s like me, he wore thick leather gardening gloves when he did it.

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Rares Grenouilles – 1969 Peugeot 204 Cabriolet and 1974 Renault R12 Break

May 20, 2011

Lose track of the classifieds listings for a couple of weeks, and all kinds of rarities pop up. Among others in the last couple of weeks, there are a couple of French cars their sellers would gladly foist upon you. Since it’s a sunny day out, we’ll start with this handsome Peugeot 204 Cabriolet. The seller wastes no time in pointing out this car was styled by Pininfarina, who also designed the “FERRARI TESTAROSSA”. Which is like the seller of a Hyundai Excel saying his car was done by the same guy who did the “ALFA GTV”. Find it in Los Angeles for $1500, which is a total steal for anything designed by a guy who did Ferraris.

1969 Peugeot 204 C front

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1950s Euro Family Cars – Fiat Millecento vs. Renault Dauphine

February 5, 2011

If you’re anything like me (and I’m sure you are, if you’re readying this) you’ve wondered what compact sedan comparisons were like back in 1959. Well, here’s your answer! With 45 raging Italian stallions against 27 Gitane-smoking, beret-wearing French ones, it’s little question who will win the race, but the question is, who cares? We’re not really going for speed here. And for the record, I haven’t actually wondered about 50-year-old comparison tests… but I have wondered what it would be like to own one of these charming little euroboxes.

Continuing with the bad buff-book metaphors, in this corner, we have our Italian contender. It bears mentioning that even though this car wouldn’t actually win you any races, it does qualify you to get into several. And if you’re worried about speed, you should have several options, especially if you speak Italian, since these were used as the basis for many racing specials when they were current. But since they’re Italian, you should be able to give them a pretty decent flogging without having to worry too much about it. All you need to do is contact the New York-based owner to see the car in Arizona, where it’s listed for sale with Minnesota plates for $3000.

1959 Fiat Millecento left

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