Close window
Print details

Renault 4 Van

Renault 4 Van

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

Renault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 Van
Renault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 Van
Renault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 VanRenault 4 Van
Lot number 59
Hammer value £3,700
Description Renault 4 Van
Year 1978
Colour Michelin Blue
Engine size 845 cc
Chassis No. 9850640

As French as a baguette and camembert, the small van with soft suspension and a frugal engine has long been the stock in trade of the French automotive industry.

Citroen led the way with the 2CV while Renault played catch-up with the more advanced yet cheaper Renault 4 Fourgonette. With its ‘high cube’ bodyshell and unique 'giraffon' (giraffe hatch) at the rear, the ubiquitous 4 became the archetypal French boulangerie van and there can be few tourists who have not had to leap for their lives when one has come screeching round a cobbled village corner towards them at murderous speed, the driver’s arm dangling from the window, face wreathed in cigarette smoke, nonchalant as you like. Surely the most successful vehicle of its type, for many people it represents their idea of a Renault 4 more than any passenger version. It remained on sale in Europe until 1993.

The Michelin Blue van you see here hails not from France but Southern Italy, where it racked up a mere 49,000km (30,000 miles) before being imported to the UK. Apart from some workaday dings on the bodywork, the van looks to have been well cared for in its life with a quick under-bonnet inspection revealing a surprisingly clean engine bay with nothing obviously unoriginal except for a new battery.

Trimmed in hardy vinyl, the cabin is clean and unmarked, and the rubber floor matting looks almost new. Charming details abound, the umbrella gearstick (so handy for hanging your handbag on), the original AM/FM radio, the ‘giraffon’ which makes the Renault 4 the envy of professional ladder users with lesser vans, all in great order.

On the morning of the photo shoot the van started promptly and drove very well (on a private road), bringing smiles to the faces of a couple of passing dog walkers, on which totally unscientific basis we deduced that it would make an ideal promotional vehicle for wooing customers into some trendy retro café or organic veg business.

While the vendor is aware that registering the van with a UK number plate would no doubt increase its value, the ‘too many classics, so little time’ problem has come into play and it is therefore being sold with a NOVA form (Notice Of Vehicle Arrival) and is ready for the new owner to register with DVLA, which will make them the first UK owner in the V5C logbook.

Close window
Print details