Its been over 1 and a half years since i sold the 57 Dauphine on, I kick myself most days still and even return to the pictures of it just to reminisce. It was, even unfinished, probably one of the coolest cars ive ever owned 
It was old, cool, unseen and rarely modified in a lowered, ratty slammed out way, It probably offended a few owners and purists but for me owning/modifying cars is a very personal thing and an outward expression of ones individuality.
Ive kept my ear to the ground for quite a while looking for something needing some work, old, a bit rough around the edges, from the house of Renault and unique but can look hard slammed out (nearly everything does). The other thing is it had to be a decent price, i don't have the free funds i used to so this has made it hard to find anything with the price of everything classic climbing quickly. In Renault circles some proper tea bags can cost silly money (were not into ford prices yet though)
I had been in contact with a chap regarding a mk1 r5 le car, non turbo but not that dissimilar to my old le car 2 turbo. Still it needed a tidy up, panels and MOT. We had been going back and forth for a while and i had given it a fair few weeks before making contact regarding price. Unfortunately he came back with a price probably 3 times what id expect/want to pay for it. You win some you loose some i guess? it would of been a great base for a daily but it then meant i had to carry on looking.......
Not long after i spotted a Renault 4 for sale on the E of Bay, very local to me i caught it near the end and it shot up in price. Out again.... grrrrr. A week or 3 later and its back on ebay? So i ask the seller for a reason and hes quite forthcoming with info. Turned out the car was 5 min from me so i arrange to view it. Its cool, a little newer that id of liked being an 1983 but ready to use (just needed lows) I chat with the owner and due to the last price it went for though didn't complete he had his price he wanted. Would really stretch me on my budget for this toy. It was discussed with the mrs and agreed we could get if i wanted though the chap wasn't happy to deal outside of ebay, so a bid was placed...... It kind lacked the unique touch i think i was looking for so after a few days i decided to withdraw my bid. Its ended around £300 quid less than the time before, maybe i should of kept the bid on? hmmm
I had already spotted something else that had tickled my fancy and was very different, ive only ever seen one in the flesh and that was a gordini version. It ticks the old box, it becomes mot exempt and tax exempt this year. There is meant to be around 50 of these left in the country. Surprisingly parts arn't hard or expensive to get hold of so that's a definite bonus. It needs some work, a bit of welding, a tidy up and probably lots of fix's but It has 4 doors so i can chuck the family in. In fact i cant think of any of my box's it didn't tick. I just needed to get hold of the owner and sort out prices and such....
It was old, cool, unseen and rarely modified in a lowered, ratty slammed out way, It probably offended a few owners and purists but for me owning/modifying cars is a very personal thing and an outward expression of ones individuality. Ive kept my ear to the ground for quite a while looking for something needing some work, old, a bit rough around the edges, from the house of Renault and unique but can look hard slammed out (nearly everything does). The other thing is it had to be a decent price, i don't have the free funds i used to so this has made it hard to find anything with the price of everything classic climbing quickly. In Renault circles some proper tea bags can cost silly money (were not into ford prices yet though)
I had been in contact with a chap regarding a mk1 r5 le car, non turbo but not that dissimilar to my old le car 2 turbo. Still it needed a tidy up, panels and MOT. We had been going back and forth for a while and i had given it a fair few weeks before making contact regarding price. Unfortunately he came back with a price probably 3 times what id expect/want to pay for it. You win some you loose some i guess? it would of been a great base for a daily but it then meant i had to carry on looking.......
Not long after i spotted a Renault 4 for sale on the E of Bay, very local to me i caught it near the end and it shot up in price. Out again.... grrrrr. A week or 3 later and its back on ebay? So i ask the seller for a reason and hes quite forthcoming with info. Turned out the car was 5 min from me so i arrange to view it. Its cool, a little newer that id of liked being an 1983 but ready to use (just needed lows) I chat with the owner and due to the last price it went for though didn't complete he had his price he wanted. Would really stretch me on my budget for this toy. It was discussed with the mrs and agreed we could get if i wanted though the chap wasn't happy to deal outside of ebay, so a bid was placed...... It kind lacked the unique touch i think i was looking for so after a few days i decided to withdraw my bid. Its ended around £300 quid less than the time before, maybe i should of kept the bid on? hmmm
I had already spotted something else that had tickled my fancy and was very different, ive only ever seen one in the flesh and that was a gordini version. It ticks the old box, it becomes mot exempt and tax exempt this year. There is meant to be around 50 of these left in the country. Surprisingly parts arn't hard or expensive to get hold of so that's a definite bonus. It needs some work, a bit of welding, a tidy up and probably lots of fix's but It has 4 doors so i can chuck the family in. In fact i cant think of any of my box's it didn't tick. I just needed to get hold of the owner and sort out prices and such....
ive being sharing your latest pictures on the TurboRenault.co.uk site. Looks awesome, sorry it was that bad but congrats for getting it done. Loving it still, will it be out this year?
