MORE ON THE RENAULT 4
I'VE enjoyed reading John Harrison’s series on the Renault 4, largely because we had two of them as our family car in the 1960s and ’70s, and I did much of my early driving behind the wheel of these marvellous little cars. They were versatile, soaked up rough ground without complaint (important where we lived), could swallow a decently-sized load with ease thanks to its flat floor and, unlike its 2CV competitor, had a ‘proper’ engine, allowing it to keep up with contemporary traffic. My father bought his first one almost as soon as the 4 was announced – to be precise it was the export 4L model – and they were almost non-existent on British roads at the time, such that most people had no idea what it was when asked. So I am attaching a photo of a miniature that John has not mentioned in his feature. It is another Norev but in a much smaller 1/86 scale and I bought it while on holiday in France, almost as long ago as my father bought his, though it is no longer in my possession as I gifted it to my sister who is an incurable Francophile. Now, I appreciate John was focusing on toys rather than scale models but am not sure which this falls into and thought you might be interested in another example.
This leads me on to another point, albeit incredibly tenuously, but inspired by the mention of the ‘girrafon’ hatch on the Renault Fourgonnette. Corgi’s circus toys, as covered in the April issue, were certainly beautifully presented and very attractive in their bright colour schemes, but they lead me to wonder what inspired the manufacturer’s choices of animals. Lions, elephants and horses yes, but when did you ever see a giraffe at a circus? Or a rhinoceros? What sort of display or tricks did Corgi imagine these would perform? I’d probably pay good money to see a performing rhinoceros.
Bob Allen, email
ED What lovely memories, Bob, thanks for sharing. One of my uncles had a 4 and I remember travelling in it – a lovely car. And you make a very fine point about the choice of circus animals for those vintage Corgis – I can’t understand how it has never occurred to me too!