Renault’s first 1942 prototype (destroyed when the factory was bombed by the allies). ©Renault Communication
Story by John Waterhouse*
The Renault 4CV was a child of World War II. The German army had occupied northern France, including the Renault works at Billancourt on the outskirts of Paris and production continued, under strong pressure to provide vehicles for Germany’s war efforts. The factory was selectively bombed by the Allies for this reason. It was to be expected that the war would be over eventually, although in the early 1940s it was by no means certain that Germany would be defeated. It was clear, however, that after the war there would be shortages of money and materials.
Looking ahead, in 1942 Renault management had started to design and produce prototypes of a small economical car to be used to resurrect its automotive business in the post-war period. The first prototype (above) was constructed with semi-official permission of the German occupying authorities and used daily by Mme. Renault.
After the liberation of France in 1944, Louis Renault was arrested and he died in prison, with much evidence that he was badly treated at the least. The company, a huge employer in France, had then been nationalised to form “Regie Nationale des Usines Renault”, shown on the car badges as RNUR. To this day the French government owns around 10% of Renault.
Original “Regie Nationale” grill badge from R1060 and early R1062 models. Author photo
The prototype followed the fashion of a few manufacturers to produce rear-engined cars: examples included the Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz with its 130, the memorable Tatra in Czechoslovakia and no doubt a few others. All early rear-engined cars that the author has seen have shared swing-axle rear suspension with their tail-mounted engine.
Prototypes and “Preserie” cars
After the first prototype, with some distinct style elements similar to Germany’s Volkswagen, three more were made as the design process evolved.
The second prototype, also destroyed in WW 2 bombing (note evolution towards the final production shape but still with two doors) From “The Romance of Renault”, 1973, by Edouard Seidler. © Renault Communication
The final prototypes had the four-door configuration that the newly appointed chief of the now-nationalised Regie, Pierre Lefaucheux, considered essential. For Lefaucheux, a 2-door car would not be acceptable to customers. For him, getting the new 4CV into production with a target of 300 cars per day by the end of 1949 was a matter of survival for the Renault business.
The third or fourth prototype with four doors, sliding windows and spider wheels. ©Renault Communication
Management demanded four doors, no matter how they opened. Photo courtesy Roy Smith. ©Renault Communication
Three cars were then made, even closer to the final design, for demonstrating and further testing. As shown below, they were close to the final production shape.
The first of a set of three pre-production cars (“106 E1, E2 and E3”) being shown to Renault staff in 1947. ©Renault Communication
A further 43 “Preserie” cars (designated “106 E4”) were made in 1946 and early 1947. Then the first 300 cars from the production line (the first of the initial R1060 version of the 4CV) were handmade for distribution around the country to Renault dealers prior to the planned major display at the October, 1947 Paris Motor Show. These 300 cars were provided to customers for test driving and recalled for dismantling and checking after two years of use. The customers were given a new production car in exchange.
None of the Prototypes, Preserie cars or the first 300 cars from the production line have survived. Renault has reconstructed one or two of the prototypes for its private collection.
Technical matters
The early cars had a newly-designed 18 bhp, water-cooled, 4-cylinder engine of 760 cc. The engine had wet sleeves, an alloy cylinder head, overhead valves and drove a 3-speed gearbox with synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd gears. Most cars had 22 mm Solex carburettors with a manual “bi-start” device for cold starting. The radiator was mounted ahead of the engine, taking its air from beneath the car and from two side intakes built into the front of the rear mudguards.
Brochure for the Type 106 E3 car – similar to final production cars.
Rear suspension was independent by swing axles with coil springs, the early cars having slight positive camber. The swing axles pivoted from trunnion pins that were mounted directly on the transaxle housing. Front suspension was also independent by double wishbones of forged steel with coil springs. Steering was by rack and pinion, with a coil spring system to provide a strong centering action.
All cars had 6-volt electrical systems with flashing or semaphore direction indicators and electric windscreen wipers. Heating was provided by a shrouding system around the radiator that provided warm air to the cabin. Lighting was usually by good quality Cibie headlamps.
Simple and elegant side air intake for the radiator
(Note the external hinges for both front (“suicide”) and rear doors). Author photo
Brakes were quite adequate and hydraulic, by Lockheed, with 7-inch drums for the entire production, but with various improvements in the brake shoe mountings and the handbrake mechanism over time. Incidentally, the hydraulic pipes and hoses had the only non-metric threads on the car.
As a rule the 4CV does not overheat, even in hot weather (40C or 104F or even more).
The simplicity and accessibility of an early (1950) 4CV engine bay – with fuel filler beside engine. Author photo
Overall, the 4CV design package provided an economy car that was competent and effective for its time. The cutaway drawing shows the basic layout common to all production 4CV cars.
Cut-away drawing of a Preserie car – showing the essential layout and appearance of all 4CVs. Author’s collection
What followed the prototypes?
This 5-year development process led to 14 years of successful Renault 4CV production, a total of 1.1 million cars being built from 1947 to 1961. This model was the first French car to exceed a production of 1 million. The 4CV model would lead to many Renault derivatives with rear engines (Dauphine, R8, R10, Floride and Caravelle). Similar fore-and-aft engine-transaxle systems were applied to at least ten million of Renault’s subsequent front-wheel drive cars (for example the hugely successful R4). In the 1970s, transverse engine layouts were introduced and gradually superseded the longitudinal transaxles that were the derivatives of the original 4CV layout.
The cars were sold world-wide, named “Renault 760” and “Renault 750” in some English-speaking countries. They were assembled in Britain, Japan (by the Hino company), Spain (as the Renault 4/4) and Australia.
There was a series of class wins in competition, ultimately leading to the successful Alpine range of berlinettes.
The production and competition cars and some of the interesting special-bodied coupés will be discussed in forthcoming articles in this series.
*John Waterhouse, the author, owns and regularly drives rear-engined Renaults in Australia. He currently owns a French-built 1950 4CV (since 1966) and an Australian-assembled 1964 R8 (since 1973) and is National Coordinator of the Renault 4CV Register of Australia. Comments and advice from Jean-Pierre Delaunoy, Secretary of the Club des Amateurs d’Anciennes Renault in Paris and Roy Smith, the author of several excellent books on Renault competition cars, are gratefully acknowledged. The author notes that not all versions of this story of the development of the car from concept to production are the same but he is satisfied that his sources are probably correct! The author thanks RENAULT Group and PUBLICISLIVE (Paris) for permission to use the photographs labelled “© Renault Communication” in this article.
I grew up in France in the mid-60s and remember seeing these cars. I associated them with old folks. They never won me over as a kid, of course. However, I had heard Ferdinand Porsche was the impetus for the 4CV that was demanded by the German occupation force. I’d be happy to know more about that unless its a myth.
Wonderfully researched history – much appreciated. I own a 4CV “Resort Special” (aka Jolly) which was one of fifty examples produced. Did you find any information on these? Evidently they were consecutively numbered, and all were sold in the US. It would be interesting to find out more about these-
I had one in U.K , drove it all over Europe , skimmed forty thou off cylinder head , straight through exhaust, and thirty six millimeter carburetar. Strait cut gears no synchromesh , wish I still had it . Part of my youth
Pete,
When my brother was racing a Jawa in amateur motocross in the mid-sixties in France a fellow would show up to race with his bike in a 4CV. He would take out the passenger front seat and the rear seat and put the bike in at an angle. Voila! 4CV transporter. Ha!
P.S. Keep the fun articles coming, love VeloceToday.
Collecting our Quatre-Chevaux at the Renault dealership near Lyon with my father is my first conscious memory together with my first sister’s birth around the same time.
He had saved during a couple of years to afford it, following a system similar to the pre-war financing scheme of the KDF Wagen aka Volkswagen.
We travelled the magnificent French pre-Alps with up to seven passengers: parents, grand-parents, me and my little sisters + picnic basket.
Luggage consisted of soft bags rivalling the spare wheel in the tiny triangular front compartment.
When my father hit the 100 kph mark on one of our splendid, lethal tree-lined Routes Nationales, he kind of had a Mulsanne Straigth feeling.
The drive between Lyon and Chambéry, Savoy took three hours on winding Jura roads including a savory pit-stop at a village bistrot. It was an event – today a boring, one-hour speed limited motorway drive.
After 4 1/2 years and 60 000 km, a broken drive shaft on an alpine road opened the path to a bigger family car.
The little Renault was our first car. It was small, slow and unsafe but meant freedom and happiness.
As far as Ferdinand Porsche is concerned, he was consulted during his time as a war prisoner in France but was never instrumental in the design of the 4 CV.
The Professor h.c. had created among others mighty war machines which crushed the French Army, but won his first laurels in Le Mans with his French importer’s support. But this is another story.
My brother Phil’s father-in-law Ken Perry (in Adelaide) bought what was supposedly the last 4CV (750) sold new in Australia.
He owned it for many years and my sister-in-law Pam learned to drive in it before it was sold.
Phil and Pam tracked it down in Victoria a couple of years ago and bought it back.
A lovely and evocative story from M. Creuset, for which my personal thanks! The early cars did break half-shafts… This I know from personal experience.
I think “…small, slow and unsafe but meant freedom and happiness.” is a superb summary of the influence and reality of small economy cars in the late-1940s and early-1950s.
We 4CV owners get lovely stories almost every time we park our cars somewhere. Even in Australia, people arrive from nowhere with an account of their childhood, their uncle, their grandfather or something similar. It is quite charming.
A few words on the Jolly are to come….
As for “4o thou off the head and a 36 mm carburettor”, that car would have been a flyer in its time – what fun! You would learn not to back off in a hard corner…
When the Suez oil crisis hit the US in 1957, my father bought a new 4CV over concerns of being able to get fuel. It replaced a Olds 88. That must have taken some adjustment! He drove it for three years until the family got too big and was replaced by a new Mercury wagon. I have found memories of many family outings in that car, including some long trips from Western Oregon to Boise, Idaho. It never met a mountain pass it couldnt eventually climb! Whenever I see one I smile they remind me of my Dad.
My very first car was a 4CV, purchased at the age of 16 (in 1966) for my ‘life savings’ of $30. I drove it home (only a few km) trying to work out the gears on the way. My memory recalls having to change gears by flicking a switch on the dash, changing the gear, then flicking the switch again. I was told by the seller that normally this would not need to happen because a sensor on the gear lever used to do it but it was ‘broken’.
When I joined the Army in ’78 I left the car at my family home at Wavell Heights in Brisbane. By the time I got back home (in 1980) I was told by my father that he had “gotten rid of that old wreck under the house”. I have lusted after one ever since. Currently my Renault affliction is being relatively well met by two R10s and a 16TS. I would probably give up all three for a 4CV given the chance!
Here is a short reckoning about the role of Porsche in the development of the 4 c.v.
Obviously, the Bosch were in charge of the Renault manufacturing facilities during the Occupation, and Renault was instructed to produce only commercial and military vehicles. Between 1941-1944 Renault was under the technical directorship of Wilhelm von Urach and staff from the Third Reich. But Renault designers had secretly, unbeknown to Urach, been working on what would become the 4 c.v. since 1941, under technical director Fernand Picard and also Charles Edmond Serre. In November, 1945, the French government invited Porsche to France to explore relocating the VW plant there as a form of reparations. The French government hosted nine meetings with Porsche, but according to Renault executive, Resistance hero, and administrative manager since 9/44, Pierre Lefaucheux, Porsche had absolutely no influence on the 4 c.v. Porsche was subsequently arrested as a war criminal, and spent 20 months in a Dijon jail. According to Der Spiegel in 2009, in a book about Stuttgart’s Nazi perpetrators, [Ulrich Viehöver] “portrays Ferdinand Porsche as “an unscrupulous profiteer in the Nazi regime.” Viehöver examined archival material, some of it previously unknown, and estimates the number of Porsche’s forced laborers at around 300.” He was also an officer in the S.S. Asked about their involvement with Hitler, Ferry Porsche wrote, “Hitler was sympatico if you knew him.” Hitler took an immediate liking to Porsche when he met him in 1925, because they both came from the same area of Austria and spoke with the same accent, and they became close friends. As an aside, much of the credit for the VW should really go to Josef Ganz, a designer as well as the publisher of the most influential car magazine at the time, “Motor-Kritik.” Ganz was a Jew, and the Third Reich made sure that he disappeared, and of course we know that Porsche “borrowed” from Paul Jaray, Hans Ledwinka, and Erwin Komenda as well as Ganz. He certainly had no influence on the 4 c.v. however.
A lovely article, John.
Suggested further reading for Nicolas above would be Battle for the Beetle, by Karl Ludvigsen, ISBN 0-8376-0071-5. Specifically Chapter 6. It details the inspiration for Louis Renault for the 4CV, and involvement of Professor Porsche in 1946.
For Mr Mitchell above, there is a reference in Bonhams auction catalogue 118, Quail Lodge 19 August 2000. Where 4CV Resort Special 603607781 was on offer. It indicates fifty consecutive 4CV chassis/engines were shipped from Billancourt to Ghia. All being sold in USA.