From the Classifieds: 1954 Renault 750

Not exactly a familiar sight on Australian roads, neither when it was new nor registered with club plates today, the Renault 4CV plays a significant enough part in the brand’s history that a retro tribute dubbed Renault Fiftie was unveiled as a concept car in 1996.

Built between 1947 to 1961 and at one time the top-selling car in France, the little rear-engines four-door was designed covertly during the German occupation of France as an answer to the Volkswagen beetle and was popularly known as the Renault 760/750 during its extended lifetime.

With an undeniably cute four-door body featuring front ‘suicide’ doors and proportionally large-diameter wheels, the Renault was initially powered by a rear-mounted 13kW 760cc inline four-cylinder engine driving through a manual three-speed transmission.

It was independently suspended by coil springs on all four wheels, using – like the Volkswagen beetle – swing axles at the rear.

It measured just 3.6 metres long (putting it somewhere between a Suzuki Alto and Toyota Yaris and a lot shorter than an original VW beetle) and was light enough, at around 620kg, to at least get out of its own way.

This was something of a feat even when engine output, in the later, slightly smaller-engined 750 version introduced in 1950, was increased to 17kW. Top speed was around 100km/h.

With its rearward weight bias, the Renault’s handling was to be treated with caution, especially on slippery European roads and particularly with early versions that used super-quick steering that went from lock to lock in just 2.2 turns.

This was possible because of the lack of weight over the front wheels but due to the over-reactive steering responses, the ratio was subsequently lowered in later versions to require a massive 4.5 turns lock to lock.

In the right hands the car was pretty responsive and the 4CV is on record as being the first Renault to be prepared as a race car bearing an ‘Alpine’ badge.

The Renault was sold in Australia and was actually assembled here in Sydney as a precursor to the company setting up shop in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg, where it assembled not only Renault 10 and 16 models but also Peugeots and, maybe surprisingly, Ford’s Cortina station wagon in the 1970s.

The car was introduced in Australia as the Renault 760 in 1949 and sold here until 1961, for a while sharing floor space with its virtual replacement, the Renault Dauphine. As mentioned earlier, the diminutive Renault is now very rare on Australian roads.

This car featured on carsales.com.au is a 1954 750 model that currently lives in the Sydney suburb of Camden South after being transported across from Western Australia less than two years ago.

The owner has put a price of $12,900 on the rare Renault, which was restored “a few years ago” and could do with a refresh of the red paint job. The tyres are “almost unused”.

The 750 is on NSW historic plates and comes with “almost a pallet load of spares.” It is up for sale because the owner doesn’t “have the time to appreciate it”. It comes with seven months’ registration, but not with a roadworthy certificate.

A rare, cute example of an early 1950s European micro car.