Ivan Vicario Martin
When we talk about the Renault 4, we don't talk about just any car. Is the best-selling rhombus brand model in history, with a total production of 8.135.424 units. As regards the French automotive sector, only the Peugeot 206 has assembled more cars, with more than 10 million units in its different evolutions.
Given the popularity of our protagonist, it is even more curious to observe the sketches of the Renault 4 that we offer you in this article. In them we will see how the car affectionately nicknamed "Four Cans" He could have worn a very different silhouette from the one we all know.
The Renault 4 arrived on the market in August 1961 together with its brother the R3, which equipped a smaller mechanics. The denomination responded to the tax horses of one and the other, as had happened before with the 4CV. Until December 1992, the Renault 4 was built or assembled in 28 different countries -27 according to some sources-. So much so that, out of ten Renault 4s, six were sold outside of France and five were born abroad. In total, it was marketed in more than 100 countries.
THE RENAULT PROJECT 112
The origins of the Renault 4 -and the R3, as we have already said- must be found in 1956, when the French firm launches Project 112. It was about designing a model to replace the 4CV and respond to the successful and versatile Citroën 2CV. The president of the Régie Nationale des Usines Renault, Pierre Dreyfus, who had acceded to the position in 1955, insisted that it must be a car suitable for all audiences, from families to women, farmers or destined to move around the city. It had to be like jeans, that anyone can wear. Dreyfus insisted that it would have to be an accessible car even for those who did not even think of buying one.
Leaving behind the “everything behind” concept of the 4CV and Dauphine, it was clear that the new model would have to be an "all in front" if he wanted to compete with the Citroën 2CV. Both cars were fundamental in the popularization of this mechanical distribution with front engine and front-wheel drive, by far the most common today. Also in the use of the very practical tailgate, another element present in a majority of current models
Much insistence was placed on improving an aspect in which the Citroën 2CV was particularly limping, such as its certainly scarce motorization. Future Renault 3 and 4 would have better mechanics to literally “not drag along the road”. They had 4-cylinder engines of 603 and 747 cm3 respectively, with powers of 23 CV (SAE) the R3 and between 27 and 30 CV in the R4.
THE SKETCHES OF THE RENAULT 4
After this brief historical profile of the model, let's go back to Project 112, known internally as 350, because Pierre Dreyfus wanted the new model to cost no more than 350.000 of the old French francs. The pressure on the design team led by Robert Barthaud was notable, since not only time was running against them. He had to overcome the Citroën 2CV, which was not exactly easy.
Seeing the different sketches of the Renault 4 that we present to you, it is difficult to establish a chronology. We can assume that this drawing of a car three volumes corresponds to an initial stage of the project, since the rest of the works are based on a two-volume model with four doors. In any case, it is dated 1958 and signed by Jacques Ousset, a member of the Renault design team at the time. It is also possible that it is a model proposal on the R4 platform.
It is curious to observe how very different types of frontals were studied, something common at that time when brands did not standardize their designs as they are now. First they worked on a set of them to then make different versions on complete drawings of the car. Note how one of them sports a very illustrative 350 on the license plate.
As we can see below, the designs are still a long way from the final result, perhaps with the exception of the side view. here yes you begin to see from very soon certain DNA of the forms of the final Renault 4. They also begin to study the levels and measures.
FINAL DESIGN PATH
The work accelerated, since the first prototype, called EV43, was built at the beginning of 1958. Throughout that year, several more prototypes were assembled. to test different engines, gearboxes and test drive. Mechanical 2 and 4-cylinder air-cooled and water-cooled were considered. They also played with the mechanical layout, longitudinal or transverse, with the gearbox in front of or behind the engine and even with the location of the radiator.
What we publish here are two scale models that already allow us to glimpse some of the definitive details. For example, the chassis chosen after testing several options, which was a steel platform. This type of configuration, similar to that of the 2CV, made it possible to ride without a body and, more importantly, facilitated the development of derivatives such as beach Renault Rodeo. Different types of suspensions were also considered.
There is a detail that is very different from the series. We refer to the opening of the trunk, which is not integral, that is, it opens up to the rear glass, but without including it in the gate. To understand us, as it happened with the first SEAT 127, which had a lid instead of a gate, with the glass included in it. Curiously, in the prototypes that were tested and that corresponded aesthetically to these models, the tailgate was already included, with hinges at the top.
As we see in these images of the prototypes that were tested in 1958, the general concept of the car was already well defined. Not so much in the front, but in the overall appearance of the future Renault 4. In the photo of the engine, we can see that, in this specific case, it was already mounted the 4 cm 747-cylinder engine3, although it was being tested with the radiator on the left side.
ALMOST FINAL VERSIONS
We are almost at the end of our tour of the different sketches of the Renault 4 with two proposals that almost reflect the final appearance of the car. The first of them, dated December 1958, it is signed by Daniel Cauzard, a member of the Renault design team for many years. It offers the side, front and rear views of a near definitive R4, especially from the side and behind. The front part would still have to evolve, as the grill would end up gaining prominence, while the bonnet drop would be less stretched.
The same thing happens with the sketches of Vincent Dumolard, also dated December 1958. Again we have the three main views of the car, although the side and rear are already the same as those seen in Cauzard's designs. That is to say, that part of the Renault 4 was already defined and considered good. Not so the front, although in this version it is even further from the version that would reach the street, something especially visible in “bulging” headlights.
Before its launch, the numerous prototypes completed almost a million kilometers around the world. They were tested in places as diverse as Algeria, Australia, Sardinia, the Scandinavian Peninsula, the United States, Guinea, Mexico or the Sahara desert. As a curiosity, and since it was Project 112, some of the test pilots dedicated themselves to posing with kilometric milestones with said figure. The magazine l'Auto-Journal published several photographs of the prototypes and sketches from 1958 until the launch of the car. At the beginning of 1961, Paris Match He already showed almost definitive images of the car in an article about the Belgian driver Paul Frère.
The press could see the final appearance and testing of the Renault 4 in August 1961, in a presentation carried out in the French region of the Camargue (Camargue, the same that gives its name to the Rolls-Royce model). In September of that year, the public had to wait to see it live at the Frankfurt Salon held in September and at the Paris Salon in October. We end the article with a curious image in which you can see how Renault affected the platform chassis of the R4.
Photos courtesy of Renault.
