Thanks for that link, texases.
It does confirm my memories, in that I recall the seats in Renaults being extremely comfortable. While they were soft, they were also very supportive. And, I seem to recall a fairly decent ride quality.
I think that the biggest shortcoming for Renault was its poor parts availability, especially in comparison with VW. Many US mechanics were not knowledgeable about foreign cars in those days, and when you consider that Renault had a small dealer network and poor parts supply in the US, they were doomed to failure, especially given the somewhat “fragile” nature of their cars.
The car swamp cooler relied completely on air flow created when DRIVING !
If you were in stand still traffic you got ZERO cooling for lack of any air flow.
Kind of a cooling oxymoron.
When you needed it most ( stopped in the heat ) you got no cooling !
When you were driving and could just as well roll down the windows, you’d get too much air flow !
Also, the swamp cooler cooled by evaporation of water. In humid climates, these were not effective as the air was already saturated and not much water could be evaporated. In dry climates, the swamp cooler was more effective.
At a county fair where I worked back in 1960, a company had on display a cooler that went in the trunk and pulled air in through a vent cut in the package shelf and then discharged the air through another vent in the package shelf. The cooler was filled with ice that cooled the plenum of the unit. The unit on display was installed in a new 1960 Ford Falcon. I guess if you kept filling this unit with ice, it would be effective.
@texases Good article. I had friends with both cars and the Renault just could not cope with 1) sustained freeway driving and 2) the severe winters here with tons of snow and salt. The car appeared to be biodegradable, long before the term entered the language.
As mentioned, the VW had a low stressed engine that could cruise all day long at full throttle (68mph), a specification put out by Hitler himself when Germany was building their famous Autobahnen.
Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated drove the Beetle in some of the foulest New England winter weather and had nothing but praise for it. The only shortcoming I found was the anemic heater which did not improve with age. Nevertheless, many people I know got 100,000 miles out of their Bugs without an engine overhaul. A record of some sorts was set by a social worker in Alabama who did a lot of house calls. Her Bug reached 650,000 miles by the time she sold it, but it was on its third engine, not unusual for any car in the sixties.
A friend had a Renault Gordini, a souped up Dauphine. It spent most of its time in the shop and was mercifully out out of its misery by a snowplow. The only good thing in it was the Dutch Philips radio, which he gave to me and led a good life for the next 10 years in my Dodge Dart.
When VW entered the US market they appointed good dealers, who had to prove they could fix any part of the car. In addition to intensive training, any dealer had to stock a 1 year supply parts. These factors alone ensured buyers that they could look forward to worry-free ownership. The rest is history, as they say.
Like I said, I had a 59 VW bug with the sunroof and gas heater. The heater would really put the heat out and was only needed when parked or when just starting out. It did make many of the 200 mile trips between home and school, pedal on the floor, and all loaded down. We had fun with it. I did have trouble with the points though and would have to change them every 2000 miles or it would leave me stranded. Don’t know if something was wrong or not with it but thats the way it was. I think I had somewhere around 70,000 or so on it when it got destroyed in a T bone and switched to a large 59 Pontiac instead.
When I was a kid, we put one of those coolers that you put ice into in the 58 Olds we had when we went on summer vacation. It kinda worked as long as there was ice in it. We crossed the Mojave desert with it, but we ran out of ice long before we ran out of desert. Because it sat inside the car, on the hump between the dash and the front seat, it only held about 10 pounds of ice. It was difficult to remove and dump the water out too. Next year dad bought a car with AC.
Regarding gas caps and not being able to locate them. those old enough may remember an old TV show called Candid Camera where they pulled tricks on people.
In one episode they took a 62 Impala I think it was, filled it up, molded the gas cap lid over, and then painted the quarter panel. The lady on staff drove the car into a full serve gas station (as most were back then) and asked the attendant to fill it up. The poor guy ran himself ragged trying to find the cap. When he asked the lady if she knew where it was she simply played dumb while stating she just bought the car and wanted to gas it up before going home.
Regarding curb feelers, I saw on eBay some years ago where someone listed a pair of used ones and those things got about a dozen bids; running them up to about 60 dollars for the pair.
That kind of makes me wish I had stockpiled them when they were a dollar a package.
Candid Camera also did one where they installed a HUGE gas tank in a sub-compact car (where the rear seat would have been), and concealed it with blankets or some such things. The car was–IIRC–a Renault Dauphine!
Anyway–Dorothy Collins (the female star of many of their gag films in the '60s)–drove the little car into a gas station, and told them to, “fill it up”. The look on the face of the attendant was priceless as the pump continued going long after the gas tank of a tiny car should have been filled. He even started looking underneath the car to see if it was leaking gas.
IIRC, the tank took close to 50 gallons, and when the attendant told the woman that he couldn’t figure out how her car held so much gas, she told him that it always took that much gas to fill her tank.
Regarding gas caps and not being able to locate them. those old enough may remember an old TV show called Candid Camera where they pulled tricks on people.
I remember taking the old Chevelle to get gas and I was pulling way up to be able to get to the gas cap. As I was doing so, another person pulled in, causing me to back out and head to the other side. When he got out he said he didn't mean to scare me off, and was kind curious as to why I had done what I did. I explained the gas tank filled from behind the license plate. He said he had forgotten about those cars(he was a middle aged man, old enough to have seen those cars when new).
remember that one OK. They also did one where they removed the engine and had her coast in. The guy went to check the oil...
Isn't that how someone on here explained they knew someone who traded a car in like that? They took the engine out, had someone push the car to the dealership and let it coast in.
I think I’ve related the story before, but back in the early 80s at one dealer where I worked someone actually traded in a gutted car that they had coasted onto the lot to take advantage of the X dollars trade-in on any car you can drive onto the lot sales special. It was 3 days later on Monday morning when the sordid truth was discovered…
