Ever since having a passenger ride in a brand new Renault 4 when I was about 15, I've had a soft spot for them. To me, they're more of a real car than a 2CV but share a similar ideology. Fortunately Sarah, my wife, likes them, too... Eventually, the inevitable happened and I started to look on the usual French websites – leboncoin and lesanciennes – to see what was about, and found a couple of likely-looking cars not far from friends in France. I did see a RHD one for sale in the UK, but a quick check of its MOT history showed that it had staggered from test to test with repeated failures for corrosion – the R4's main enemy. All that did was make me more determined to find a decent one at a decent price, LHD being of no concern.
I found one about an hour from Toulouse and asked my friend Fabien Bécasse to enquire about it. Fabien is a member of the R Gruppe, having lived out in SoCal for many years before returning to his home country last year where he continues to run his successful import/export business (mainly Porsches and old VWs). This first one had been owned by a convent up until 2011 and then repainted/refurbished by a garagiste before being purchased by the current owner in 2012. After using it for his wedding, it's sat largely unused since. However, after agreeing a price, we discovered that he was contacting other people and offering them the car, which put me right off. A close-up photo of one rear suspension pickup point also suggested some creative use of underseal, despite a current CT (French MOT), which is pretty strict these days.
Another car near Bordeaux looked great and was freshly-restored to a pretty good standard. The price reflected this, too. I had another friend look at it and he sent me a couple of dozen photos and the words 'It looks perfect'. OK, but there was another car not far from Toulouse, which Fabien went to see today. It's a 946cc Savanne, unrestored (original paint save for the bonnet) but zero rust, 66,000 miles from new, a log of every bit of service work that had been carried out throughout its life and a great driver. Negociated a good price and paid a deposit. Well, Fabien did. I've seen loads of photos and am relying on Fabien's good judgement – I've seen the other cars he's bought over the years and he knows what he's looking at.
So, the plan will be to first of all give the car to his local garagiste to go though it and do whatever is necessary and then, when it's ready, and work permits, fly over to Toulouse, drive the car back to Roscoff (only a nine hour drive) and take the ferry to Plymouth. Simple!
