My brand new whip - 1969 Renault 10

**Big Dave** · 13th December 2010, 12:41

Let's look on the bright side shall we. It could be a Skoda.

**Swoop** · 13th December 2010, 14:47

It's french. Did it come with the factory-fitted white flag?

**Indiana_Jones** · 13th December 2010, 15:10

Damn that ride be pimpin', wanna trade it for my MG?

-Indy

**Edbear** · 13th December 2010, 16:41

That car qualifies as cool! Just watch for spiders in the footwell and boot...

**rwh** · 13th December 2010, 19:08

My first thought was that it's a good candidate for someone (Richard or James, most likely) to bring to a Top Gear challenge

Richard (different one)

**JimO** · 13th December 2010, 19:23

i think its great that there are still people out there that dont give a shit what they drive, no matter how big a turd it is

**vifferman** · 13th December 2010, 20:12

We had one of those for a while - it was EggsZachary the same model AND colour as that one. They're actually not a bad beasty: 4 wheel disk brakes isn't bad for a '60s car. Drove it around NZ in the early '80s, and were marooned in the pub in Methven for a time waiting for a wheel bearing to be couriered from Ashburton.
We had only a couple of other problems. Crossing the Harbour Bridge on a windy day without a bag of sand in the front; they're very light, and run only 10PSI in the front tyres. And some less than competent autoelectrician rewired the starter solenoid using one from another car and got the wiring wrong, so if you held the key for a millisecond or more too long the solenoid wouldn't cut the power to the starter and it would keep going. I got really pissed off after being up to my elbows in Renault at the wake of my wife's grandad's funeral, so sat down and worked out how it should have been wired, swapped some leads over, and it was good as gold after that. Ran like a top. Oh yeah - and we toured the Sarf Oilund in summer, and couldn't turn the heater off. And the gearchange was a wee bit vague, seeing the lever was so far from the gearbox. For all its idiosyncracies, it was a comfortable car, and OK to drive.

**merv** · 13th December 2010, 20:42

They were kinda cute, a stretched version of the Renault 8. How to make a bigger car, stretch the front and the back but don't bother stretching the passenger cabin or the wheelbase - so just make it long in all the wrong places lol

Nice buy all the same.

**EJK** · 13th December 2010, 20:50

Gizza go ow, bro!

**Pussy** · 13th December 2010, 21:11

Sorry, Gareth. Couldn't resist.......

**R6_kid:Me** · 13th December 2010, 21:42

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Let's look on the bright side shall we. It could be a Skoda.

Hmmm... wouldn't mind one of those new (VW) Skoda Octavia wagons!

Originally Posted by Swoop

It's french. Did it come with the factory-fitted white flag?

Must have been kept by the last owner, I'll have to invest in one.

Originally Posted by Indiana_Jones

Damn that ride be pimpin', wanna trade it for my MG?

-Indy

Nope.

Originally Posted by Edbear

That car qualifies as cool! Just watch for spiders in the footwell and boot...

Met a few when I was cleaning it... spiders seem to love it as even though I had thoroughly cleaned it and removed all existing spider webs, when I went out the next morning the rear bumper had three separate webs already

Originally Posted by vifferman

We had one of those for a while - it was EggsZachary the same model AND colour as that one. They're actually not a bad beasty: 4 wheel disk brakes isn't bad for a '60s car. Drove it around NZ in the early '80s, and were marooned in the pub in Methven for a time waiting for a wheel bearing to be couriered from Ashburton.
We had only a couple of other problems. Crossing the Harbour Bridge on a windy day without a bag of sand in the front; they're very light, and run only 10PSI in the front tyres. And some less than competent autoelectrician rewired the starter solenoid using one from another car and got the wiring wrong, so if you held the key for a millisecond or more too long the solenoid wouldn't cut the power to the starter and it would keep going. I got really pissed off after being up to my elbows in Renault at the wake of my wife's grandad's funeral, so sat down and worked out how it should have been wired, swapped some leads over, and it was good as gold after that. Ran like a top. Oh yeah - and we toured the Sarf Oilund in summer, and couldn't turn the heater off. And the gearchange was a wee bit vague, seeing the lever was so far from the gearbox. For all its idiosyncracies, it was a comfortable car, and OK to drive.

Everything I read about them from the UK, Australia and NZ seemed to say that there were great cars for what they are - it was the Americans who had all the problems with it not being a V8 and "bigger so its safer".

Originally Posted by merv

They were kinda cute, a stretched version of the Renault 8. How to make a bigger car, stretch the front and the back but don't bother stretching the passenger cabin or the wheelbase - so just make it long in all the wrong places lol

Nice buy all the same.

Cheers. Its much easier to find info on the 8's but you're dead right. I kinda like the look of it, though I'd happily accept a Gordini spec 8!

Originally Posted by Pussy

Sorry, Gareth. Couldn't resist...

C'mon maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate!