Twenty odd years of rubbish old cars. Renault content.

[Mr Lobster]

As I am now in possession of a scanner I can scan loads of old, interesting* pictures of cars I have owned. This isn't going to be in chronological order or any order at all come to that.

 

I passed my test in '92 and at last count was up to 30 odd cars excluding a fair number of company cars when other people were paying me to do stuff. The vast majority of my own cars have been Renaults because I like them and they were at the time both cheap and reasonably plentiful. Sadly that isn't the case these days.

 

So, lets start not at the beginning at all but somewhere around 1996.

 

 

I was already accumulating too many old Renault 5s one of which was on 128k and was getting a bit tired. Then I got a letter (remember them) from someone with an old R5 TS he wanted rid of. Bingo!

 

So with a hired van and trailer I drove all the way from Lancashire to Bristol to get it. The R5 was a '77 1.3 TS and I dearly wish I had restored it and still had it as they are incredibly rare now and thats probably my perfect R5 but I didn't. 

 

So I handed over £100 and stuck it on the trailer, only then realising that I hadn't brought any means of fastening said R5 to the trailer. Never mind eh. Attached the winch cable on the trailer, banged the car in gear and handbrake on and bought a tow rope from a nearby petrol station to keep it secure. In reality it was an accident waiting to happen.

 

Somehow I got home in one piece.

 

TS was reasonably solid but needed too much effort for me so it donated its engine to a 5dr GTL that ex-wife was using. The GTL had a load of (again now very rare) bits - rear spoiler, Boutique alloys, Gordini suspension, Gordini front bumper and front fogs plus loads of other bits I can't remember. The 1289 lump mated with the GTL 5 speed box made it a relatively quick car (relatively).  

 

 

Highback seats from the TS were retrimmed and fitted in the GTL but after a couple of years of trundling around at relatively high speed the GTL was getting fairly rotten and whilst I was pretty adept at changing starter motors and clutch cables it was time call it a day so after being stripped it was unceremoniously hiabed away one night by the scrapman whilst the neighbours were showing people round the house they had for sale at the time. I don't think the viewers bought it...

 

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

[carlo]

More please

[Mr Lobster]

Back before everyone shoved their worthless old cars on ebay it was easier to get offered free / cheap cars. And so it was with this one -

 

 

The red R5 with the black bumper was my baby. I chap at work mentioned that a chap he knew owned a bodyshop and this chap had an old Renault 5 sat in there and was I interested. Well, obviously.

 

So one saturday morning I found myself in Accrington looking at a tidyish R5 identical to mine but with a blown head gasket. £30? Bargain. No need for trailers so mother Lobster was recruited to sit in the 'new' R5 at the end of a tow rope as I dragged it ten miles home. 

 

Got it back and immediately started swapping the best bits onto mine before seeing about selling it. Whilst it was pretty straight it probably wanted a new head and I didn't want to get involved with that so a couple of phone calls to enthusiasts and by Sunday teatime it had gone from my life in exchange for one hundred queens heads which made it a fairly useful weekends work.

 

Next owner fitted a new head and got it back on the road and I seem to think got another few years out of. Decent result all round I suppose.

[Asimo]

mmm more please.

OCJ reg on your GTL local to me. Renault was a really succesful brand around here in the 70s/80s, 5s were just everywhere!

[RoadworkUK]

Lobster has given me a Lob-on!

[HMC]

Brilliant stuff! love reading stuff like this and the 'period' pics too.

 

Mother lobster- what a trooper being roped in on the towing mission!

[Mr Lobster]

Fast forward about five years now. 

 

In about 2000 I got offered this. 

 

 

 

I seem to recall it had been extensively restored by its girly owner who then sold it to a guy in Clitheroe who parked it up and left it for a year or two. Unphased by this but impressed by its very nice interior and shiny paint I think I gave £500 for it, drove it home and stuck it in for an MOT.

 

It was by far the worst MOT fail I have ever suffered in my life with a fail sheet running to two pages.  I'm not totally mental so did the decent* thing and stuck it in Loot as a 'barn find' and sold it to two guys from Leeds later that week for £250. Ouch.

[HMC]

^ Wow that shiny paint job was hiding all sorts underneath by the sounds of things!

 

Last tax disc expired march '02 according to the DVLA; maybe the leeds lads coaxed it through at least one more MOT.

[UltraWomble]

Shame you couldnt have squirreled the 4 away - would have got a bit more these days for it as a "barn find". Still if I had the space I could probably retire off some of the old shitters I had had and wanted to keep.

[Mr Lobster]

Can't remember what it failed on although a lot of it was relatively minor. Did need some welding and then stuff like ball joints, fuel pipes and so on. At the time it was out of my ability and the reach of my bank account.

[Cavcraft]

Great stuff, my mum had two 4s (at different times) and loved them both. I had a Mk1 5 in that sort of red/orange colour, and a white one that was bloody awful but still had a certain charm. 

 

Hope you have more to come on this thread.

[strangeangel]

Epic stuff, and more please!

 

I will try and find some pictures of my old Renaults of that period

[Mr Lobster]

Loads more to come yet. Need to do more scanning though.

 

In the meantime though, lets go back to about 2001 again. 

 

Ever since they were launched in Europe I'd always wanted a Twingo. In 1999 I took the plunge, got a bank loan and went and bought one. I absolutely loved it and it was my daily for about two years before I got a company car. Then the ex-Mrs took it over and she never really got on with it so it ended up being sold twelve months later. Apparently dead now according to DVLA.

 

 

[Wilko220]

Nice thread. SCANZ R FOR WIN.

 

R5s are another one of those models which all seemed to disappear overnight.

[Sudsprint]

Great thread.

 

Tell me there will be 17 coming up?

[Mr Lobster]

Tell me there will be 17 coming up?

 

Sorry but no R17s here I'm afraid!

[flat4alfa]

I'm sweating in case there is a Fuego in there

[Six-cylinder]

Yes we need to know!

[Mr Lobster]

You'll get the next instalment later tonight.

[DVee8]

You are running the thread of the month

 

More please

[Bucketeer]

Love it.

My first ever car was a red 'A' reg R5 GTL. I was the Yorshire Ragnotti in that thing.

Looking forward to the rest.

[Mr Lobster]

Thanks for all the positive comments, wasn't really sure whether all this was worth doing so nice to know that it is

 

Anyway, moving swiftly along. Hang on though, lets go back a bit first. Remember that red R5 with the kippered head? Found a couple more pics today...

 

 

 

A couple of others in the same sort of state followed that. A rotten TS which had a few bits removed for spares and a automatic with a dead box. The auto was free but was in Stockport. No bother though. Went and borrowed one of them metal poles and attached it to a brand new Daihatsu Charade and started dragging the thing home. Lost my bottle after about ten miles as the towed car was completely dead and had no lights and it was starting to get dark. Dumped it at a mates garage and went back at the weekend to remove any sellable bits before sending it to its destiny.

 

So by around 1996 I decided that I needed extra wheels. Partly because my own red R5 was lowered to a point of being not that practical (though it did look good) so enter this -

 

 

Mechanic Kitteh sez 'WTF is this massive shitbox'

 

I'd wanted a 4 van for a while (because lets face it, at 21 what young man doesn't want an ageing worn out commercial vehicle) and this turned up at the right sort of money. I loved it dearly but it was properly kippered. I think I only owned it nine months but as you know it left a lasting impression on me.

 

 

It cleaned up quite nicely and back then you could still find shiny chrome bits for not much in scrapyards but was mechanically very tired and really needed an engine. Various bits of the body were suitably fillered up and the rear bumper was a cardboard tube, smoothed with filler and then painted with hammerite but did at least look a bit like metal.  However I was lusting over bigger, faster things and an advert in AutoTrader by a chap with an antiques business who wanted an F6 van meant that our time together was cut short

[Bren]

I purchased E774 WFY from my brother - a black turbo.

 

I could not believe how fast a a pushrod 1400 cc engine could make a car go.

 

On the other hand it was a PITA to look after. Bodywork like greaseproof paper and no room under the bonnet.

[mat_the_cat]

 

 

That looks like the course near Reims?

 

I have a soft spot for the 4 (especially the van), the Twingo (after it was our honeymoon hire car) and somewhat grudgingly/surprisingly, the Kangoo. But don't worry, I won't clutter up your thread with any photos of the latter!

[Mr Lobster]

That looks like the course near Reims?

 

and somewhat grudgingly/surprisingly, the Kangoo. But don't worry, I won't clutter up your thread with any photos of the latter!

 

It is Reims, yes. Taken in 2000 (i think) before they repainted it.  I'll clutter the place with my own Kangoo picture then

 

 

In 2011 we bought this. One owner, full history and immaculate, looked like it had really been loved. It was (as ever) a disaster. In the space of nine months - two turbos, cambelt, starter, alternator belt tensioner, discs and pads, wiper motor and then it snapped a rear torsion bar when I was only 300 miles from home. 

 

But enough of this modern nonsense...

[2MB]

Is that cat on the r4 van bonnet really as chunky as it looks?

[Mr Lobster]

Yeh, she was a fair old barrel of a cat. Could be vicious too.

[Six-cylinder]

Yeh, she was a fair old barrel of a cat. Could be vicious too.

 

No wonder the cat was vicious if you call it "old barrel" you deserved everything you got!

[Essex V6]

Thanks for all the positive comments, wasn't really sure whether all this was worth doing so nice to know that it is

 

Anyway, moving swiftly along. Hang on though, lets go back a bit first. Remember that red R5 with the kippered head? Found a couple more pics today...

 

 

 

A couple of others in the same sort of state followed that. A rotten TS which had a few bits removed for spares

 

and a automatic with a dead box. The auto was free but was in Stockport. No bother though. Went and borrowed one of them metal poles and attached it to a brand new Daihatsu Charade and started dragging the thing home. Lost my bottle after about ten miles as the towed car was completely dead and had no lights and it was starting to get dark. Dumped it at a mates garage and went back at the weekend to remove any sellable bits before sending it to its destiny.

 

So by around 1996 I decided that I needed extra wheels. Partly because my own red R5 was lowered to a point of being not that practical (though it did look good) so enter this -

 

 

Mechanic Kitteh sez 'WTF is this massive shitbox'

 

I'd wanted a 4 van for a while (because lets face it, at 21 what young man doesn't want an ageing worn out commercial vehicle) and this turned up at the right sort of money. I loved it dearly but it was properly kippered. I think I only owned it nine months but as you know it left a lasting impression on me.

 

 

It cleaned up quite nicely and back then you could still find shiny chrome bits for not much in scrapyards but was mechanically very tired and really needed an engine. Various bits of the body were suitably fillered up and the rear bumper was a cardboard tube, smoothed with filler and then painted with hammerite but did at least look a bit like metal.  However I was lusting over bigger, faster things and an advert in AutoTrader by a chap with an antiques business who wanted an F6 van meant that our time together was cut short

Totally offensive trims on that R5!

[oldcars]

Those trims are the ones that would have come originally on my Adria caravan, had to find now.