Renault 4CV 750 - France"s Beetle Kept A Secret

And, it ain't half bad.

The Renault 4CV was manufactured between 1946-61 with the same criteria that was given to Mr Porsche for the Beetle: `a cheap to run people's car'. We found this magnificent example at the Cleveland Car extravaganza in late April, 2009.

It appearance it's not quite a Beetle, but the similarities are there for all to see. Add in the fact that it has a rear engine and ...

The 4CV was developed in secret by Renault while France was under German control in WW2.

Renault was a the time under orders to produce only commercial and military vehicles. But, the plucky Renault engineers had other ideas. They also felt eventually Germany would be defeated and in the post-war era there would be a need for a cheap to run car ... and Hitler's Volkswagen seemed to be a good role model, if you could forget who inspired it.

Also, it was not French like Renault, which at the time had a factory sitting in the middle of the Seine in what is now `old' Paris.

The Renault design team of Fernand Picard, Charles-Edmond Serre and Jean-Auguste Roilfo has ideas of a small, economical vehicle.

It was obvious after the war money and fuel would be in short supply, so the market would not sustain anything other than economical to buy and run.

By 1942 the first prototype was ready and two more followed as the war drew to a close in 1945.

The secret work by the engineers paid off when the Renault 4CV was presented to the public at the 1946 Paris Motor Show.

Not all the feedback was positive. Some described the car as `La motte de beurre' or in English ` the lump of butter.' This was not just due to the car's appearance, but also that they were painted in a yellow colour, left over from paint used for German army vehicles.

Unlike the two door Beetle the Renault actually had four doors, albeit the front two doors opened forward as suicide doors. Large vents dominate the boot lid over the 748 cc engine that boasted 15.7 kW of power and 45 Nm of torque at 2000 rpm.

In line with the grunt are the performance figures: the standing quarter mile in just over 26 seconds and a top speed of 95 kmh.

But a heater demister was standard and it had four wheel independent suspension.

Like the Beetle the storage area was, well ... tight.

Power was run through a three speed manual transmission.

That the CV 750 stayed in production for 15 years speaks volumes for its design and performance.

By 1949 it had sold more than 37,000 units and was the most popular car in France.  It sold more than 1.1 million units, the first French car to do so, and is therefore a revered automobile to this day in this part of Europe. Eventually the 4CV was replaced by the Renault Dauphine. Despite its conservative drive train, the car was used extensively as a race car, not only in Europe but also in Australia.

Renault and the Alpine Company combined to build the Alpine A-106, based largely on the 4CV. Later they combined to build the Alpine A-110 that would win the World Rally Championship.

Piloted by Bill March and John Connolly it came fourth in its class behind three NSU Prinz cars.