Two unusual Renaults.

Setting for this particular photograph is the beach area in Mallorca - or 'Playa De Mallorca' as its known by the locals! A few cars can be seen parked in the shade to the right of this photo, but of main interest are the two facing the camera, both Renaults. On the right is a Dauphine saloon car, and to the left an early Renault 4 ice cream delivery van (hence the 'helados' writing on it's roof). Both cars have a registration code of PM, which suggests that they both live locally.

Plenty of souvenir shops abound on this particular street - selling souvenirs, postcards, and Ambre Solaire sun-tan lotion. Does this street still exist, or has it succumbed to the delights of 1960s holiday resort development, pouring concrete and building high-rise accomodation on all available land?

Renault 4 van seen in Spain

The Renault 4 saloon debuted in 1961 and continued in production until 1993, therefore dating the van, and this scene, to sometime later than '61. The Dauphines first went on sale in 1956, pre-dating the R4 by 5 years. The example shown in this photograph looks like a standard model to me, which means that it was a little short in the 'grunt' department. For someone wanting a bit more performance, the Gordini offered an uprated engine package - but still only pumped out 37bhp. Most powerful were the final cars produced by Renault, and they were called the 1093, putting out 55bhp. As this photograph was taken in Spain, it is quite likely that the Dauphine shown here was built at Renault's Spanish subsidiary factory, called FASA.

There seems to be very little information on the internet regarding the Renault 4 vans, so if anyone can provide some more info on the delivery van shown here, I'll add it here.

The FASA Renault 4 van

A visitor to the site dropped me a line, with some more information on the R4 van shown here:

"I just saw your question about the Renault 4 vans, and I thought I might add some information regarding the spanish Renault 4 built by FASA.

The R4 van shown is undoubtedly one produced by FASA, given its front bumper and chrome grille (french R4 Fourgonnette bumpers are different and didn't have the chrome grille). The front bumper is from between 1962 and 1967.

At least from 1968 until 1977 FASA built Renault 4s (both saloon and van) according to its own specifications, and having their own model numbers (R1125 for the saloon, R2108 for the van). I also know that before that, the spanish R4 was already different from its french counterparts in a number of details.

You can find more information about spanish R4 on my website, www.allez-y.info under 'My R1125TL'."

Thanks for the info!

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