Renault R4/4L: Born: 1961 Died: 1994
When the R4 was introduced in quite a timely fashion at the beginning of the "flower power" era, it seemed to strike a cult chord that even its popular predecessor 4CV hadn't quite managed. The R4's mechanics were simple, but innovative too. A plan to build a new 2-cylinder engine was scrapped for cost reasons and the unit from the 4CV was used instead, but it came "sealed", with no need to grease or add water.
The fifth door was innovative, and the suspension design along with the front-drive format also resulted in a very flat floor. In rural areas this was to prove a boon for hill farmers who wanted to transport sheep and other small livestock to market or to the vet.
A tentative showing at the 1960 Frankfurt Motor Show followed by a fairly intensive marketing campaign based on the slogan "Take the Wheel" gave the company bosses enough feedback to give the car a proper launch at the Paris Motor Show of the same year.
It wasn't a pretty car by any means. But it had charm, and a personality. It also had some funnies. The suspension, designed to be comfortable on the most rutted of back roads, had a wallowy softness that might not have been acceptable if it looked more like a "normal" car. It had an oddball gearshift set into the dashboard that took a little getting used to. Ventilation was managed by another lever that opened and closed a flap on the scuttle outside the screen.
R4 had an immediate universal appeal. And within a year of launch, a van version was produced which was to become a utility benchmark in small LCVs. Even if you didn't have this one, your bog-standard car could become a van, with windows, simply by unbolting the seats.
The 4L made it to Ireland very quickly, assembled in a plant in Naas, Co Kildare, from 1962. In 1963 it got a new engine, a transplant from the rear-engined Renault Dauphine whose own success had helped with the demise of stablemate 4CV.
A bit of a bouncer, the 4L might be on the move, but the suspension was quite superb in roadholding terms. In 1965, with a shift from cross-ply tyres to Michelin radials, that got even better.
Through the 1960s the car was only moderately changed, mostly in a cosmetic manner, and it held its buyership solid until 1968, when the sales graph began to slip. A new body was devised, and a new name as the R6. Sharper in style, but simply not the 4L. Customers just didn't move their loyalty, and the R4 continued.
Though early attempts at motorsport were unsuccessful - the new R4 came last in the Monte Carlo Rally of 1962 - by 1973 it was achieving rally podium placings, and in 1974 a 4L single-make series for upcoming drivers, the Elf Renault Cross Cup, was inaugurated.
In 1977 production hit the five-million mark. A 1978 new variant got a 1.1-litre engine, laminated windscreens and two-speed wipers. And in 1979, a 4L came third in the tough Paris-Dakar Rally. In 1980 the six-millionth 4L was built and in the same year the upstart R6 gave up the contest and ceased production.
In the early '80s, to show that they could improve the old warhorse even further, Renault's designers shifted the rear view mirror from its idiosyncratic position sprouting from the dashboard and stuck it on the windscreen. Then, for good measure, they threw in disc brakes and a new dashboard.
In 1984 the Irish production of the 4L ceased, and a year later all right-hand-drive production in France was discontinued, except for van versions which continued to be sold in Ireland and Britain. But the 4 series could now see in the distance its chequered flag being waved.
With the introduction of the Twingo at the 1992 Paris Motor Show the 4 was no longer Renault's Everyman (woman) car. It was laid to rest in December 1994, after more than eight million had rolled out of the factories.
It died after 33 years and having been sold in more than 100 countries. In Ireland any remaining are probably hen-houses, but in Portugal, for instance, an amazing number still seem to be in everyday use on the roads.