Glorious Dauphine is Bomb Cyclone Incoming

[@larrysisk6562]

Back in the early 70s one of these came into my father's salvage yard. I drove it around the property as I was only 12 or thirteen at the time. It was heavily rusted and the suspension failed as I was off roading it. I later built a sand rail tube frame and used the Dauphin engine and transaxle to power it. The front suspension was a narrowed Corvair. It was the sweetest running 4 cylinder I can remember. Thanks for the memories.

[@classicrepair861]

Thanks for taking us along for the ride!! Get those wipers fixed!

[@crosslink1493]

Nice looking rig, at least it got a good wash in the storm. Do you have the old interior door panels for it? Put those on (and some cranks or the windows) and it'll look good inside. It's easy to make retrofit door panels if the old ones are missing using hardboard, a little upholstery vinyl, and some scrim backing. I used to do that when rebuilding old VW 'Bugs'.

[@jeanmarc5303]

horn works fine !

[@kevinleonard1375]

The Dauphine makes me smile

[@jimwhittemore1610]

Good running little car

[@mrewavygravy]

Dauphine's didn't come with a heater/defroster factory installed?

[@tombob671]

If they would have had 5 more horsepower and a good logistics system aka dealer network they would have triumphed in the market

[@JosephAcer-p8y]

Mark have you ever driven a 1970 or 71 FIAT 850 Spider? With that 903cc engine they will run circles around that Renault.

[@dedicateddeliveries]

My older brother used to say about his: Truer words were never spoken The Renault Dauphine is always broken

[@robertmyers5269]

Wouldn't that be be "bleu, blanc, rouge"?

[@ericwhitehead6451]

Hey Mark, do you have the bumpers for the Renault?

[@timwatson3879]

..if you could only make the 2strokes sound like this....

[@tenossos]

Is that the original style turn signal switch? Looks like an add on.

[@JosephAcer-p8y]

Can anyone tell me why French cars never were able to make in America? There is not 1 single French make that is sold here now. At least the Italians are able make a few cars that sell here.

[@crosslink1493]

They were never considered reliable, they didn't have an extensive dealer network, and not a lot of advertising to support sales. I'm old enough to remember Renaults (the Fuego was their popular sports car) and Peugeot/Citroen dealerships (there was a popular 4-dr Peugeot sedan). The last one I remember in my area was a combo VW/Peugeot dealer that dropped Peugeot line-up in the mid-1990s.

[@PapiDoesIt]

@@crosslink1493 My wife had a Peugeot that she bought new. The engine warped the cylinder head at 31K miles of normal driving. Maintenance was meticulous but it still warped the head to the tune of $1500! My mom had a brand new Renault that threw a rod at 46K miles. Wasn't raced, wasn't low on oil, just threw a rod. That's probably why French cars didn't make it in America, as they sucked. Still, I love the old French stuff like the Dauphin.