MATCHBOX Renault 5TL "Le Car" restoration

Restoring a Lesney Matchbox Superfast No. 21F Renault 5TL, in the Matchbox range from 1978 until 1984.
"Le Car" was Renault's name for the 5 in the US from 1977 after it had a stuttered start to life in North America. The marketing ploy worked to improve sales after teaming up with AMC to provide a sales and dealer network. While the numbers were bumped, they only shifted 37,000 in its final 1983 model year; a jump from 6,800 in 1976. Not exactly earth shattering.
Back in Europe, the 5 was immensely popular, particularly in its homeland of France, where it was the best selling car for 14 consecutive years between 1972 and 1986. Over 5.5 million Renault 5s would be sold.
Lesney reproduced the 5 in TL spec starting in 1978 in 1/54 scale. It had a variety of colours including replicas of the Le Car trim which I return to the car in today's restoration. Models could be found with or without the decals, and if mine did have them, they have been wiped out pretty cleanly. I combined two models to create one decent restored example as collectively I was missing a tow hook, one tailgate, had a yellowed window piece, a dented roof, and two sets of bent axles. Lesney sold the 5TL in the Matchbox mainline up until 1984.
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Parts source:
www.blacksquar...
Music by Karl Casey
@whitebataudio
Hackers
• 80s Retrowave / Synthw...
Outro
Calling You
• Nostalgic Synthwave - ...
Outro footage credit:
• Le Car! Legendary comm...
#Matchbox #Diecast #Restoration

[@donwenger6637]

Nice job combining the two for a restoration. Think of it as going to the junk yard for parts as many a Le Car owner did in the late 80's.

[@rolloff1218]

I remember Le Cars when I was very young. Nice model cars.

[@MattiasModels]

i had never seen this model, these matchbox are my favourite, i like to add some paint details at the end of the restoration to valorise them 🙂👍

[@joeholloway1386]

Nice restoration, details and paint job 👌 👍

[@jonbrookes77]

Lovely job 🙂 i have 2x Le Cars which have survived in mint condition since my childhood along with an equally mint Rallye 04 livery 👍

[@owenmorse3136]

Nice restored R5 an ordinary car for the ordinary person.

[@johnkelley9877]

It looks really good Jason! The ride height looks much better with the straightened axles. Thanks for sharing this.

[@tonyhughes1958able]

Another fine restoration Jason.

[@HognoseGaming]

Love your videos! Please keep it up! You are one of the last of the commentary restoration channels left that still post.

[@nathancook1404]

Nice work restoring the Renault Le Car Casting, A year ago I'd came across one at a thrift store and it was in good shape, so I'd put it in a case to keep it safe from getting the paint scratch or getting damage since the casting is rare when it comes to finding one in good condition.

[@diecast_MikeEspo]

Great work as always. WOW. Awesome job . Mike .

[@markrobinson8865]

Great job 👍🏻

[@theaussienurseflipper.8113]

Noice restore mate, cheers Graham

[@lotharrenz4621]

aah, nice and fresh. :) I caught a blue one, haven't seen the other versions yet. some body shop in the US made a version of the LeCar named LeVan, kind of a spoof of the then-popular vans made up to be club mobiles and plushy sleeper campers for obvious activities(tm). they closed the rear side windows, added little bulby windows, installed an extremely plushy red interior, and painted the result black with red and orange stripes. needless to say there was not much space to get into someone else, so they sold only a handfull or two of them. I only know because a classic car magazine I read mentioned them. I think there should be infos on the net. the MB LeCar should be best for building one because you can open the rear to show the luxurious interior in it's full red glory. :)

[@Dennis.B7]

Nice . I have one in red in very good condition .

[@DZeus83]

Great work. Nothing wrong with using a donor

[@a11csc]

nice

[@chassegallerie2910]

I had this one but in white with green race-ish livery on it. Seems they all have an issue with their axle bending that way 'cuz mine was like that as well.

[@VincentLander]

The R5 lasted in Canada until 1985 or 1986. It was a big seller in the province of Québec.

[@pedrocastilhos2341]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻💯

[@EvanPapineau]

Which of the Matchbox Le Cars had yellow paint and had black Le Car decals?

[@DieCastRestos]

You can see pics if you Google it, it’s one of the early 80s models I think

[@KennyBacchus-l1i]

Matchbox. Renault. 5TL. Le. Car. Restoration

[@barryshackson4005]

Excellent job 🙂👍