Renault 4CV

The 4CV model was developed secretly during the German occupation of France, as the company was under strict control and only trucks and military vehicles were allowed. In 1941-1944, the technical director of Renault was engineer Wilhelm von Urach (from 1927-1940 an employee of the Daimler-Benz concern), who was a francophile , and “did not notice the development of the small car” ^[1] . The group was led by CTO Fernand Picard and Charles-Edmond Serre. Picard shortly before moved from the department of Renault, engaged in aircraft engines, in the automobile ^[1] , and Serre was one of the oldest employees of Renault . The developers foresaw that post-war poverty would require a small and economical car. Louis Renault himself, however, in 1940 believed that after the war ended, the firm should return to the production of middle-class cars. Jean-Auguste Riolfo, head of the test department, and the leaders of several other departments, knew about the development from the very beginning. In May 1941, Louis Renault burst into the office, where Serre and Picard discussed the layout of the new engine, after which they managed to get Renault approval in an unpleasant conversation. The project received the code 106E ^[1] . However, since the Germans forbade work on new models of cars, the 4CV was presented as a task of the lowest priority, an offshoot from the design of a new engine supposedly for the post-war return to the conveyor of the Juvaquatre model, produced in the 30s. Although von Urach stubbornly closed his eyes at 106E, the German department heads were not trusted.

Volkswagen Impact

In November 1945, as part of a discussion of reparation agreements, the government invited Ferdinand Porsche to study the possibility of relocating Volkswagen production facilities to France ^[2] . On December 15, 1945, Porsche was invited to Renault to consult about the upcoming 4CV. Previously, Renault, recently nationalized, was led by the hero of the Resistance, Pierre Lefacho, who has been the leader since the strange death of Louis Renault. Lefacho was arrested by the Gestapo in June 1944 and placed in the Buchenwald concentration camp , from where he was transferred to Metz for interrogation. Soon, due to the active advance of the Allied front, the Metz was abandoned by the Germans, and the prisoners were abandoned. Lefacho could not tolerate the fact that almost ready for the release of the Renault 4CV could get the stigma of a model “inspired by Volkswagen”, and even more angry that Porsche was invited by politicians who did not understand anything in the design of cars. The government insisted, and a series of 9 meetings took place, quickly following each other. Lefasho did everything in his power to ensure that these consultations did not have any influence on the development of 4CV, and Porsche, in turn, made a cautious conclusion that the model can be prepared for large-scale production within a year ^[3] .

Lefacho used his connections, and after these consultations Ferdinand Porsche and his son Ferry were arrested for war crimes - the use of forced labor, including the French, at the Volkswagen plant in Germany. They were offered to release on bail, but Porsche could only pay half the amount requested, as a result of which Ferry Porsche was able to return to Germany in March 1946, and his father spent 20 months in Dijon prison without any trial.

Prototypes

The first prototype, completed in 1942, was a two-door. Over the next three years, two more prototypes were manufactured. Already under Lefasho, the prototype passed tests at the Herqueville estate, owned by Louis Renault ^[4] .

According to some sources, Louis Renault in 1940 instructed his engineers to "make the car like the Germans" ^[5] . Up to simplification of the terms of reference in 1945, the 4CV model had a radiator grille of six thin chrome moldings designed to somewhat distract attention from the fact that the prototype is extremely similar to the Volkswagen Beetle ^[5] and to bring the look of the car closer to the fashionable front-wheel drive models of the beginning of 1940 from Detroit.

A significant contribution to the success of 4CV was made by the new methodologies applied in its production on the initiative of Pierre Beziers, who began his 42-year career with Renault as a setup engineer, then became a tooling developer and rose to the position of head of tool service. In 1949, he developed production lines for the production of the vast majority of 4CV mechanisms ^[6] . High-performance tools were used on these lines for processing, for example, engine blocks . Having been imprisoned during World War II, Bezier was involved in the development and modification of automatic machines invented by General Motors before the war. On production lines, workpieces were transferred from one automated machine to another using electromagnetic devices (predecessors of modern robotic manipulators) ^[7] .

The 4CV model was presented to the public in 1946 at the Paris Automobile Exhibition, and went on sale a year later. The 4CV got onto the conveyor of the factory in Biancourt in October 1947, shortly before the next Paris auto show, but during the first year, supply was significantly behind demand ^[8] . Renault advertising drew attention to hundreds of new pieces of equipment and advanced technologies introduced for the production of the first post-war mass vehicle ^[8] .

After launching the production, the 4CV received the nickname “ La motte de beurre ” - “a piece of oil”, both for its shape and for painting, since for the first series they used sand-yellow paint left over from the production of cars for the Wehrmacht's Rommele African Corps ^[5] . Later, the model was called “ quatre pattes ” - “four legs”.

At first, the 4CV had a 760-cm ³ inline four-cylinder engine located at the rear and a three-speed manual gearbox. In 1950, the 760-cm ³ engine gave way to the 747-cm ³ version of the Biyankur motor with a capacity of 17 liters. with. (13 kW ).

Despite the fact that at first sales went poorly due to the poor state of the economy of post-war France, by the middle of 1949 37,000 cars were sold, the model was the best-selling in the country. 1,760 cars were sold in 1950 outside the Rhine , in West Germany , which accounted for 25% of the car imports to this state (more than the Fiat 500 was imported to the Federal Republic of Germany ^[9] ). 4CV lasted on the conveyor for more than ten years.

During the production, engine power gradually increased to 21 liters. with. (16 kW ) due to the increase in the octane number of fuel and, accordingly, the degree of compression . With a small mass of the car (620 kg), this allowed it to accelerate from 0 to 90 ^km / _h in 38 seconds. The maximum speed was slightly less than 100 ^km / _h . The engine was very flexible and allowed the use of both second and higher gears in the speed range of 5-100 ^km / _h , while there was no synchronizer in the first gear, which allowed it to be used only when starting off ^[5] .

The rear position of the engine and, accordingly, the lightweight front axle made it possible to apply steering with a low gear ratio without fear of excessive force on the steering wheel, and in the first cars “from side to side” the steering wheel made only 2¼ turns ^[5] . Such a sharp control, of course, pleased the skilled drivers, but tests showed that on a wet road you should be very careful. Subsequently, the designers hit the other extreme and provided the car with a 4½-wheel steering wheel ^[5] .

In early 1953, manufacturers introduced under the name " Renault 4CV Service " a cheaper version, devoid of all the "attributes of luxury":

• Tires of smaller width were used.
• Abandoned the fake radiator and chrome headlamp rims.
• Simplified seats, reduced the number of steering wheel spokes from three to two.
• The palette of available colors was cut to one - gray.

As a result, the car began to cost less than 400,000 francs . ^[10] The decision to expand the 4CV market towards the lower segment was due to the fact that the Dauphine model was already in a high degree of readiness, and two models that were planned to be launched in parallel should be parted in the market. Nevertheless, it should be assumed that the market reaction to the “ Renault 4CV Service ” was restrained, since this model left Renault dealerships a year later ^[10] . Perhaps this was due to the growing popularity of the Citroën 2CV . Despite the ridiculous characteristics that the Citroen gave the engine a miserable 375 cm ³ , the 2CV body was larger than the 4CV, and the price started at 341,870 francs ^[10] .

The Dauphine model, launched in 1956, was formally called to replace the 4CV, but the 4CV remained on the assembly line until 1961, and was replaced by the Renault 4 model with a similar 4CV engine and price.

In total, 1 105 543 copies were produced. 4CV - the first French car to cross the millionth milestone.

Most of the cars came off the assembly line of the Île Seguin plant on an island in the middle of the river against Biyankur, but in addition 4CV was assembled in seven other countries. In December 1949 it was announced that the 4CV was replacing the Juvaquatre at the Renault plant in Aston (West London ). Right-hand drive 4CVs were collected there mainly from nodes imported from France ^[11] . In addition to England, the 4CV assembly was launched in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, South Africa and Japan (where Hino Motors became famous for the quality of its 4CV) ^[5] .

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  Renault 4CV 1948

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  Renault 4CV R 1062 Sport 1952

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  Renault 4CV rear view

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  Hino 4CV, Japanese version of the Renault 4CV

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  Renault 4CV convertible - monocoque without a rigid roof

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  1951 Renault 750 body type Commercial R0271

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  1961 Renault 4CV Beach (Renault Jolly)

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  Renault 4 CV at Auto Kout Centrum