The 4L Super of Jean Claude Poireau takes centre stage in front of the exhibition at Brussels Autoworld

The 50^th anniversary of the Renault 4 was a good occasion for the R4L Club Belgium to organise an exhibition at “Autoworld” with the partnership of Renault Belgium Luxembourg.

The exhibition will run until April 24, so hurry if you still want to see it…

Hans Knol ten Bensel

I always had a weak spot for the style and sheer ingenuity of these cars. Even as a teenager, I admired the soft suspension, the front wheel drive, the lay-out, and, as I say, even the style of this car. I especially liked the “Parisienne” version, already making a statement that a car should have a fifth door, not impress by its performance, but by its refinement, practicality and its… yes, non-aggressive style and elegance. Isn’t that what we like a car today to be?

The Parisienne still looks elegant... I still like the car very much...this car was brought to Brussels by Renault Classic

Alas, my father was against buying this “too feminine” car for me, and indeed, they were also very hard to get in reasonable condition (and at a price) in used condition.

A few decades agao, cars were eminently practical, as this 4L super shows... look at the folding rear bumper!  

So I settled for a dark blue Beetle, the air cooled icon of our times, fitted two chromed and enlarged tailpipes on the muffler, removed the hubcaps, painted the wheels silver, polished the dark blue colour to a deep shine, cleaned the grey interior, and we had a very sexy German machine, with the deep classic sound which was nearly identical to a good healthy 356 Porsche. Especially the 30 PS non automatic choke engine which I had, produced this deep healthy sound. The love affair still continues, as I still own a black New Beetle Cabrio, of which you can see and read more in the section of “Our Cars”.

Renault Classic brought some very intersting historic expedition cars... 

But back to Renault, and, actually, my very first 4-wheeled love.  The exhibition is certainly worth a visit, and you will see some remarkable cars. In the central hall you are eye to eye with a magnificently painted early “Quatre”, which is – besides the excellent paint job – is still very original. It has a larger chrome rimmed window on its fifth door, and the rear end has actually two doors, giving a very wide entry to the back of the car. The second door actually rests on the chromed bumper, and shows how practical cars a few decades ago could be.

The Renault 4 had quite a career, and has become in France and Belgium(and in many other European countries) also an icon. You see it still on our streets, and it was a legend with the roadside assistance organisations inBelgiumand other countries. Of course, on the show one can see the last built “R Quatre” in our country, with only a few hundred kilometres on the clock…

Centre stage is  taken by a very much tuned and “customized” R 4 which is starring in the Franco-Belgian film « Rien à déclarer », shown presently in our theatres. The film, played by Dany Boon and Benoît Poelvoorde, tells the story of two custom officers, one Belgian and one French, who are the first members of a “Brigade Douanière Mobile Internationale”.

Their staff car, a R4, had of course to be tuned and improved to make it a quick vehicle up to the task… We only can recommend you to see this film…

At the exhibition, we also had an interesting talk with Fabrice Roche of Renault Classic. They brought amongst their cars in the theme exhibition “Modulo 4” some interesting rally and expedition cars, notably a replica of the R4 which participated in the East African Safari. (!)

I will bring soon a report of the activities of Renault Classic this year in these columns…

Hans Knol ten Bensel