Renault 4 CV - with a good 20 hp at the Mille Miglia
Summary
Between 1946 and 1961, Renault produced over 1.1 million of the 4 CV, also known as the Renault Heck or Crèmeschnittchen in our part of the world, creating a true Volkswagen of France. However, the rear-engined four-door was not only successful in everyday life, but also in racing, as evidenced by class victories at the Monte Carlo Rally, Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. This vehicle report portrays a Renault 4 CV R 1062 from 1957, which completed the historic Mille Miglia in 2012, and looks back on the sporting history of the Renault 4 CV, supplemented by archive images and around a dozen sales brochures.
This article contains the following chapters
- Post-war design
- Variety
- Success at the 1949 Monte Carlo Rally
- Reliable and comfortable everyday car
- Further development to the R 1062
- Fulminant entries at Le Mans and the Mille Migla
- Factory tuning with the Type R 1063
- A joy to drive
- On the road in the R 1062
- Further information
Estimated reading time: 8min
Preview (beginning of the article)
106 km/h was the average speed that Jean Rédélé drove at the Millie Migla in 1954. In 15 hours, 4 minutes and 33 seconds, he covered 1597 km in a car that produced just 21 hp in series production with a displacement of 748 cm3. Of course, the Renault 4 CV that Rédélé drove was souped up by every trick in the book, but the production version also offered many talents and became the true Volkswagen of France as a Renault Heck or Crèmeschnittchen. More than 50 years later, a small Renault is better suited to the historic Mille Miglia than a Ferrari or Maserati worth millions, because firstly, you have a roof over your head and secondly, a Renault 4 CV is the rarer car at the Mille today, which means that the chances of getting one of the highly coveted starting places without making a large investment are above average. Not even half of the registered vehicles make the cut. The Renault portrayed in this article made it at the first attempt!
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