The cream slice as the highlight of the trade fair
03/27/2015
The little black Renault 4 CV at our stand E050 at Retro Classics in Stuttgart is doing an excellent job.
The compact car with a four-cylinder engine is known as the "Cremeschnittchen" in southern Germany and probably beyond. A couple told us that they had been looking for just such a Renault at the entire trade fair and that it was the only one to be found in the many halls. This is actually astonishing, as over 1.1 million of the "Renault Heck", as the 4 CV was also known due to its rear engine, were produced between 1946 and 1961. And some even made it to Germany.
"That was my first car," a visitor to the stand told us. "Do you know how many people you could transport in it?" asked another and, in response to our shy answer that the 364 cm long and 143 cm wide four-door car could comfortably seat five passengers, told us that they often traveled with nine people, some of them women, of course.
"That was my first real crash," another visitor to our stand whispered to us. And for another, a whole series of memories came flooding back as he smelled the unrestored interior of the brave French Volkswagen. "I once lent the car to my colleague and he filled the fuel into the water cooling system," he said, pointing to the lid at the rear, which actually provided access to the water cooler and not to the fuel tank, whose filler neck is located under the hood at the rear.
Another visitor told us an interesting story: Elvis Presley drove a Renault 4 CV from time to time during his service in Germany, remained safely unrecognized in it and is said to have enjoyed driving the little French car. And one resourceful mechanic even equipped his little cream car with underfloor heating ...
The Renault 4 CV, which Berthold Dörrich from the German-language magazine Octane was kind enough to make available to us, is doing extremely well at the trade fair in Stuttgart against the 25 or so Mercedes-Benz 300 SLs, the hordes of 190 SLs and Porsche 911/356s.
And we also take a whiff of the Renault interior, which breathes 60 years of automotive history, when we want to escape the hustle and bustle of the trade fair...
P.S. You can still find us at Retro Classics in Stuttgart until March 29, 2015 - right by the East Entrance between the Atrium and Hall 1 ...
