Renault Frégate - '50s French Americana!
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- The Renualt Frégate was a bold move by the French auto maker, loaded with American stying influence, to bring its post war family car bang up to date, but while it was popular at home import tax made it expensive in the UK where there are maybe 2 remaining
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My late father owned one of these between 1957 and 1959 when he and my mother lived in Nigeria, a few years before I was born. I can't really tell you anything about it other than it was green, the manual version and he thought it was one of the best cars he'd owned. We have pictures and film of him driving it but i don't think I've ever seen one close up like this even on video. I've certainly never seen one in real life. It's a treat to be able to watch this. Thank you.
What a beautiful car.Imagine driving this thing to your local Renault dealership and ordering 2 doorhandles for it, i would love to see their reaction!
still available, same as in the Dauphine and the Estafette
The European and French customers preferred the competition; the Peugeot 403.
Which actually was at least just as good, but cheaper.
So it really didn't sell that well outside the UK either.
Making the Renault Fregate a very rare beast nowadays.
Back in the early 70s a guy I knew at university in Colorado had a 60s Renault - not this cool but very nice in its own simple but stylish French way. They were so unusual in America that he had to explain it was not pronounced Ren Alt.
Up to the mid 60's both Renault and Fiat built RHD vehicles for the home markets for those people lucky enough to live or drive in the Alps (unguarded road edge on drivers side) and for Sweden, they did not have to change much for the UK market, just the lights and speedo.
Heard of such things but don’t beleive I have ever seen one in the flesh. Beautiful rare beast. Upholstery looks like it is leather. Must be best original example in the world you would think.
The owner and I actually sat on the seats for a few minutes discussing whether they were leather or a fake, and we weren't actually sure!
8:46 honk! honk!
Renault UK used to have (30 years ago) a black RHD Fregate tucked away behind the workshops at Acton! Probably still exists
Being a lover of old Renaults, I've seen this around quite a bit - great to finally see it tested properly! 👍🏻
Well, that's interesting. In Australia, I've only ever heard of one Fregate, and that was being sold by a wrecking yard as a complete unit quite a few years ago. I hope it's found a good home. I recall looking underneath and noting that it had a worm drive rear axle. History doesn't rate these cars highly, but maybe history made it's judgement on the early gutless ones.
And the Peugeot 203, 403, 404 and 504 all sold well with N Australia. Even the Citroen ID 19 sold well enough to be assembled here., but the Fregate nearly unheard of here
Yes, and in addition, the Renault 4CV sold very well, the Dauphine wasn't unknown, and the Renault 10 sold ok. I remember the advertising for the R10. It featured a French accent... 'Zee Renault 10'. Simcas also sold well, mostly Arondes, but some Vedettes as well.
Many thanks for your today's test. We got four ones in our family, with poor mechanical transmissions. Everything you said is real. In 1956, a rear engine was mounted in the "baby" Fregate (Dauphine) with an amazing success.
All central klaxons were unplugged (by their owners) because they used to sound unexpectedly, especially on this type of steering wheel !
You can see the dashboard is fully inspired by 1949 Cadillac's one.
Unfortunately this automatic transmission often broke down, plus the lack of a more powerful engine, it was the end of roomy and expensive Renaults, yet the only good french chassis of the time (safe and comfortable).
Perhaps contemporary Peugeot chasses were also somewhat comfortable!
@@kamrankhan-lj1ng
Peugeot 203 and 403 were mounted with leaf springs, front and rear. So bye bye comfort ! Frégate has 4 coil spring suspensions, BMW like.
@@josefradisz2133 even with leaf springs the Frenchies always knew how to make suspensions comfortable!!!
@@kamrankhan-lj1ng
French butts are so touchy !
Too bad. It looks like a nice car.
It's not obvious from the video, but the Transfluide was a three speed manual box with a torque converter for starting and an automatic electromagnetic clutch for changing gear. There were quite a few of these in the 50s and 60s.
Yes that’s right David Morris Hillman and Wolseley offered Smiths manumatic gearbox which worked in a very similar way
Thanks for the info. I concluded it was something along those lines so you saved me from displaying my ignorance.
So that's what Trans Fluid was. I imagine you could easily start off in 2nd if you were not on a steep hill.
Matt well done on a wonderful video and I’ve only ever seen a Fregate in a book that one looks in amazing condition and you can clearly see the influence of Pierre Dreyfus Renault chairman at the time who wanted a modern transatlantic look for Renault and made lots of trips to the USA and learned from their design etc hence the caravelle/floride and wanted to break into USA which the dauphine did!
Credit to the owner he has a really great car
You can be counted upon to find these really rare, beautiful and interesting cars that hardly anyone still remembers - big thumps up from me! I had knowledge of the frégate, but have only ever seen an earlier black one at a Dutch car show. Given its bigger engine I would say it was more like the French competitor to the Ford zephyr or Vauxhall velox? As you say Renault mainly targeted the Citroën traction avant with this one, but not very succesfully unfortunately: people kept buying the Citroën in spite of looking increasingly old fashioned and frégate sales were below expectations for all its 9 years of production. Might not have helped that Pierre Lefaucheux, Renaults managing director, died in his frégate in an accident early in 1955. Once again, many thanks for this most lovely review.
That's a shame. Maybe a seat belt might have saved him.
You got to love older car's interiors, gotta to have an ashtray! It's a beautiful car!
Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle film has all the Simcas Renaults and Peugeots of the time and you could be forgiven for thinking they had filmed American street scenes, if you didn't know. When someone says "All cars look the same these days", it's easy to point out that to every generation there is similarity.
Dash mounted mirrors was quite the thing with Renault. Through to the 4, 6 and 16.
I often think the same, any given generation always shares common themes and unless you're familiar with them can easily all look the same
NOT the 16...I owned a 16TS, normal windscreen mounted mirror.
Really the only reason French cars had a dash mounted mirror was that the rear window was too low to function, like the DS. I don't get why cheap econoboxes like the 4 had a mirror on the dash unless Renault wanted to imitate the DS.
But today's are TOO much alike.
Great review Matt.
I actually featured this car last month at Simply French at Beaulieu complete with its Air France Pilot case on the back seat and Renault Classic Car Club Sticker in the windscreen. I believe the car has very recently been recommended.
It's every but as stunning in the metal as it is in video, such a cool slice of French Americana.
its a superb thing, quite hard to research as theres not a lot of information about them in English I found
You always find something really interesting to test and this is no exception, I'd never heard of this one before. Terrific review.
Friend of mines father had one in Australia back about 1957. Renault had something called a Ferlec clutch or something like that back then.
What a lovely car see some 1949 Chevy in it :D
A cracking step back in time Matt. This car certainly has a lot going for it. It's in amazing condition as well apart from the door handles that possibly aged and turned brittle and weak. That cream and red interior is a treat compared to the predominantly monochrome (but a lot safer) interiors of many modern cars. Thanks for sharing.
Interior safety doesn't have to mean ugly and cheap looking.
I love the Frenchie, especially Reno, car suspensions! Though not the French build quality ;)
My first car a 1977 Renault 4 TL had the rear view mirror on the dash. 🏴
myself and mrreno139 have had pleasure working on this classic
Very interesting indeed. These French cars are something. I'm guessing this would have competed with the Farina cars from BMC. Lovely to learn about a car i had never heard of. Well done, Matt.
They only clashed for the last year of these, but it was that class of family car, although you were buying a mid size for the price of a large executive with this
A excellent review Matt, there is one near to my Aunt's house a coupe version sporting a rat look, first time I seen it I wondered what it was. Will see if I can grab a pic the next time I am up that way!
No way! Im amazed theres a second one around, would love to see it
you can see the inspiration & styling for the future renault dauphine
Love big Renaults - shame we don’t them here anymore
Delightful, and an amazing survivor! Thanks as always.
Just show’s there’s nothing knew with these robotic manual clutch pedal free gearboxes, assume that works all smooth without electronic intervention…😊
My Dad once mentioned he drove a manual car that allowed the driver to pre-select a gear but nothing happened until the clutch pedal was pressed then a quick up or downshift transpired…😊
The Bendix Electric Hand was one sich setup.
Never thought I would see one again! I saw one in 2013 on the Essen classic car show, but never again. Great car and review as always, enjoyed it a lot Matt. 👍
Id never seen one at all before! Beautiful car
Looks like Highdown to me. A great spot to be!👍
Nice looking car, a sort of 50's european take on americana to me.
I used to have the Driver's Manual for the Simca 1100 and they too had a similarly marked automatic set up. Though in a traditional floor mounted "Gate" pattern gear stick set up.
A friend restored a maroon example many years ago. Hopefully that one's still around. I expect they were just too expensive to sell well over here, but then again the Borgward Isabella was pricey but I think they managed to shift a fair number in the UK market.
Don’t know how , but you find staggeringly rare cars . Thanks Matt .
At last! An up-front look at a Renault Fregate. Many thanks. I'm not sure how many -- if any -- made it to Australia.
As you say that was the last iteration of the Fregate & i think it has a hint of the Delahaye 235 up front.
I enjoy your uploads --- especially the 'saga' of the 'Crown Vic' ---- so when this notification came up i enjoyed the subject,
Many Thanks.
How completely different is this Renault never knew this Tenault existed until now
Completely different to what?
Yes, a very stylish car with all the classic French quirks that are a joy!
Lovely car. Very rare even here in France, especially in that spec
Matt, I am wondering if this car originated from South Africa. I looked up prices for new vehicles in a SA's CAR Magazine Feb 1959, and the Fregate as well as the Transfluide were offered. The Fregate was still on the new car list in 1961. Growing up in SA a friend's dad had the manual version. The visor may be a give away as many a South African car had them fitted. Thanks for a very interesting video!
Omg where did you find a Renault Fregate!?😮 Such an incredibly rare car❤
Astonishingly rare, Id never seen one before
@@furiousdriving I've only seen one! There's a bloke who owns a vineyard here in Tuscany who uses an estate version for errands around the village
The Engine appearance still has much in common with the 750 and 850 Dauphine wet sleeve engines. Interesting
What a truly lovely car!
Love the AF bag!
That's a fantastic car. Thanks for the video Matt
Thanks for that Matt, what a sumptuous piece of automotive exquisitivity!
I guess the VR might actually stand for voie rapide. Nice and unusual car.
Yes, I agree, these would have been the fastest roads in pre-autoroute times, so logically the highest gear ratio.
What a lovely car! Far more quirky, interesting and ahead compared to what we had here in the UK during that era. Terrific review Matt, many thanks! 👍
Well, with rear-mounted engine that could've been the French Tatra. Interesting car anyway.
I think 'Vitesse Route' is far more likely than anything to do wth a village for top gear.
Ville Route I believe.
My first car, very like an early 50’s Plymouth or Mercury
Very beautiful, the perfect bigger brother to the 4 CV.
It's beautiful, I love it.
Wow, I had no idea such a car existed!
What a splendid car❤❤❤
Never seen one of these in the metal. Must have been hard to sell against, say, a Vanguard or Zephyr.
The French middle class at the time were spoiled with this the Traction Avant then the DS and the Peugeot 403 for transport regardless of the quality of the road surface - is WAFT actually a French word?
A rare beast indeed.
Thanks Matt,what an amazing car.
Gorgeous
Beautiful car.
Did u use the vin shelf?
Oui
When Renault stopped making these, the company was very happy. Indeed they had no Frégates.
baddum ting! Theres a panto waiting for you this Christmas!
Instantly thought of a Vauxhall Wyvern when I saw the thumbnail.
Yes I thought so too. A few design similarities.
Loved that
So,did i hear this correctly! Renault bought the car to put in in their 'Heritage Collection' and then lost all paperwork identifying it history?😅
Sadly this sort of thing happens alit with big companies
❤. Awesomesauce 😊
Too bad this nice car was only available with a sewing machine 4 cyl. It would have been a sales winner with a small V8.
Lucky you didnt clip that black Merc estate on the way out of the car park, the owner of the Merc would not have been happy!😂
got a temper Id imagine
😂
I was gonna buy a renault but i thought to myself Frégate
Hmm.. plenty of OOH LA LA with that car....
The French traditionally put their power in the rear. ;/
Q. why is this Renualt right hand drive? also does look a little american.
Renault back then did assemble cars here in the UK in Acton and Citroen did in slough right hand drive and were marked out by local content such as Lucas electrics and jaeger dials
@@danielrussell446The Jaeger instrument pod says "Made in France" on this car.
@@stephenholland5930 no I saw that I was speaking generally between Citroens and Renaults more often they had smiths dials made in Birmingham
Zephyr or Oxford make your mind up😂😂
If you squint, it looks like the original Skoda Felicia too !!
Knocking it out of the park lately Matt 👏👍
Suits you sir!
Renault frigate its a big tub 🤓🤔🛞
How very you Mr Furious. Wierd and wonderful as ever.
1st
Looks like a love child of a volvo p1800 and a morris oxford/minor
Yipee I'm 3rd
Or was I 1st?
Why not making simple cheap car like this today? For everyday commuting, and occasional intercity ride on speedway
No really, it's not more complicated than a lawnmower