Now here’s a Renault that wasn’t made in Kenosha, and one that some believe to be more attractive than the ones made there. This of course is the Renault Dauphine, which was made from 1956 till 1967. Before its debut in 1955 this project was known internally as the 5CV, and was intended to be a successor of sorts to the 4CV that got Renault through the tough post-war years. Renault anoraks will also know that for a time Renault considered the name Corvette for this model, just as Chevrolet was considering using that name for a new sports car of theirs across the pond. Ultimately Renault went with the name Dauphine, and for their sports car Chevrolet instead ended up using the name…. uhh…. can’t think of it right now. Hmm. Oh well, it’ll come to me eventually.
The Dauphine was powered by the Ventoux engine out of the 4CV, which was good for 27bhp. I know, I know, but hey, this was a small rear-engined car in 1950s France. The Dauphine later received a (slightly) more powerful 36bhp engine which got the 0-60 time down to 30 seconds, though I have a feeling that performance stats weren’t a major concern for this car’s target audience, not then and not now. This Dauphine appeared to be in concours condition throughout, as they invariably are over here. There are still some unrestored examples out there, but chances are that if you see 1950s Renault in the US, it’s going to look approximately like this.
My favorite things about this car are the details. The door handle niches, the chrome engine intakes in front of the wheel wells, the molding along the beltline, and the chrome rings around the headlights. There’s an overall feel to this car that no corners were cut when it came to exterior design. And the designers of the Dauphine did not try to make up for this car’s size (pretty standard for 1950s France, actually) with flashy design gimmicks. I think this is one of those designs that came out just right, and one that didn’t feel the need to ape something like the Corvair, which is what the ZAZ and NSU did later with their rear-engined compacts.
The Dauphine had a much greater influence on the automotive world of the time than one would expect. It was made under license from Argentina to Israel to Italy, and its platform was also licensed for the Hino Contessa. The Dauphine was also one of the few cars to be assembled under license in New Zealand. Closer to our shores, in Illinois to be exact, the Dauphine was converted into an electric car called the Henney Kilowatt in the 1960s, which I actually have seen in real life.
So how did we get the Renault 9 (aka Alliance) just 14 years after the Dauphine went out of production? Our best scientists still aren’t sure. But it’s worth noting that both the Dauphine and the Alliance were considered fashionable for their time. And with fashion being a cruel mistress, as Clarkson often reminds us, one car just happened to have aged better than the other viewed through today’s eyes.
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