Starting in 1964 there is an award called
European Car of the Year determined by writers for a group of automobile magazines. Scanning the lists found at the link kept the phrase "What were they thinking?" rattling around my brain.
My problem might be that my most important criterion is styling whereas those writers were more concerned with engineering and packaging matters.
For 1966 the winning car was the subject of this post, the
Renault 16 (sometimes called the R16).
The R16 link is very positive regarding the car, quoting favorable remarks about it from notables such as race driver Starling Moss and (future) Renault design chief Patrick le Quément. Apparently the R16 was an early hatchback or five-door design -- a hybrid of a sedan and a station wagon. Perhaps that packaging feature was what won it the award.
It couldn't have been the Renault 16's styling, for it was an awkward, ugly thing by my reckoning. Let's take a look:
Gallery
The R16's body features a tall, six-window passenger greenhouse with a downward-sloping beltline that recalls the classic Citroën Traction-Avants and Peugeot 402s from the 1930s.
To me, the R16's proportions seem almost totally off. The greenhouse (large for its time) is nearly as tall as the lower body The wheels/tires are a little too small -- about 40 percent of the car's height (near 50 percent tends to be better). The character line on the side also works against the design, making the lower body appear even lower.
The aft end features sail-panel style C-pillars. This reduces visual bulk as seen from this angle, but the C-pillars add a little bulk viewed from the side, as in the previous photo. I think a better-looking solution would have been to eliminate the sail panel feature and make the C-pillars cover the rearmost side windows. (Though French buyers probably would have preferred the traditional six-window style.)
The hatch in action.
Another viewpoint.
Front end. The R16 has the word "Renault" on the hatch, but the only brand identifier here is what appears to be a tiny Renault diamond badge just above the license plate.
My family had one. It was incredibly practical, in its own quirky way, very very comfortable and superb to drive.
ReplyDeleteThe third photo - the aft end - is of the face lifted 1970 model. The tail lights were changed and the black strip above them added. If you look closely at the ends of that strip you will see the hatch opening shape which goes around the tops of the original tail lights. This was a cheap as possible way to make the rear end of the car look more normal and modern. The next photo down with the open hatch is of a pre-face lift model. The dashboard also changed with the face lift.
ReplyDeleteI had a 1969, the last year before the face lift, in the metallic army green worn by the "aft end" example. It was an unusually styled car, but one sunny day I was washing it and decided I really liked how it was done. The flat side windows could have been curved by then, and that would make it look far better. But quirky French Renault people probably decided that flat ones were cheaper so that's what it got. Mine had a power sunroof when other cars had manual ones. Of course they had to do that their own way, with the motor in the front of the hatch panel instead of in the roof. Unlike many other bits it never broke (or even leaked).
The sail panel style C pillars with the inset rear window were also seen sort of in the original Golf and Omni/Horizon. But Renault made a thing of the sails, continuing the ridge along the roof edges and trimming it with a strip of stainless trim. Kind of like the 1961 Lincoln Continental body with the top edge trim, only higher up.
It was a Citroen DS for the people, and besides using the same drive train layout, was as original in thinking as the DS in many ways.
These photos are of European versions. For the US, imagine side lights added in front and back, not just reflectors but actual lights. The European side marker was still there. With the emergency flashers and other lights all on at night it pretty much looked like it would rise straight up, hover, then zoom off to the horizon like a UFO.
ReplyDeleteI think they were made in France until about 1976, and might have gotten power steering along the way, something they really needed.
This video from 2017 should be frightening - check it out:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN2BUWDLgLg
Even more of them - lots more - this time in French:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz7rR18bqFo