In the late 1950s, Americans became more accepting of small (by our standards) foreign cars. British sports cars were appearing in noticeable numbers by the early '50s in Washington State, where I grew up. By mid-decade, Volkswagen Beetles were on the scene, later supported by clever advertising. So other marques decided to enter that expanding, potentially huge, automobile market.
One such entry was Renault, at the time owned by the French government. Its car was the
Dauphine, produced 1956-1967. At first, Dauphines sold fairly well, buyers perhaps thinking they were a more modern, and therefore better, car than the VW. Sadly for Renault, Dauphines proved to be under-powered and unreliable under American driving conditions and sales collapsed. They sold better elsewhere, hence the long production run.
I wrote about the Dauphine
here. The post includes some French publicity photos.
The first link above notes that Dauphine's styling was derived from that of the
Renault Frégate, produced 1950-1961. Comparative side-views are presented below, along with a Dauphine walkaround set.
Gallery
Renault Frégate - photo via zorblogauto
Frégates had the conventional engine-front, drive wheels rear, layout. The wheelbase was 110.2 inches (2800 mm).
1959 Renault Dauphine - BaT Auctions photo
The Dauphine's wheelbase was 89.3 inches (2267 mm), its motor and driving wheels at the rear, á la VW Beetle. Aside from the backlight window and some door cut-lines, the passenger compartment closely resembles that of the Frégate. Perhaps some components were shared.
1962 Renault Dauphine - Bilweb Auctions photo set
A rather awkward-looking design, not uncommon for Renault.
The side air intake for the radiator aligns with the aft door cutline, a useful simplification.
Additional air vents are at the rear.
The engine hood has some sculpting, and the profiles of those air vents have curved shaping. I think that such a small car would have justified a slightly narrower, more rectangular, shape for the vents, relating better to the aft hood cutline.
By today's standards, the car seems too narrow. But more width would have required more weight and more engine power, lifting the car from its intended market segment.
The passenger compartment greenhouse seems bulky due to its heavy window framing. But that was probably the best Renault could do in terms of sheet metal forming at the time the Frégate was developed (late 1940s).
The lack of a front radiator grille made for a bland design -- a limitation of today's electricity-powered cars.
Like the rear engine compartment hood, the frontal trunk lid has some central sculpting. The bumper is shaped to conform to maximal European license plate shapes.
Dashboard view.
3 comments:
I don't think the Dauphine is awkward, particularly for the time and in comparison to some other French designs over the years. But they can be seen as charmingly a bit awkward anyway. The front bumper design is also because the spare tire is behind it and slides out through its mouth.
The interior door opening handle on this one is metal, but I remember them as plastic and quickly snapping off.
Years ago but long after they had disappeard from the US, I was driving by a place that worked on old cars on 16th St in San Francisco. A black Dauphine pulled out from there right in front of me. I was thinking how cool it was to see one when the rear engine compartment burst into flames. I clearly remember the orange light behind all the air vents contrasting to the black body color. Probably they were doing a test drive after doing who knows how much work, and a fuel line connection was not connected. Whoops.
One more: I drove one once. The shifter was like a wooden spoon in a bucket of ice cubes. You just shoved it in the relevant direction to find a gear. Like a lot of French cars it could have maybe killed the competition if attention had been paid to quality and precision.
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