Renault 14

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leorganiste
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Stourbridge

Renault 14

#1 Post by leorganiste » Wed May 04, 2011 9:21 pm

Hi,

I am mainly interested in cars from the 1970's. My favourite two being the Austin Maxi and the Renault 14, both cars I remember from my childhood.

I realised that owning a Maxi would be easy (as there are plenty around for sale), I never thought I would own a Renault 14.

I bought a Green Maxi 1750HL in late 2009, unfortunately I sold it the next spring (something I regret).

I had been looking into the idea of importing a Renault 14 from France for a few months and after some encouragement from the good people on the "Autoshite" forum I finally did last May. Although it was August before I actually had it delivered to my house.

http://autoshite.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8631

It is quite a tatty example although reasonably solid, although it did need some welding for the MOT (about £300 worth). Mechanically it is good, the engine is very smooth. It does need a few jobs doing though.

It is a 1980 TL model with the 1218cc "suitcase" engine as shared with Peugeot.

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So far since August I have done around 4,000 miles in it, the only time it let me down was when one of the spark plugs "jumped" out (I don't think it had been fitted properly as I fitted a new one and it has been fine since. I had a problem when I could not get it to start for a couple of weeks, a new airfilter cured that.

Done So Far:

MOT, needed welding and a washer bottle and motor (the original had been totally removed!!!!)
Front nearside shock absorber replaced
Last year I attempted to tidy the paintwork a bit, it has been touched up with white household Dulux paint!!
Caliper was seized up on the front nearside, brakes stripped and cleaned (seems to have done the trick).

Minor Jobs:

I have a rear namebadge (found on E-bay Spain) to fit.
I have a rear nearside light cluster lens (from E-bay Spain) on the way
The Carbourettor is leaking into the manifold, I have found a repair kit (including a Gasket) on E-bay France, which hopefully should fix the problem. If not I have sourced a new Solex Carburettor.

More Major Jobs:

Some rust is coming up so I am going to have a go at that and also trying to make the bodywork tidier.
The gearchange bush is missing so the change is quite sloppy, not sure how to fix it at present. I have a cable tie doing the job at the moment (well since October) and I can change gear fine but probably should look into getting a new one made.
Must try to tidy the interior up, the original red seat trim is very worn. The previous owner had put masking tape over the demister vents (he did not like the "wind" coming through them). On removing the tape it has left quite a mess, so need to do that.

I must say the car has suprised me, I have done a couple of fairly long journeys in it, including taking four burly blokes to Snowdon. It is a comfortable car, with a nice ride, a decent amount of room and surprisingly nippy and refined. My friends are really surprised by it and it does turn heads (probably because it looks a bit of a state at the moment!!).

There are some more pictures of this and some of my previous cars on my Flickr photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48758436@N05

I am going to look at another Maxi tomorrow, so hopefully I may soon have an example of both my favourite cars.

Thanks for reading,
Peter.
1980 Renault 14TL (LHD)
1998 Renault Megane Scenic 1.6RT

User avatar
Grumpy Northener
Posts: 1637
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
Location: Hampshire UK

Re: Renault 14

#2 Post by Grumpy Northener » Wed May 04, 2011 9:50 pm

Not seen or heard of one of these for yonks and it's nice to come across someone else who likes classics frrom their childhood (hence my Rover V8 that I waited 30 years for) - good luck with the maxi
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles

Diesel Fionn
Posts: 80
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:44 pm

Re: Renault 14

#3 Post by Diesel Fionn » Wed May 04, 2011 10:14 pm

Nice interesting choice of car, well done. I too bought a "childhood" car a Rover P6. :D

User avatar
SirTainleyBarking
Posts: 413
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:41 am
Location: Solihull, where Landrovers come from

Re: Renault 14

#4 Post by SirTainleyBarking » Wed May 04, 2011 10:21 pm

Thats a rare one these days over here. They didn't sell in the millions over here when new, and rust and apathy did for the (Most of)rest of them.

Nice find
Landrovers and Welding go together like Bread and Butter. And in the wet they are about as structurally sound

Biting. It's like kissing except there's a winner

leorganiste
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Stourbridge

Re: Renault 14

#5 Post by leorganiste » Wed May 04, 2011 10:34 pm

Thanks all. As far as I no it is the only one on the road currently in the UK, I think I know where there are another five!

According to the DVLA there were about 32 in around 2008, would be interesting to know where they are. There was a white one driven by an old bloke in Stourbridge until around 2002.

They did rust badly, the one we had went to the scrappers at eight years old it was totally rotten, mechanically still fine though, even in France they are quite rare!

After the Maxi all I need is a Mark 2 Cortina, Landcrab, Skoda S110R coupe, Volkswagen Camper, Ford Orion Diesel and Mark 1 Sierra and my trip down memory lane will be complete!!
1980 Renault 14TL (LHD)
1998 Renault Megane Scenic 1.6RT


richardtaylor
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:05 pm

Re: Renault 14

#7 Post by richardtaylor » Fri May 20, 2011 9:51 pm

Wow thats a rare find - I worked for a Renault main dealer when they were new and it would be true to say that they did rot rapidly, but a lot of cars of that time did. For me it would have to be either a R30 with the V6 engine or a Fuego Turbo.

Renault built some really good cars at that time - the 4,5, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20 and 30 were all fab cars in there own right - the 19 and 21 weren't bad either, it all went downhill from the Laguna though....

Good luck with it and keep us posted

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