In my native Sweden, “April weather” refers to the usually unpredictable and unstable weeks in early spring. This year, that goes for most of central Europe, including freezing temperatures and as I look out the window, snow falling over the lake of Zurich. Luckily though, yours truly was able to spend some time in southern France recently, where April is more associated with perfect temperatures before the big summer heatwaves.

It is thus for meteorological reasons that any kind of street finds in or around Switzerland so far this year have been non existent. In southern France that was a bit different though, and to me, none was more interesting than this rally version of the legendary Renault 4L, a model sold more than eight million times during more than 30 years. Next to the Citroën 2 CV, it was the R4 that led the mobility revolution in France, neighboring countries and slightly later, also more globally. In Sweden, a legendary marketing campaign went under the title “the bragging car” – more on that below.

It all started in 1956, when Renault’s chairman Pierre Dreyfus said he found the car industry had become far too conventional in that all cars were basically sedans with four seats and a separate boot. Dreyfus imagined a car with far greater volume for families’ various needs, and so Project 112, later also referred to under the far more poetic name Marie-Chantal, was born. The brief was for a car that would work as well on the country side as in the city, for weekdays and weekends, for work and holidays.

When the Renault 4 was launched at the Paris Auto Salon in 1961, not only was it Renault’s first model with front-wheel drive, it was also the world’s first hatchback. And the launch event was also unlike anything previously seen. Renault had lined up 200 cars so that everyone who was interested could take the new car for a test run. The event was a huge success and over the coming weeks, over 60.000 people in France and other places got the opportunity to experience all the advantages of the new model. In the coming five years, more than a million Renault 4Ls would be sold.

Citroën had of course launched the even more legendary 2CV more than 10 years before the 4L, so Renault was able to take the successes and shortcomings of the 2CV into account when designing the new car. The 2CV was a genius concept, but one built for France in the 50’s where roads were still very rustic, and on those and in the countryside in general, the 2CV excelled. Things were however improving quickly, and the 4L was always more intended as a car for the new motorways. To that effect, Renault gave it a more powerful and refined engine than the 2CV ever had, a 600 cc four-cylinder producing around 30 hp and giving the car a top speed of no less than 104 km/h! The engine would grow over the years to at most 1100 cc, but power would not exceed 34 hp in the standard versions.

As mentioned above, the R4 was the world’s first hatchback, so the concept of a big tailgate opening all the way up was revolutionary, and very practical. The car was also generally priced in line with the 2CV, at a price point making it available also for the larger masses. That and the booming economy in most of Europe in the 60’s with improving living standards is no doubt what drove its success – but it wasn’t only a European story.

In parts of south America, the 4L became very well known and was produced under license. In Northern and Eastern Africa, it’s still a common sight, and within Europe, the 4L reached as far as ex-Yugoslavia in the east and Scandinavia in the north. In most of these countries, the car also earned very affectionate nicknames such as “Amigo fiel” in Latin America (Spanish for “faithful friend”), “Roho” in east Africa (Swahili for “spirit”), and “Tipparellu” in Finland, perhaps less poetic but referring to the car not leaking water or producing any grease, and only needing one drop of fuel.

As mentioned initially, in Sweden the 4L was launched under a marketing campaign that became a standard example in subsequent marketing literature. Someone came up with the idea of calling it “Skrytbilen”, Swedish for “the bragging car” or the car to brag about, which was of course exactly what the car wasn’t. But again, the tone was set that it was cool to drive a simple and practical car, and that is the profile the R4 managed to retain during all its lifetime. Unfortunately though, that lifespan was quite short up north, since corrosion protection hadn’t really reached the French automobile industry yet…

Back to the car I spotted. I didn’t meet the owner, but no doubt he or she was a rally enthusiast, as could be seen not only from the outside, but also from a log book from a rally in Northern Africa on the passenger front seat. Actually the Renault 4 had a pretty successful rally history, including participations at the Paris-Dakar rally, albeit with a more powerful engine.

Whether the rallies this car had participated in happened a long time ago or more recently isn’t clear, but as it stood there, it was clearly in excellent condition and a great testament to things not only being smaller (a 4L is only 3.7 metres long!), but also simpler before. Don’t confuse simple with better though, after all the death toll on French roads in the 60’s rose even quicker than the number of cars!

The last Renault 4L was built in 1992, and at that point, more than 8.2 million cars had been sold in more than 100 countries. Apparently there’s a current project to try to revive the Renault 4 design with an electrical drivetrain. Be that as it may, I’m pretty sure that neither Chairman Dreyfus, nor any one else at Renault could imagine the success the new car would see when they launched project 112 in the late 50’s. In the end, Marie-Chantal became the car that Renault has perhaps had most reason of all to brag about!