REARVIEW:I FIRST LEARNED to drive in my mother's Renault 4 in the early 1990s. It was a red "Legend" version of the car, which meant you got tartan seat covers, two extra lights at the front and go-faster stripes.
As with all Renault 4s, the gearstick was up top, popping out of the dash, handbrake just to the left of my leg under the steering wheel, and the windscreen was upright and close to the end of my nose.
The windows slid clumsily back and forth, there was no intermittent setting for the tiny little wipers and there were only four gears. Reversing and fog lights were optional extras.
The Legend was my friend and had been through the wars a little, having suffered at the hands of a particularly hairy old Jack Russell and, on one occasion, a frightened cat who littered all over the back seat on a trip to the vet.
In 1996, the Legend was sent to a better place under the Government’s first scrappage scheme and an Opel Corsa was purchased.
Although the Renault 4 was far from perfect (it didn’t go very fast and it was prone to rust, for example) it had a number of things going for it. It was fuel-efficient and cheap to tax, with a 1-litre engine; it was mechanically pretty simple with little to go wrong, and little ever did. Above all, however, it was unique, quirky, and full of personality.
It was up there with the Citroen 2CV, Fiat 500 and even the VW Beetle for sheer weirdness, uniqueness, and basic likeability.
Carmakers are continuously investing in more efficient, more technologically advanced, faster, prettier cars – yet it is hard to see who will make a range of cars as iconic as the next Renault 4 or Citroën 2CV.
It is a sure sign that imaginations have dried up when carmakers are churning out remakes of some of these cult classics.
The Legend is dead – long live the Legend.