Dauphinoisy

America had the Model T Ford, Germany the Volkswagen Beetle, Italy the Fiat 500 and France the Renault 4CV. People’s cars all. When Renault needed something to replace the 4CV it came up with the Dauphine, and built a couple of million of ’em between 1956 and ’67.

Powered by an 845cc, 27bhp watercooled motor, they trundled along at a sedate pace and went on forever. Except they didn’t because the thin metal and foibles of construction meant they were extremely prone to rust.

Ralph Nader no doubt had something to say about the rear-wheel drive format and swing axle suspension too, but who cares about him? Certainly not Colin Pace.

Dauphines were assembled under licence all over the world, including at the Renault plant in Acton, London from 1950 to ’61. But the aforementioned rust issues, a paucity of spare parts and the good old British climate ensured most of those have long since departed this mortal coil.

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And so when Colin set out to