10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... THE REAR-ENGINED RENAULTS

With the huge success of cars like the Renault 4 and Renault 5, not to mention later models like the Clio, it is easy to forget that the French company has not always been wedded to the notion of front wheel drive. Naturally enough for a company founded in 1898, the early years were dominated by cars with the engine up front and driving the rear wheels, though a radiator mounted behind the engine did give the cars a distinctive appearance until the end of the 1920s thanks to the resulting coal scuttle bonnet.

However, from 1946 until 1972 they also offered a range of rear-engined cars. As Graham Hull explains in this issue’s Marques and Models feature on the Hillman Imp, this layout was considered perfectly normal, even ideal, for small family cars until the FWD revolution took over. And it was a format that did well for Renault