I had one of these in 1964. It got 42 MPG and fit 4 small people comfortably. The payment was $49 a month for three years. It was basic transportation with a 40 horse 4 cylinder engine. You could even crank start it in an emergency.
I learned to drive (Chicago suburbs, 1965) in a red 1959 Renault Dauphine. Notice the hole in the middle of the back bumper? On our '59 with stick shift, that was for the motor crank. It had an electric starter, but you could start it with the crank.
Seeing an automatic - transmission ' Dauphine ' is news to me. The ones I remember ran with standard gear - clutch transmission. You've done an amazing restoration. That car is quite unique. Thank you for sharing the video.
Fantastic relic. The Dauphine was produced in Brazil in 60's by Willys Overland under license of Renault.It was very pupular here. But I never knew about automatics. Congratulations to the owner.
I remember that they were smooth riding and had the most comfortable seats. But there was a new plastic smell unique to French cars (Simca, Peugeot, and Renault) that was unmistakable.
The Dauphine was actually a pretty good little car that got great mileage considering when they were built. I worked on a bunch of them in the 60's. I loved the two tone horn, one for the city and one for the country, how thoughtful those Frenchman were.
I had one, a '64 Dauhpine Gordini and I LOVED that stinking "aaaoooooga" and "beep beep" horn LOL I loved the little crown opera lights on the sides too.
There's a couple other video's on my channel of this same car driving around. Nothing fancy lol, just running it thru the gears a bit at a park close to the house.
super bagnole! ça rappelle des souvenirs passés avec cette bonne voiture dans les années 1970! avec un rouleau de scotch et un morceau de fil de fer on pouvait se dépanner et la vie était moins compliquée alors qu'aujourd'hui nous sommes envahis par leur électronique nous privant de pouvoir mettre les mains dans un moteur même sans grande connaissance!
My brother had one of these in High School...He beat the living crap outta his and it would not die. It was Yellow and black with 3 lug wheels. I was riding with him once and he jumped a RR track crossing and broke off one of the wheels and we watched it pass us before realizing it came off.
That car is amazingly well preserved for a 55yo Dauphine with Ohio plates. If only whatever was done to preserve it could be bottled. An automatic transmission on a car like that is always interesting, but it's astounding that Renault went to the trouble of including a pushbutton interface, motors and all, on a car in that price range.
You're obviously proud to own such a pretty little ORIGINAL Dauphine. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest circa 1957-66 and we saw a lot of Canadian television. I remember when the Dauphine came out. They sold well there and their owners liked them. But the car got a bad and undeserved rap by Americans -- mostly because in that era any Yank who went for a rear engine car bought a VW or a Corvair. The Japanese had yet to make real inroads in our markets, though I recall there were a scant few (by comparison) Subaru 360 2-stroke cars as well as DKW/Auto-Union mini sedans from Germany. When I was in my twenties I bought a Renault LeCar (R5) new with a big soft-top and I loved it!
My dad had a 62 year car For a couple of years he sold it later on I was a little boy riding it for a short time then he sold it it had a floor gear box and it was White and black interior mark downey
Back in 1963 a friend of mine had one of these. Don't know what year the car was . He let me drive it. What i remember the most was at 55 mph. It felt very light and was frightening at that speed. I made the decision right then and there that no matter how good the fuel mileage was I didn't want one.
excuse me, but my father had owned more than 50 Dauphines and ALL had that heater / elec motor you pointed out. It was standard equip on Dauphines sent to the USA.
I actually have a Renault dolphin push-button transmission only 23000 miles on it it's been sitting in the garage since 1983 not really sure what I'm going to do with it?
Although being french and have had interest in cars since my distant childhood (my first car was a Dauphine), I don't remember there was an automatic Dauphine. There was an option for an automatic clutch called "Ferlec", but no automatic gearbox. May be it's been done for export only...
I had a Ferlec at 16 years old. Rolled it over first time out alone. My Daddy had built it to near concours. He rebuilt it after my wreck and I drove it several years until he came up with a Peugeot station wagon so I could ferry family and friends to school and back. I enjoyed that Renault, an R10 hotrod too. Present ride is a 1977 Moto Guzzi 850 T3.
I had one in 1973. It was black. It had a switch under the radio area. The switch gave different shifting "feels". I think it said "battery" on one side.... And I think it had a stick shift. Is that possible? On the back was a script that said "automatique". That would be worth some $$ I sold a 1959 Citroen script from he rear deck lid. It brought $175 on ebay. It was in cursive writing.
prior to Dauphine's pushbutton automatic trans, they DID have a version that had a stick shift and maybe no clutch, they called it Ferlec clutch. Anyway, in front of the transaxle there was an electric motor called an actuator which did the shifting for the push button automatic. Worked pretty well, but cold weather effected how that electric motor shifted.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by heat, but parts are kind of hit and miss with these things. Some parts you can find with minimal effort but there are other parts that have to be refurbished from original parts.
Do you think it's possible or even probable to find an automatic Dauphine in reasonable working shape somewhere in the US, maybe via Ebay? Would parts be hard to find for this model? What do you think? By the way, your Dauphine is BEAUTIFUL and your review of it top notch. Bravo! Peace...🙏♐
The dauphine actually doesn't have a timing chain or a timing belt, it uses gears to keep itself in time. They don't wear out near as often so it's pretty sweet not having to worry to much about it.
I've heard that the only part that wears out is the composite fiber gear they included to keep the noise down. It seems that the devil is in the details with timing systems: belts don't last forever (though recent ones often outlast the tensioner pulley and/or water pump), chains could last almost forever were it not for the nylon sprockets on many American V8s or the water pump Ford that runs off the chain in their 3.5L V6; gears could also last forever, but it seems that these composite ones were fairly common on older cars. I suppose with the maintenance schedule of a car like the Dauphine (cylinder liners at 50K??) , you'd be in there anyway.
Rose _ sounds like a leak and or the master cylinder is in need of a rebuild, the internal parts may have corrosion. The master cylinder is a complete pain in the rear to get out and out back in lol.
felicidades exelente auto en mexico no creo que hugiera salido automatico yo estoy restaurando un gordini 62 standard ya le cambie todo de r8s y el motor 1400 pero se que no le gustara a muchos pero ya lo subire a you tube
I have one. I bought from a guy last summer and I have no clue what year it is and I've looked long and hard for parts. I've found a few small odds and ends. Not much tho. I had thought about getting into the brakes on it. But didnt want to get into them and not be able to find brakes and hardware. I'm currently fixing to swap the points out for electronic pertronix I've put new tires all around. Just beating on it here and there. It's a pretty solid old car tho. Especially from what I've heard about them rusting really bad and all that. Just trying to learn what I can about it because I plan to keep it. It's a pretty rare find especially for around here in Tennessee
And dont get me wrong. I'm no whizz but I have done my fair share of studying on it aka (I've studied until my wife is about ready to kill me) I love the car. I think it's an amazing find.
@@elitenomad I've also been wondering if it were possible to put some pep in its step. Lol. Not that I want it to be a race car. (Not at all) I have a very small turbo set up. Was wondering it would be helpful or just hurt it. If it wouldnt hurt it. I have a jack of all trades geek squad buddy that can make it happen.
Yes, This vehicle is for sale, if you send me a private message here on youtube I can give you some contact info of the owner of the car, and you can talk to him about it if you like lol.
Hi my friend from across the pond. Yes this is for sale. Please contact me, LAWRENCE DOOOEY Email Dooleytowing@yahoo.com TeX me at 19372445484 Thanks for the interest in the great little Dauphine DAUPHINE RESTORATION SHOP. USA.
Have you ever heard of a Renault called a Fuego,Alliance,Encore? My mom had a Renault timing belt broke bent the valves. They seem like good cars but you have to religiously keep up on maintenance. I mean noes it actually have a heat panel with controls to control the heat? The Beetles only had a on of switch between seats.
Yep, they have a control for heat just like a regular car. The beetle had an air cooled engine, the renault has a water cooled engine, so it gets its heat from the heater core like a normal car, and yep, maintaining them is a constant thing. If they sit for to long the Pistons seize up pretty easy, other then that they run great lol.
The later Alliance/Encore had an overhead cam engine jointly developed by AMC and Renault. The original 1.4 liter had a timing chain and so long as you didn't let the coolant get low they could easily reach 200,000 miles (we had 2 that did). But the overhead cam one was awful and did a lot of harm to their reputation.
Beautiful restoration job, but I cringe every time you incorrectly pronounce Renault. It's REN-OH, the LT is not sounded. Is the two-tone paint treatment original? I have never seen that before.
I know how it's pronounced, my grandpa is old school and says it how it's spelled. It's ok lol. And no its not original, he bought a diecast model of one painted like the one in the video and decided to go with it.
Guy didn't want to spend 1500 to get them redone, and at the time we couldn't get new one's. Had to make it work with what we had, thanks for stopping by!
