Renault Colorale

Infobox Automobile


name = Renault Colorale
stablemates =
aka =
manufacturer = Renault
assembly = Billancourt, France
Gennevilliers, France
parent_company =
production = 1950-1957
predecessor = Renault Primaquatre
successor = Renault 16
class = Mid-size car
Large Family Car
platform =
layout = FR layout
body_style = 4-door station wagon
2-door van
2-door station wagon 2-door truck
engine = I4 2383 cc , 48 HP
I4 1996 cc , 58 HP
transmission = 3-speed manual
wheelbase = 2680 mm
length = 4270 mm
width = 1980 mm
height = 1750 mm
weight = 1620 kg
fuel_economy =
fuel_capacity =
related =
similar =
designer = The Renault Colorale was (by the standards of European models of that time) a mid-size car or large family car produced by Renault between 1950 and 1957. Unusually, it had the profile of a small estate car, which adumbrated successful Renault designs of the 1960s. The Colorale itself was not a commercial success, however.

Background

Recently nationalised, and enjoying booming sales with their Renault 4CV, Renault management at the end of the 1940s were keen to move their business upmarket. Company strategy called for a robust functional vehicle, equally at home in the cities or the countryside, and appealing also to overseas markets in remaining parts of the French empire. With colonial and rural customers in its sights, the car acquired the name Colorale, being a contraction of the (French) words ‘COLOniale’ and ‘ruRALE’.

Production

Body panels were stamped out and assembled by the Chausson company at Gennevilliers before final assembly at the Renault Billancourt plant. The front of the car closely resembled that of the smaller Renault 4CV, indicating a conscious intention to give different Renault models a 'family look'.

Prophet without much honour

With its robust spacious body and the option of four wheel drive the Colorale was in some ways an even more radical design than the innovative and commercially more successful Renault hatchbacks that would appear in the 1960s: the Colorale in several important respects adumbrated the SUVs which would proliferate towards the end of the twentieth century. In the 1950s, however, the French marketplace was less welcoming to the Colorale which was slower and less elegant than other cars in this price bracket. In French overseas territories customers appear to have been less resistant to the radical new Renault, but it was nonetheless the more conventional Peugeot designs that gained a more enduring foothold in the French colonies and in the new independent states which succeeded some of them.

Performance

Lurking under the Colorale's bonnet/hood was the old four cylinder ’85 series’ side valve engine first seen in 1936 in the Primaquartre . The engine was robust, but with the compression ratios achievable using the low octane fuels available in Europe in the 1940s, the 2,383 cc engine only managed a claimed power output of 48 hp. With a weight of 1,640 kg, the Colorale consumed petrol at an alarming rate and achieved its claimed top speed of 100 km/h (62mph) only with difficulty. In 1953 the car received the new four cylinder engine developed for the recently introduced Fregate. This 1,996 cc unit offered a more impressive 58 hp as well as tax advantages resulting from its smaller size. However, the improved power output came at the price of a reduction in torque, and overall performance barely improved.

The versions

Several different versions were offered, including a light van and a small truck. The most popular versions were the five door Prairie and the three door Savane.

:The Colorale Prairie was the by far the best-selling Colorale. Featuring a six-light (three side windows on each side) body, it was a 4-door family car able to accommodate 6 people and offering a generous cargo area: with the rear seat folded down, the Prairie provided nearly three cubic meters of load space. Externally similar to the Prairie was a taxi version which featured a central row of rear facing foldaway seats after the manner of a standard London taxi in the later twentieth century. :The Colorale Savane was similar to the Prairie but had only one door each side. Blinds were included for the rear side windows in order to make the car cooler in hot climates: the opening windscreen was promoted as a device for improving the ventilation. The Savane was also favoured as an alternative to a light commercial van, particularly suited to rough roads on account of its upgraded suspension.

In the end was manufactured 43000 units of this car.

External Links

* [http://www.colorale.org Site du Colorale Club]

ources and further reading

* This entry is based on a translation of the French Wikipedia corresponding entry
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