by Johanna Patterson
Renault entered
the American postwar market in 1949 with the small
4CV sedan. This car struggled with its tiny 760cc 19-bhp
rear-mounted, water-cooled engine. With a top speed
of around 55 mph it was almost unsalable in the US
resulting in only 1400 sales in that time declining
to 374 by
1952.
In
1953 Renault made some changes of
adding the 110 ¼ inch
wheel base, 60 bhp Fregate sedan but it was priced
nearly $400 more than a Buick special, so it never
got off the ground.
The head of
Renault, Pierre Dreyfus, released a car called
the
Dauphine in
1957 which he believed was perfect for
the US market. It was designed to compete against the
Volkswagen Beetle and with its 89-inch wheel base it
proved very successful in Europe resulting in more than
200,000 being shipped across the Atlantic to the lucrative
US market.
In
1960 sales took a sharp decline which many
blame on the droopy “three box” styling.
But the primary reason for the nosedive in sales was
its fragile construction and awful reliability which
ultimately jinxed not only the Caravelle in the US but
also
Renault itself.
Whilst all this was happening the
Karman-Ghia had been
introduced by
Volkswagen. Essentially this car was a
Beetle cleverly disguised as a sports car and its success
prompted
Renault to devise something similar so they
contracted
Ghia to transform the boring Daupine.
Events over the next year or so are shrouded in mystery
with
Ghia being commissioned the work, Frau of Italy
were taking credit for styling. It seems that Ghia were
heavily involved in other projects causing them to sub-contract
Frau to do some of the work. These two companies had
set a precedent earlier opening joining forces to create
the
Volvo P1800 coupe.
In March
1958 the car was officially introduced in Paris,
although its
prototype had been show some months earlier
in Geneva. The British The Autocar magazine wrote ‘…clearly
aimed fair and square across the Atlantic; but a lot
of French men and women, too are falling for its chic.” The
car was named Floride in Europe and Caravelle in the
US.
The Caravelle made its US debut at the New York Auto
Show at the end of
1959 where 13,000 anxious purchasers
placed an order for what was deemed as “a dream
car come true”. Unfortunately, these buyers did
not receive delivery of the Caravelle until many months
later. Many changes had to be made which delayed production
and did not help Renault’s sad quality image. Despite all this, the Caravelle continued to sell in
the US over the next few years.
Production stopped in
1968 but the last delivery to the US was thought to be
12 months earlier. The main focus of the Caravelle was
style and not performance with earlier models being dreadfully
slow compared with standards of the time. For example
0 – 60 crawled
at a snails pace of 23.8 seconds and when the car did
get to its top speed it was a rather disappointing 83
mph. The models made after
1963 were much faster with
0 – 60 being achieved in 17.6 seconds and top speed
was 90 mph. But one upside was that these cars were very
economical with figures of 40 mpg not uncommon. However,
an economical plus was offset by an unreliable car mechanically.
The same attributes that attracted the Caravelle buyers
of the sixties are the same ones that coerce the buyers
in the new millennium with styling being the major reason
for the appeal. And whilst its uniqueness held appeal
to many of the original purchasers the ravages of time
escalated by the dreadful
rust problem have caused the
Caravelle to be extremely rare today. But if you revel
in the unique this expression of Parisian chic may hold
tremendous appeal.