Looks like they had good taste way back then too

Good grief. :peek:

I remember them! I must say my view of Alpine has just dropped somewhat! :wonder: Didn't the 12 become the first Dacia?

Looks like an early Brimma car

Bonnet bulge! it must be a real beast

That is a home made "alpine" and just the job for Bryan.

Renault actually did a produce a Gordini version of the 12, but I can't find any reference to an Alpine.

My mother had one of these when I was wee (5 yrs old) GSM624N I think. She had it from new and sold it in 1985 so I guess it was 10 years old. My brother learned to drive in it. I was too young.

It was mettalic green, 12TS model. Had black vinyl seats, a bit sporty which in the summer were too hot to sit on especially when your mum made you wear shorts. I'm not sue how many miles she covered but she sold it to a local boy who had just passed his test and she would not have done that had it not been ok.

She replaced it with a new Volvo 340DL (B970XOS)

That is a home made "alpine" and just the job for Bryan.

Renault actually did a produce a Gordini version of the 12, but I can't find any reference to an Alpine.

IIRC the 12 Gordini wasn't imported to the UK.

One of these was the first car I encountered over-tightened wheel nuts on, but this was at least partly down to the total carpness of the standard "wheel bent paperclip". I had a 0.5" drive speedbrace as part of my socket set, and it was made from bar twice the thickness of the Renault one. The nuts were eventually removed with a 2 foot breaker bar!

IIRC the 12 Gordini wasn't imported to the UK.

Are you sure about that, Ken?

I seem to remember a couple being rallied in Wales, both RHD and UK registered, around 72.

And it does indeed appear that the "thing" at the top was a production vehicle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_12

Nothing came up on another site I looked at.

My dad has a 12 TS. 5 of us went to Germany in it - when loaded it used go down a long way a the back. Passing Cologne on the Autobahn at 1am the exhaust snapped (probably weakened by the back hitting ramps on the ferry!) just before front box.Spent an hour in services fixing it with some wire, gun gum and a coke can!

I had a 16TL - SLO 137 L - as my second car. Dodgy gearbox, handbrake used to seize on, water slooshing around the plenum used to come in the side vents on cornering, had to pop rivet a tin plate to the floor pan for the MOT. Had it certainly less than a year and seem to remember quite liking it :think:

Gaz

Look what people can do with a Renault 12 and a little imagination (and a lot of fibre glass I suspect)

That is hideous!!

Better:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=renault+12+rallye&num=10&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=659&tbm=isch&tbnid=52bPPlGrZwYf9M:&imgrefurl=http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi%3Fboard%3Dgeneral%26action%3Dprint%26thread%3D133432&docid=MBxLfeu4eTLo6M&imgurl=http://www.deviantart.com/download/98109938/Renault_12_HDR_by_exxx2005.jpg&w=1280&h=791&ei=HCdaUMK2IsfX0QWJyYHYDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=105&vpy=163&dur=129&hovh=176&hovw=286&tx=143&ty=91&sig=102440660871054126566&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=215&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:73

and

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=renault+12+rallye&num=10&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=659&tbm=isch&tbnid=BWtmldU-dejCKM:&imgrefurl=http://rallymemory.blogspot.com/2011/12/1985-em-imagens.html&docid=ZzOUYipscoOqvM&imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N50ZZ0i4YHM/Tv2fjOM-4AI/AAAAAAAALWY/gsK2j9Y6vj0/s1600/%2525252B1985%25252B%25252BARGENT%25252B%25252BMARIO%25252BSTILLO%25252B%25252BRENAULT.jpg&w=685&h=447&ei=HCdaUMK2IsfX0QWJyYHYDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=534&vpy=53&dur=3139&hovh=181&hovw=278&tx=151&ty=117&sig=102440660871054126566&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=196&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:79

I was in Turkey on holiday a few years ago and they were everywhere, some badged as Dacias.

Have you done a 'Google Images', ? some rather nice ones come up.

george

It seems that Skoda had a similar idea back in 1997 with the Felicia

Personally I quite like the black and gold one, it's only the boot that lets it down.

Hmm nice in a way. My dad has a mint french Dinky model of one in metallic pale green, for some reason I quite like it. We had one at college in the motor vehicle workshop when I was a city & guilds student. I seem to recall it was a pale blue. I had the dubious pleasure of having to use it in a practical fault finding test where the workshop guys set up some faults for us to find. I seem to remember finding an indicator or hazard lights fault and that wasn't part of the test LOL

Personally I quite like the black and gold one, it's only the boot that lets it down.

There's no accounting for taste

reminds me of a kangaroo

I believe that the 12 was also sold in the US by American Motors. I'm certain I've seen a photo of one with its front end resting on the top of a diesel loco's front hood with the back wheels still on the top deck of a tri-level auto rack. Combination of a rough shunt and a dodgy handbrake?

Rob.

My first car when I was 18 was a 12TL, bought in Reading for £150. DRD 202K. Deliberately chose a 12 because I liked it.

Off-white, I painted it brown, very, very badly. I removed the front bumper and fitted rectangular spot lamps to the bumper mounting points. Must have looked ridiculous, looking back on it now. I don't have any pictures of it.

I kept it for something like 4 years, Did many tens of thousands of miles for me. I thought it was great!

It threw its cam chain in the middle of Snowdoina on a Sunday afternoon. Having no AA or RAC, it made for an interesting weekend.