Friday 27th December 2019
On Christmas Eve I had a shuffle around in our storage and got the Gordini started up to move it around. This is the first time I’ve personally moved the car around and it feels very similar and yet very different to the white one. It still needs some work before its ready for an MOT, but I’m hoping all of that will be done by February, as I would really like to take this and the white Gordini to Classics and Cake together. We might have a *small* overheating issue to contend with but that will also wait for the moment.
Saturday 8th September 2018
Its now been 13 months since I updated this page and the little Renault has been in storage for all of that time and not been touched while other projects have been completed. Since the old man picked up a new Alpine for himself he’s been reinvigorated to get this project started and so the car was brought out of storage early this week. Everything has been gone through and checked to make the starting process as painless as possible, just so we would know how well the car runs and what sort of condition the engine is in.
As it turns out the engine is actually quite sweet and sounds fairly throaty! Looking forward to getting this car back on the road and having a drive, and happy that we’ve finally started it too!
Tuesday 8th August 2017
Now you may not recognise this car, and I would be willing to bet that you probably haven’t ever seen one in the flesh either (I certainly hadn’t). I saw this car come up for auction with CCA (Classic Car Auctions) when they were at the NEC in Birmingham and decided it was worth a look due to the rarity and that fact my Dad is a big Renault fan. He served his apprenticeship on Renaults and has told me more than once about how he got into fights at school because he liked them and the rest of the kids liked Fords. This was one of the only cars he never saw or worked on, a Renault 17 Gordini. He didn’t quite believe that it was a true one and gave the auctioneer a bit of a grilling before confirming for himself – it is one of less than five times I’ve seen him excited about a car and I knew we had to buy it. We also learned that this was a one owner car (the first being a Doctor who passed away), that the car had been garaged for a long time and that it was one of only two RHD models in the UK, and they only knew of the other because the owner wrote into the auction house. This car is going to stay in the family and be enjoyed by my Dad once restored, you’ll be able to follow the restoration here and I’ll be sure to post a photo of him with the big grin I know he’ll have the first time he gets to drive it.
