The Renault brothers founded the eponymous automaker in 1898. With over a century in business, the company has had a significant impact on the European auto industry and has had a major role in motorsports, particularly Formula One and rallying.
Now, the auction house Artcurial is putting 180 lots of Renault history up for sale. The items available include multiple concept cars, competition machines, and memorabilia. The Renault Icons collection hits the auction block on December 7 at the automaker’s factory in Flins-sur-Seine, France. Let’s take a look at what you could get.
The malaise era had its share of success stories, and plenty of disappointments, like this charming, but underpowered European grocery-getter.
Of the 180 lots, 100 vehicles are for sale, including 20 Formula 1 cars with racing pedigrees. There are also several non-running F1 show cars, for anyone who just wants a conversation starter. Several concepts and prototypes are among the collection, too. For example, a pre-production 1998 Renault Spider is expected to go for between $23,279 and $34,919 (20,000 to 30,000 euros).
A 1997 Williams-Renault FW19 Formula 1 car (pictured below) has the highest sale estimate among the lots at $930,720. This example is chassis number three of the vehicle that Jacques Villeneuve drove to win the 1997 World Drivers’ Championship. The machine was Villeneuve’s reserve car at several races, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen drove this one to a ninth-place finish at the 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Currently, the car has a seat with an embossed “JV” for Jacques Villeneuve, and the body wears his 3 racing number. The original Rothmans cigarette sponsorship is absent from the exterior, and white question marks replace it. The engine is a unit from private testing during the season.
If you’re not interested in Formula 1, there’s still a lot to see among these auction listings. For example, Artcurial is selling one of only two existing examples of the Alpine 610 Evolution Le Mans.
The special model was supposed to adapt the 610 race car into a road-going machine. The changes included adopting the competition version’s wider fenders, which allowed for fitting wider wheels. An upgraded ECU, increased turbo boost pressure, and a new wastegate pushed the 3.0-liter V6 to 280 horsepower versus 250 hp for the standard model. Torque grew to 311 pound-feet, up from 258 lb-ft in stock guise. The automaker never built more of them because it worried that the gearbox couldn’t reliably handle the extra power. Also, Renault was about to shutter the Alpine brand in 1995.
The car available for auction (above) wears an Ottoman green body with gray leather seats and a black cabin. The odometer shows 42,466 kilometers. Artcurial says the Alpine requires a mechanical overhaul. The engine runs, but a technical inspection shows the rear brake calipers require refurbishing. The sale estimate is $34,920 to $46,548 (30,000 to 40,000 euros).
If you need a truly unique machine in your collection, then this sale also includes several weird machines. For example, the one-off prototype for the 1983 Renault Jeepsy (below) is part of the auction. The vehicle is a proposal for a rugged, two-seat SUV with styling taking clear inspiration from the World War II-era MB Jeep. The model was an idea from Renault’s Exploratory Research Office for a simple off-roader. It had composite bodywork, a four-speed gearbox, a low-range transfer case, and a locking differential.
Renault is currently building a new heritage museum in Flins, France, that opens in 2027. The plan is to preserve one example of its 600 most important models, dating back to the beginning. Part of the funding for the project comes from selling identical vehicles from the collection in this auction.
Delta4x4’s most fun off-roaders are lifted and widened versions of compact models like this one.
Beyond the vehicles, there’s some exciting memorabilia available for sale. The many items include static models of various F1 engines and a flight case from 1992 that includes a computer and telemetry equipment.
Source: Artcurial
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