R18 GTS spotted in Congleton, anyone on here?

[ekjdm14]

On the way home yesterday teatime we were fortunate enough to see a beige 1985 Renault R18 GTS in what looks to be tidy condition. We were stuck in traffic on the run into Congleton & ended up sat behind it in our 206, was it anyone on this forum, or known by any members? The driver may have seen me frantically trying to get the missus' phone camera to focus properly on it, this is about the best of the resulting photos...

[ekjdm14]

Oh I forgot to add that I also saw a tidy looking (silver? or white?) R5 drive past our house, yesterday early afternoon, complete with a period Desmo aluminium roof rack. I wonder if this was coincidence or whether there was some kind of Renault meet-up in the area, or a collector airing their fleet before the winter perhaps?

Either way, it was nice to see these 2 French retro motors running around and seemingly in rude health. I just wish more people would wake up to the fact that older "retro" or "modern classic" cars (or whatever you care to call them) are a viable, economical, reliable and most of all much more enjoyable mode of transport than an equivalent modern runabout. They don't have to be in mint condition or factory standard and needn't cost a bomb to run. Actually I believe quite a lot of the time it would be cheaper overall than something more up-to-date.

Ramble over, now where can I get my hands on a nice chewy Fuego project? Or perhaps an R11 like "Regie", in the back seat of whom I used to travel to nursery early in the '80s?

[mickeymoon]

My brother's first car was an R18 GTL.

It wasn't old or rotten, but it was unreliable, not economical, and when the master cylinder failed and he piled into the back of a stationary truck rather than turn into oncoming traffic it folded up like it was made of paper. He still suffers the effects of that crash 25 years later.

Old cars aren't a viable or sensible daily transport at all. Fun, yes. A good hobby, yes, but serious transport? No.

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[citroenxm]

Awesome love a good R18 ..

[CitroJim]

Old cars aren't a viable or sensible daily transport at all. Fun, yes. A good hobby, yes, but serious transport? No.

The way I use mine it is viable... I do such a small mileage and use the cars so little a pair of Xantias does me just perfectly...

If your usage is in any way intense then I agree....

My bikes see more miles than my cars

[ekjdm14]

I agree with Jim here, the kind of use I'm referring to is the sort of use the average small hatchback sees day-to-day i.e. run to the shops or picking kids up from school which is usually within walking distance anyway. Obviously I'm not advocating a 150 mile each way daily motorway commute in an AX but for the kind of use the average mundane modern (for my purposes, "modern" refers to vehicles built after about 2000) receives, there's nothing significantly less viable in using something say 20 years older or more as long as it's properly maintained.

On the subject of safety, while modern technology has indeed improved safety no end and I accept that older cars are a lot less well designed and equipped in this area, in the kind of use I was referring to the speeds wouldn't (shouldn't!) be great enough to cause much in the way of a hazard to anyone provided sensible precautions (like not filling rotten sills with newspaper and bog, and fitting/wearing inertia reel belts) are taken. After all, not everyone born before seatbelts became mandatory is dead or scarred for life are they? Of course sad twists of fate can happen but things like master cylinders/brake hoses and other safety critical items can potentially fail in any vehicle not just one heading for it's 40th birthday.

I'm not suggesting every school run mum needs to ditch the Zafira and bung the kids in a clapped out Escort estate, but for a great many people with even a passing interest in motoring history an older car for which they feel an affinity is likely a lot more attainable than they would think.

[CitroJim]

After all, not everyone born before seatbelts became mandatory is dead or scarred for life are they?

No, potentially not wearing a seatbelt in 1976 when I was a front passenger in a Hillman Avenger may have saved my life when I was thrown clear out of the windscreen when the car collided with a bank, rolled and ended upside-down in a ditch with a crushed roof...

I acknowledge it was a freak happening and I was very lucky...

I always wear a seatbelt now although I never did before it became a requirement to do so... It took a lot of practice to get into the habit... Now it feels wrong not to...

[ekjdm14]

Agreed, I've heard various stories where people have perhaps been saved by being thrown clear and you're correct that it's a freak happening. My friend Darron has a truly horrible scar on his right shoulder & neck where he was thrown through the screen of his Mini years ago after hitting a tree, his shoulder being caught by the screen frame on his way through. In that case I believe that getting caught up on the bodywork like that was what saved him, lest he'd sailed on through and headbutted a very large old Oak...

I would add that since the advent of airbags, seatbelts have become even more crucial since what happens if an accident where someone is not wearing a belt is firstly they are thrown forward and hit the screen before the airbag system can react, then secondly the airbag fires, hits the subject under the chin and neatly snaps their neck.

I grew up just as rear seatbelts were becoming mandatory, and my father being safety conscious was an early adopter anyway, I was always restrained by at least a 3-point and seat, if not inertia reel. I've actually driven without a belt a couple of times out of necessity (between opening/closing gates on a private road for one example) and I have to say I feel naked without one. It just feels wrong, and I can well imagine that it would only get worse with any speed. I find myself during more "spirited" drives actually noticing the belt helping to stop me sliding round in the seat so I can't understand anyone today who'd willingly go without one if it's installed, bar medical reasons.

[CitroJim]

I still have a scar behind my left ear where the Avenger's wing-mounted radio aerial sliced me during my exit from its windscreen!

Speaking of sliding around, it's one reason what I've never really bonded with an XM - the seats are just too big for me and I slide around something rotten - not even the belt will restrain me...

[ekjdm14]

That's luckily not a problem I've encountered myself, being 6'2" and 15st+ (the issue tends more to be fitting comfortably into the 206 even with the seat fully back). Did all the cars you tried have leather, or was cloth/velour just as bad for you? I find Velour type upholstery offers much more in the way of grip for the posterior region, possibly why a lot of sporting variants of cars have this kind of trim or only half leather... I found our XM superbly comfortable but never really got to drive it enough to know if I'd have "got on" with the interior, although I've always found 405's and this 406 extremely comfortable and perfectly sized for myself. (the missus, however, could probably get lost on her way back from grabbing the seatbelt buckle!)

[mickeymoon]

My big issue with using older vehicles as daily drivers is not the vehicle itself, but other road users. One can be the best driver in the world, but this doesn't account for other morons who might crash into you, and you only have to look at some 70s and 80s crash test videos on YouTube to work out, that even at relatively low speeds, it won't be them who comes off worst.

Of course there's also parts issues. I've been reading old threads and there was a chap who insisted using 305 as a daily family car was ok. Now it's winter, the heater matrix has failed and he can't find one..

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[CitroJim]

All of my XMs were leather... Fabric may have been better on reflection... Xantia leather fits me fairly well, the Activa especially as its leather has adjustable bolsters...

It was one thing I really liked about my erstwhile C1 - the seats were so tiny they fitted me a perfect treat!