Renault 1929 RY1 Monasix

7 minute(s) of a 217 minute read

Back to the Renault!

A little white van pulled into the drive yesterday. Out hopped the driver with a cardboard box with familiar printed tape to keep it firmly and safely together. The good ladies at Depanoto had recieved my last e-mail and acted promptly, inside the box were the fifth hubcap and four wheel nuts. Added to this my friend and fellow Rapier owner had called in on Friday en route to the start of the VSCC "Two-day Rally". He had with him another 4.50 x 18 tyre in almost unused condition. Once the Rapier is all back together, hopefully later today, I can think about finishing the Renault's spare wheel carrier that I had been working on last week. all that I need now is another three 14mm X 150 studs to go with the one I had already in my sundry Metric nuts and bolts bin.

And that dear friends is the way the money goes. 124.10 Euros equates to near enough to Aus$ 200.00 and Visa still have to add their % fee.

Bj

10-1-2015

As to date there has been no interest from any potential purchasers for the Renault, although it has not really been advertised for sale widely. I will get back to working on it over the weekend. Remember that we are 22 hours ahead of the USA and it is 9.24 am of Friday October 2nd as I write this. We start Summer time on this coming Sunday.

Re time difference 9.24 AM. Thursday E.A.S.T. = 11.24 PM. Wednesday AACA Forum time

Bj.

10-2-2015

Our weather forcasters tell us that we are due for our first warm days, over 30 degrees centigrade and we are not even half way through Spring.

10-3-2015

Changing the subject ever so slightly, having ejected the Possum* from our roof space I spent yesterday afternoon closing up any possible points of entry. Now today I am clearing out a lot of what is basically junk; Offcuts of trim material and carpet from "past restorations" with the exception of one or two cars that have stayed in Australia it is most unlikely that I will ever see them again or that their owners are in the event of some accidental damage be likely to come to me looking for repair material. This means that there is no point in my storing short lengths of carpet or off-cuts of hide or matching vinyl material, some for more than 20+years. Straight into the bin! Some time soon I am going to have to "get tough" with the 10 or 12 five litre containers full of second hand nuts and bolts and other (perhaps) useful stuff.

*Australian Possums are nocturnal creatures about the size of a small domestic cat. The are excellent climbers and regularly can be seen at dusk "tight rope walking" along power cables to reach the roof of houses. Although quite small they wear size 14 boots and clump around in the space above the ceiling and across the outside of the roof.

Being nocturnal they seek out dark spaces to sleep through the day emerging an hour or so after dark. As they are "protected" Native animals you are not permitted to poison them and can only capture (trap) them alive and they are supposed to be then released within a mile of their place of capture. They are known to be capable of easily beating the world record for covering a mile and often, on release, return to the scene of the crime long before the house-holder. The only way of combating these dear little friends (fiends) is to make sure that every possible point of access no matter how small is securely blocked off. This one had discovered that he/she could access our roof space via the garage roof eaves.

Bj.

On going through the various trim off cuts and left over pieces of hide I have discovered that I should have enough of the Biscuit coloured hide left over from the 1923 Packard seats to do the facings on the two slightly smaller seats for the Renault. This will mean re-thinking the colour scheme. Back to the Chocolate brown and Biscuit. This will mean repainting the wheels but they needed another coat of paint so nothing is lost. While I do not have sufficient of the Ocelot fake fur for another lap rug I have enough to make a very dashing scarf for a fashionable passenger. Those with sufficient imagination will be able to make a mental picture of the car using colours from the attached.

I believe that the Renault's shape really lends itself to two tone paint. The other plus is that I still have more than sufficient of the Fawn "Salt & Pepper" top material for a tonneau cover.  Looking closely at the photograph of the Packard you can just see the Ocelot lap rug on the rug-bar behind the passenger seat. This went with the Packard to the new owner.

Bj.

Before I take the seat frames over to the upholsterer I still have some work to do on them.

Perhaps it will be done today. 

Bj.

Hello Ian

I am sorry but any interior that may have been originally with my Renault had long gone.

You may not know but what I purchased as a COMPLETE, STRAIGHT FORWARD RESTORATION PROJECT was in fact a collection of assorted Renault parts rescued some years earlier from a wrecking yard that was scheduled for re-development. What I received was a collection of parts from at least three different cars and at least two different models. One a 1926NN, one a 1927 RY and another a 1929 RY1. There are significant differences between the RY and RY1 and of course the RY and RY1 are both SIX cylinder 1500cc and the engine that came with the "straight forward restoration project" was from a 1926NN FOUR cylinder 950cc. When I looked more closely there were NO gears in the gearbox and so it goes on. You could say that my task has been anything but straight forward. The TWO six cylinder engines that I have subsequently purchased, one from New Zealand and the other from France are both contary to the vendors discriptions absolute rubbish! The Engine from New Zealand was totally dismantled complete with one BROKEN connecting Rod and a smashed piston. The engine from France was rusted solid having been left out in the open for some considerable time without any sparkplugs screwed into the cylinder-head, permitting the engine to fill with rusty water. I was told that this engine had been recently "turned over". In my innocence thought that was meant to indicate that the crankshaft had been rotated indicating that the engine was "Free"! What was actually meant was that the engine had been physically rolled onto its side to allow the rusty water to drain out. Silly me! The freight alone on the engine from France was almost $2,000. CAVEAT EMPTOR!
Oh boy! this restoration game is all good fun!!! The only way I can hope to recover even a fraction of the money I have outlaid is to build it all into a car, either that or to cut my losses and sell it all for scrap.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Bj.

Ian, sorry about all that, what was your question?