[Spridgets] Dauphine - Strange

[Kirk Hargreaves]

In the late 60's when I was in my teens my step mother drove a Dauphine . .
the round upside down bathtub type. .  the originals of sort that came over
here.

She traded it in at around 80,000 miles and bought another Renault . . the
next model, more of a square bodied example.

She only traded it in due to the mileage.  That car never gave her any
problems, which was the same with the latter one she bought.  It was the
manual four speed model.

My high school surfer buddy friend (I grew up in San Diego) parents had the
same early Dauphine with an automatic tranny.  We would load 4 long boards
on the top and take it to the beach.  That car took a lot of abuse from us,
and it also never gave it up.  I still remember having to get out and push
it up a steep hill in the Sunset Cliffs area as it was unable to climb the
incline with 4 guys inside and 4 boards on top.  But it kept running with no
issues.  (As long as you kept it off steep hills with 4 large guys inside
and the weight of 4 long boards on top).

My dad later bought a mid 1980's Renault that ate alternators . . could
never find the problem.  After that he bought a crazy looking Renault called
the Fuego. .  a piece of work that car was.  Lot's of problems and very weak
in the power department (weak for it's supposed power rating).  But for some
reason the Dauphine's which I read once were not designed for American
freeways (the design focus was geared to the French roads) held up very
well.

These must have been lucky examples of the marque. .  no doubt the rare
exception.

Kirk