Renault Estafette : le fourgon à traction que Renault refusait

Renault Estafette: The front-wheel-drive van that Renault rejected. In 1959, Renault launched a utility vehicle that went against the grain of its entire corporate culture: a van with a front-wheel-drive engine, while the brand swore only by the rear-engine layout of the 4CV and the Dauphine. Behind this audacious move was a young engineer, Guy Grosset-Grange, who had to overcome the skepticism of Fernand Picard, the father of the 4CV, before gaining the trust of the new boss, Pierre Dreyfus. Discover how a humble delivery vehicle established front-wheel drive at Renault two years before the R4, how a strange little German Gutbrod engine with a 622cc engine saved the project, and why the Estafette became the van of choice for all of France, from the gendarmerie to the postal service. Assembled in Algeria at the CARAL factory, and produced in 533,209 units from 1959 to 1980, it paved the way for all the brand's modern models before giving way to the Trafic. A forgotten revolution, yet its name has entered the everyday language of the French. Music used: Eyes of Glory - Aakash Gandhi; When Johnny Comes Marching Home - Cooper Cannell. The photographs are from archive.org and are in the public domain.