If you put a bunch of classic enthusiasts - and they are really just nostalgic car enthusiasts - together and pour in a few glasses of booze ... Then the melancholic stories unleash and it turns out that Dutch men really do have emotions. We have no idea what to do with it. Yet…
I've had (and should never have gotten rid of) blues
Just a random tune: the 400-guilder Ford Mustang convertible from a MTS mechanical engineer in training. A former municipal official's Harley-Davidson WL A or C. It cost 110 guilders. A Norton 99 for 75 guilders. There was no rear wheel. This was due to a slippery tire for the police. But then the police had not yet been muzzled by all protocols and rules. The wheel was exchanged for six filled cakes. An ugly duck for 150 guilders. An expensive 2CV for three hundred guilders. A VW 1600 TL for 300 guilders - that was a bad buy by the way. It contained a 1500 cc can. A Jawa 350 cc twin for 300 guilders (a Czech acquaintance recently bought one for € 6.000 and thought it was a reasonable price…). Then we are talking about the really older stuff. But the trend remains. And BXsen have been worth no more than 300 guilders to 300 euros for years.
A set of free wheel covers
About twenty years ago I received a call from a garage owner friend: "Does your wife still drive such a crazy BX?" She did. “Good, then I have four more hubcaps for her if she wants them. But it does have a problem. There is still a BX between those hubcaps. ” The BX belonged to an old lady and had always been serviced. At the last turn, the garage had an update advice of about 2.000 guilders. Old ladies are a dream business model. The lady decided against the proposed repairs and gave her BX to her neighbor, the garage owner who called me. The BX cost a bottle of whiskey. And it took sixty guilders to get it actually beautiful and perfect. Sylvia is now working on her fifth BX. And that 1400 cc that runs 1 in 16 is valued at 3.500 euros. Four years ago it was bought for 1.500 euros.
We were young at the time. And our cars and motorcycles were old
We have grown older. The motorcycles and cars of our younger days have become more expensive. But the essence has remained: There has been a moment in the existence of just about every vehicle when the thing was worth next to nothing. And some are earlier than others. With that knowledge you can now buy cars and motorcycles for the famous fart and three marbles. Or let it be something more. And if you do that with the idea of just keeping your purchase, you will automatically become rich. Because just look what Mustangs and Liberators are worth now.
The Renault Avantime
With that approach, we advise you to buy a Renault Avantime immediately.
From the first Renault Espace series (1984) there was already a partnership between Renault and Matra. In 1998 Renault decided that Matra could make a special car based on the third generation Espace. A car that in itself would form a new car class: that of the 'Coupéspace'. The result can be seen as a concept car in 1999. The Renault Avantime. The car where the front and back are apparently drawn by two very different people.
At the introduction, the novice had the 3.0 V6 24V engine (210 hp)
Later (blown) four-cylinder engines were added. The Avantime was available in two equipment variants: Dynamique and Privilege. Outwardly they differed from each other by the wheels, 16 "Cythère wheels on the Dynamique, 17" Rhodes wheels on the Privilege. The true connoisseur will also see the four sensors of the parking aid in the rear bumper with the Privilege version. In the interior, a Privilege can be recognized by the leather interior (black or beige) and the standard navigation system. The Dynamique has standard half leather / half fabric on the seats and they were always black.
2003: The curtain falls
Production will stop in April 2003. Sales were very disappointing and Matra indicated that every car produced cost the company money. The reason for the bad sales? The manufacturing quality and brand image were not consistent with the high positioning of the model. Relocating the production line also turned out to be no alternative and so the existence of a dream car ended within two years. Exactly how many were made is somewhat unclear. But the most targeted estimate is something from 8500 to 8600 pieces.
We also know a beautiful, metallic purple XM for sale. Apparently it is worth less than € 600. Diesels are not doing well in the market.
Also read:
- Renault Avantime. Just different.
- The Renault Espace, the birth of a new race
- Renault Espace: from MPV to crossover
- Mitsubishi Space Wagon
- Renault Espace had almost been a Peugeot
The intended target group did not pick up the concept
it will be my ego, the lack of it or just über ego, but for me the avantime really is the ultimate for beautiful, special, special, innovative. So I've had two: the first bought a V6 automatic on LPG from a dealer in Apeldoorn. Apeldoorn and second-hand cars do not seem to be a recommendation, this good man had bullet holes in the window of his house….I had that for a year: constant hassle with the LPG in combination with the V6, which no one could master. She always walked on 5 legs… just start / stop and she walked again on 6. But what a comfort, the appearance, the panoramic roof that was not common at that time. Well I exchanged it on an Espace…
Then I came into contact with someone in Rotterdam who had 4 Avantimes with low km, including a diesel and interesting because I drove a lot of km for my work. A very nice example of metallic green with all options. I believe with 35.000 km on the clock.
At 200.00 km: turbo broken: would be a repair of 3000, -, then I suddenly became the man who weighed costs and benefits, so exit Avantime. I regret that afterwards like hairs on my head, you should know I still have them all ... I still find the model stunningly beautiful and sometimes I look on the internet at what is offered, but are now 20 years old and high mileage. I now send in an XM v6 automatic transmission, also very nice….
Beautiful car. Let the phone number come from the purple one. Poison green was also allowed.
Dolphin,
Nice to see from your list “I should never have got rid of it” that your earlier, estimated, started about ten years later than mine.
You used to get (almost) everything for free.
Starting with a men's bike with a Flink motor on the back, it went like the fire brigade, then I got a DKW 200 or 250 cc. from 1936, from my father, but still, when I drove the front wheel next to the rear wheel, I bought a Sparta Villiers 200 cc on the Waterlooplein. for 25 guilders.
Then I got a Velocette 350 cc. also from 1936, can't remember the type but was a special thing.
Then came a Maico Taifun 400 cc. a clumsy bike to look at but wanted to climb into the rear wheel.
Then, also take with you, a Honda Dream 350 cc. a blue one.
In between there is also a black Hercules 100 cc. but I have little recollection of it.
All good running things, free to take except the Sparta, because it was old and in the way.
Not free, but in my list belonging to a green Royal Nord GT and a yellow GSM Delta.
I should never have gotten rid of them, but I couldn't keep them either.
And the fact that those cars from our younger days have become more expensive is also completely correct.
I couldn't afford my hobby cars then and now I can't anymore.
And that Avantime is already a wonderful enthusiast's thing, it will become classic by itself.
I think that a classic is not worth much because of its age, but because of its appearance or charisma.
And this Renault ????…… may well drive, never rust, run 1op20…. but it remains a very ugly thing (personally of course).
I can't imagine that this will ever become a sought-after classic such as the aforementioned Harleys, Mustangs or even the 2 CV
8552 copies were built.
There was a choice of 11 types/colours of upholstery.
There was a choice of 7 interior colors (dashboard, door panels, etc.)
There was a choice of 13 exterior colors
131 of those green ones were built
From gris pluton and gris sirius, 2 were built each
From vert centaure 6 were built
The type plate under the hood shows:
What color the car is (was)
What engine is in it
Which upholstery and color of it
Which interior color
Handy to see if the car is completely original.
Great addition. Thanks!
I have such a green one.
Upholstery was also available in red, blue and green.
Production number is exactly known (will look it up in a moment); read/see the booklet 'l'Avantime de mon père'. Even all numbers of colors, interior colors, engine combinations are in it.
Because Renault was going to build the Espace IV itself (it was made of steel instead of polyester like the previous one, because Renault expected to build large numbers of them and that doesn't work very well in polyester), Matra was commissioned the Avantime as satisfaction. Insane car. Even cooler than the super fine Vel Satis that was introduced around the same time.
Well, it's just a great car.
Look at that chic couple in the photo being happy!
Sometimes daring is appreciated. Sometimes not. I don't think many Vel Satissen have been sold
No, a big 61.000 pieces. Besides the fact that they were separate cars, the teething problems also did not help to make it a success. Bizarre, incidentally, that the Renault was / is charged so badly and some with other brands (where in fact often more is wrong) is more forgiving.
Certainly Hank.
Beautiful excesses of courageous creators are thus chased to the grave in advance.
Which also doesn't help. The top-model car drivers are super conservative. Look at Audi, for example. The higher the A number, the duller the car looks. The largest Tesla does not look like a large Audi for nothing. That Tesla also had to be high in the market.
So if you introduce an innovative car in the higher class as a brand, it must almost be an internal hobby or a fit of mental bewilderment. Some English and French brands have enjoyed that experience and came home from a cold fair.
Well, unfortunately it is.
GM gentlemen. Well, Renault….. it is a volume brand just like VW and all the others. If Renault is 'smart', they buy a prestige brand, bring it into the group and build Renuadis.
Just call them by name; german brands!
Jaguar, RR, Lexus, ….. Renault had the chance at the time after flirting with Volvo …