Recent posts on the Renault 10 prompted me to search through my sister’s collection of slides from her years in Africa for pictures of her family’s Renault 8. My sister lived in Tunisia from 1968 to 1972, and in Rwanda from 1972 to 1974, with her (now ex-) husband and their two young children. They were in Africa with CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, and held various teaching positions during their stay.
The first photo shows their Renault 8 parked in the modern suburbs of Tunis. The larger building in the background is the École nationale d’administration de Tunis, where my BIL taught. On the right is a large sign with pictures of Habib Bourguiba, the president of Tunisia from the time of its independence (from France) in 1956, until 1987. Bourguiba worked hard to modernize Tunisia, but his rule was authoritarian, and the ubiquitous photos are just a small manifestation of the cult of personality he promoted.
The R8 replaced the Dauphine in 1962, and was based on the same rear-engine architecture. (Our family had some previous experience with the Dauphine back in Canada, from 1960 to 1964.) The engine was new, and was used in various Renaults until the 1990s. The Renault R8 was built in France until 1973, and as late as 1977 in Spain. It was also built in Bulgaria, and under license in Romania as the Dacia 1100.
The R8 was the first Renault with disk brakes on all four wheels. In 1965, the R8 was joined by the slightly upmarket and longer R10, which shared its center section with the R8. The R8 and R10 were the last rear-engine Renaults (excluding the Alpine).
While the older part of Tunis is known for its ‘souks’, or traditional markets, modern supermarkets like this one can be found in the suburbs. Parking here is a much simpler affair than in the souks. My sister remembers the ‘parking attendants’, groups of men who would, for a small fee, lift and move an entire row of cars a few centimeters each in order to open up a new parking spot!
The R8 is hiding behind the motorcycle, and flanked by cars that should be familiar to most of our readers, although it took a bit of research to identify the Fiat 1300, second from the left. I don’t recall ever seeing a Fiat 1300 in Canada. At first I thought it might have come from somewhere behind the Iron Curtain…
The ‘Olympic Drugstore’ is not, in fact, a drugstore – it’s a supermarket. Tunisia is mainly Arabic- and French-speaking, so the English spelling of Olympic is also a bit out of place (it’s olympique in French).
Tunis is right on the Mediterranean Sea, so the climate is generally quite pleasant. But it’s not immune from floods; even when you live just a few minutes from the Mediterranean, having a giant puddle of muddy water in your front yard is a source of endless amusement for the kids!
It’s never completely peaceful in this part of the world, but it was safe enough back then for my sister and her family to visit much of North Africa, and parts of the Middle East. Nonetheless, they were warned that in many remote areas, it was best to quickly drive away from the scene of a car accident, regardless of responsibility. Locals sometimes took it upon themselves to impose their form of justice on the spot.
The R8 can be seen here on a desert road in Algeria; the front of the R8 is covered in heavy grease, to prevent the paintwork from being sandblasted when driving through sandstorms.
Traffic is not usually a problem on these desert(ed) roads, but there can still be some roadblocks. By the way, those are dromedaries–camels have two humps.
If sandstorms or floods don’t get you, how about this? Where are those Tunis parking attendants when you need them? My sister had to walk to the cabin far in the background to get some help. Assistance was only provided after she rubbed her thumb and index finger together, the universally recognized gesture for money. Of course a snowstorm is most likely to occur at higher altitudes, such as the Atlas Mountains that span the northern tip of Africa
In Rwanda (1972-74), the family car was a Peugeot 204 ‘break’. For those who don’t know, Rwanda is situated in the middle of Africa, just south of the equator, and was not an advanced country. The road network was limited, and of generally poor quality. Electricity supply was sporadic at best. Because they lived at a higher altitude, the tropical weather was truly wonderful, punctuated by a brief rainfall every day during the rainy season. The high altitude also meant no bugs to deal with – a good thing since my sister is terrified of spiders and such.
Kigali cityscape
Rwanda was reasonably peaceful in the early 1970s, but ethnic tensions eventually led to the horrific genocide of 1994, as many of you recall. That 100-day event took the lives of 500,000 to 1,000,000 people. The wide ranging estimate is testimony to the total chaos that enveloped the country.
Peugeot launched the 204 in 1965, to compete with the Renault R8. The 204 was an additional model, not a direct replacement for an existing model, and allowed Peugeot to significantly increase its market share in France (moving from fourth to second place behind Renault, displacing Citroën and Simca). The 204 was the best-selling car in France in 1969, 70 and 71. The 204 was the first front-drive Peugeot, and the first Peugeot to be equipped with front disk brakes. The ‘break’ (wagon) version was introduced soon after the ‘berline’ (sedan), and accounted for almost one third of the 204s sold during its production run, which ended in 1976. Coupé, cabriolet and ‘fourgonette’ (van) versions were introduced in 1966.
Peugeots are reputed to be rugged vehicles, and the 204 was a good choice for my sister’s Rwandan adventures. Rwanda borders Lake Kivu, one of the African Great Lakes, which it shares with the Democratic Republic of Congo. But getting there is a bit of a challenge.
The ‘break’ provides additional space for the family, and the roof rack holds an extra spare tire or two. Given the road conditions, carrying extra wheels and tires is an essential precaution.
This is getting interesting…
I suspect it’s the same all over the world–plenty of free advice!
“Please don’t tell me you forgot the duct tape!”
That’s a Peugeot 304 on the so-called bridge. When it rains, it pours!
And just when you think nothing else can go wrong, a passing truck flings a large stone into the windshield:
Luckily, no one was hurt, but finding and fitting a replacement windshield is another story. Finally, after all that hard work and misadventure, it’s time for a ‘break’:
A fascinating look into life in the Middle East and Africa in the 1970s. The pictures are beautiful. I particularly like the Pug.
Louis, thanks for this glimpse into the past in a very different place. And two of my favorite French cars too. Well, I do like pretty much all of them, actually, but the R8 always appealed to my rear-engine self, and the little Pugs to my FWD self. The 204/304 was a very charming design, compact yet looking like a “real” car. Peugeot was so traditional back then; designing and building their first FWD car must have been quite a challenge; kind of like GM with their X Bodies.
Isn’t it great? I was beyond thrilled to have gotten this submission.
Second that!
I always loved the Renault 8’s styling. It is unique, nicely proportioned and so compact.
I truly miss my green Peugeot 304 with brown leather like vinyl interior.
Cool pictures.
That’s a very interesting story. Would love to have a version of that luggage rack for my toyota.
Quite impressive pictures the ones of the off-roading Peugeot. Definitely it’s not the kind of terrain you’d expect a car like that go through!
Peugeot 404 pickups were obiquitious still in the mid to late 2000’s in Libya. They all were so beaten and rusted out it was surprising they didn’t fall apart. Often you’d see them abandoned in the side of the road, half buried in the sand.
(picture taken from google)
Peugeot was actually a fairly successful contender in the old long distance African rallies back in the day; they won the East African Safari in 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968 (404s), 1975 and 1978 (504s). The 504s also won Rallye Bandama (later Côte d’Ivoire) in 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1978.
The 404 pick-up was built in Kenya until MY 1990. I saw a couple 404 sedans in Sri Lanka when I traveled there a couple years ago. And a few still roam the Argentine pampas… Rugged to say the least.
I always wondered why Peugeot, after the immensely long-lived 504, never bothered to produce that body style on its larger cars. Now Africans want Toyotas, Hyundais, Mercedes and increasing amounts of Chinese vehicles, not a 508. Seems they just left the market when they went FWD and stopped making 504 pick-ups about 10 years ago. Now they’re in pretty bad shape, selling most of their cars in their home market (and in China, which is the only glimmer of hope for PSA). But with no rugged RWD, no factory-bodied pick-up and no AWD to sell, Peugeot is neither building on its strengths nor following the trend.
Evocative pics. Thanks for sharing Louis.
Thank you Louis; your photos really capture the rugged essence that was very much Africa (and still is).
Great shots of a part of the world thats really changed now, that Fiat you couldnt identify looks to me like a 1500 Crusader forerunner to the 125. The little Pugs are cool I like em and Ive never seen that chromed grille on a Dauphine was it a deluxe feature.
Wow, what cool people, I have an aunt and uncle who did a similar thing at a similar time and it was really inspirational.
I love film and by the looks of it, your brother-in-law liked Ektachrome since it is such high resolution and it has lasted so long. What a wonderful vault of living, high resolution vault of history.
The photographer was actually my sister, who took the vast majority of the nearly 1000 slides documenting her family’s stay in Africa. Her preferred film was Kodachrome.
A few years ago, I loaned her my Nikon slide scanner, and she spent many long hours digitizing her slides at high resolution (5000×3750, scaled down to 1200×900 for this posting). Most slides required minor tweaking in Photoshop (that’s my job) to restore the correct colour and levels, but the results are worth the extra effort. It’s very satisfying to bring back apparently faded and discoloured slides back to their full glory.
Lived in Algeria for a while and worked on the Hassi ‘R Mel natural gas project in the middle of the Sahara desert.
I believe the coastline of the North African countries is one of the most pleasant places in the world to reside, the soil is furtile and it is a very green environment.
I lived at the coast in a Hotel with what I always call 5 stars and 2 comets, very nice.
I drove a rental Brazillian imported VW Passat, out of Algiers at dawn, throught the low lands, then the Atlas mountains and the thing that alwasy struck me was you’d come through a corner and all of a sudden this vast Sahara desert was in front of you.
Then flatout with the VW on the desert road, passing Berliet and Mercedes trucks bound for Tamanrasset with their hughe balloon like tires.
Standing on a gas sphere in February in your short sleeves, nice sunny Sahara winter weather and seeing sandstorms in the distance…
I’d really love to go back there but unfortunately you cannot these days.
And all the locals drove Pigots.
The 404 Estate.
Great photos .
-Nate
In the 4th picture the 3rd car from the left is a Renault 16. My dad had one, was a great car.
Amazingly the wheelbase on the left (drivers side) is different than the wheel base on the right. The left wheelbase is about 3 inch longer. This is because of the unique torsion bar suspension.
Your sister certainly had a sense of mission. It is a shame that humans have such a hard time holding together the fruits of peace as seen in these wonderful pictures.
Great write up.
Thank you so much for this great story that is so nicely illustrated.
Just goes to show you that taking, what sometimes appears like irrelevant photos, will make you happy long afterward. Yes Africa used to be a nice place.
Many of my friends traveled North Africa and further south in the 70s and never had anything but the best time, meeting wonderful local people along the way.
How sad that all this has changed so much, for the worst.
Thank you for the trip back in time and excellent photos.
Very nice photos and write-up! Certainly a different world back then…
sweet write-up!
you were not exactly wrong on guessing the Fiat being something from behind the iron curtain: in fact, it could very well be! after production stopped in Italy, Fiat passed on the tooling to Yugoslavia’s Zastava (of Yugo “fame) who went on to build the car as Zastava 1300 from the late sixties through 1979/1980. these cars where ubitquitous in Yugoslavia (as far as I remember from summer vacations spent there in the 80ies) and my guess is there are more Zastava 1300’s left in the world than Fiat 1300’s.
That cracked windshield reminds me not to complain so much when I get dinged by ballistic stones from certain Tucson roads (lots of gravel trucks); none have penetrated so far, but I’m a good customer for that Permatex kit.
Strange that French cars seem more useful & appreciated in rugged Africa than the hyper-paved US.
Very interesting read & great photos…
Very, very late to this (I am behind in my CC reading!) but this was a wonderful post with wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing them Louis!
hello.
i’m from Tunisia. do youi have more pics about your R8.
very great pics. i want more
sincerly yours