I do love seeing cars at the Cohort that I’ve never seen in the flesh. This Renault 7, posted by kurtzos, was obviously shot in Spain, as this rather unusual evolution of the R5 was only built there by FASA-Renault. It’s not just a trunk grafted on the back of a R5, as it also has a six-inch wheelbase extension. It also used chrome bumpers instead of the 5’s plastic ones, all of which were undoubtedly done to move the 7 into the next class up. Only the engine compartment didn’t get an upgrade, as only 1.0 and 1.1 L mills were on tap. The R7 was built from 1974 – 1984. Le Car Grand
Paul, you would love to see what the Iranians did with the R5. Including what I think was a Kia Pride chassis swap.
Google Pars Khodro PK
Nah, I don’t believe you. That’s definitely photoshop. Just like that, uh, FEMI engine the other day. Right?
As a kid, I remember thinking the Riley and Wolseley (sp?) versions of the Mini looked pretty silly with their tacked on trunk. And in fact I felt the same about the first-gen Jetta compared to the Rabbit (Golf), especially the 2 door, though for some reason the Civic 4 door didn’t seem out of proportion to me. Anyway, here’s a question …. was there a car before the BMC twins that had this design? Obviously there weren’t a lot of 2 box cars before then, but if anyone knows, it’s the CC crowd.
Wolseley Hornett recalling the OHC cars from the 30s one of which I found in pieces nearby but shot it on the wrong camera I’m going back to harvest a Singer interior so it will make the cohort eventually.
Le What? Interesting, never heard of such a thing.
That was polite. Are you trying to teach syke by example? 🙂
Oui
I remember this one well. I thought this was an abomination. My feeling was that the R5 was supposed to be a hatch only type of car.
Later, the Renault Clio II was also found with a trunk in some countries, mostly in the emergent markets, or even in the French Caribbeans where it was named “Symbol”. That last one did look wrong too IMO.
There have been many more of these: The new Fiesta looks much nicer as a hatch than Sedan, but again, just my opinion.
Actually, this could be really fun to list them all.
Symbol didn’t look as bad as the R5+boot shown above.
Luckily they’ve spared us this one…a toilet after a party in a students home would look best…
This actually looks pretty good considering what they started with, doesn’t really look tacked on.
I always thought these were way better looking than the r5 hatch 4 door. Seems to me the trunk with 4 doors gave it balance. Spain in the 80s was a great car watching country. Lots of stuff left over from 60s and 70s still. In addition to SEATS, lots of Renaults and Peugeots. Mercedes, BMW, and VW were not as common.
Oh, a car from my childhood!
I remember that my father (a Renault hater) said that these cars were slow and dull. Back in 1981-82 my father worked in the Pyrinees and would commute weekly from Barcelona to Vielha. His small but peppy Seat 127 could take the mountain roads far better than these Renault Siete (NOTE: It was never labelled as Renault 7 but it was a Renault Siete, as it was a Spain-only model)
I have to say that I rode in one and they were far more comfortable than my dad’s 128.
A true Spanish Curbside classic
PS Didn’t anybody notice the Peugeot 1008 in front of it and the Seat LeĂłn/Toledo behind?
Ha! The LeJetta 🙂
Looks good, though.