Hello everyone,

Here is officially the adventure of two Renault 4 enthusiasts determined to produce a quality refabrication of the orange / black check fabric for their beautiful car. We will update the progress of this project as the information is presented to us.

We vouch for helping to finance what will be missing for the realization of the project!

Our motivations are diverse. It seems essential to us to help a project like this, which will never be profitable. Among all our remanufactures, several are also to fall into the category "patronage", or I do not know which word to attribute to them, because their profitability will never be possible!

But it seems to us necessary for a company concerned and run by enthusiasts of these models, to help other enthusiasts who want to release something! These are the same motivations that push us to invest in our event "Le Temps Jadis", our announcements site "annonces-estafette-4l.fr", forums ... which are so many places and energies dedicated to our dear cars!

In addition it has a double meaning for us, they are also witnesses "not concerned", that is to say, without commercial ambition, of an adventure of remanufacturing, with its constraints of means, mobilization of cash, exchanges with different trades, development of specifications, a communication strategy ... These are aspects that are part of our daily life, we (who) (re) manufacture parts for our Renault 4 and courier.

In short, their palpable enthusiasm, their joys in discovering a new interested "client", their intact motivation which reminds us of the beginnings in this way make us happy and motivate us!

We are also launching here a signal to the entire Renault 4 and Estafette community: We are also and above all your partner! Our motivation to start this story in 2014 was to run our cars, manufacturing our parts according to our quality criteria and having the possibility of bringing our level of requirement to them. Long, difficult, but rewarding and so interesting work!

In short, my blah is over, make way for the beautiful story!

At the end of last year, I received an email asking me to intervene in an interesting project, the remanufacturing of a fabric for Renault R4! The orange and black checked fabric.

Already relayed in the specialized press, this initiative is carried by two enthusiasts, but they would like to be able to count on the investment of a partner, a brand from the community. Fortunately, when I saw the email, the other traders had remained deaf to their request, allowing us to become their accomplice!

Here is their presentation text:

New for the orange / black check upholstery
From the shadow to the light

This dashing good all-rounder from the diamond brand would she prepare to offer a nice touch of youth under the renamed folds of her orange red interior dress?

You will undoubtedly have followed the recent events which have been crowned with success, thanks to the sustained efforts of 2 trellor friends, the remanufacturing of the chevron fabric for the R3 and R4 base.
Tired of crisscrossing the numerous fairs, stock exchanges, dedicated trade signs, forum and other social networks, we too have decided to invest in the refabrication of the orange fabric for 4L Luxe.

We are individuals, a couple from Ile-de-France by birth, with a beautiful hereditary imprint of the 4L which still floats in our child's head:
- Gilles, fell into it very small, the car is my potion - passion;
- Marie-Noël, infected with the virus, 4L knows me, it was my first car and my mother had a Jogging. Only it’s me driving, and it’s better! Gilles is completely blind! But whatever, that's not the subject!

In 2010, we took the plunge; to honor in our own way the 50 years of this "mini limousine" of the diamond brand, why not treat yourself to a good old 4L? Deal concluded, at the end of the year it was done, we got our hands on this little grille, a July 62, please!
As she already admitted a very nice body and chassis juice, we proudly repatriated her to our suburbs, all dapper in her gray-white Valois costume.
Only, same symptoms as its congeners, the saddlery has aged; despite everything, Marie-Noël will save it by reinforcing the bottom with a burlap and by adapting rubbers in a 2 CV way. Heresy? Nevertheless, even if the driver's place remains fragile, it still holds!
Admittedly, it will be necessary to resolve to find a solution for renovating the front seats (cigarette burns, wear on the fabric, etc.), while the rear bench seat has remained completely preserved, of course reflecting a certain patina over time.

From there cavalcades, as for many of our friends, and then always the same negative answers: no follow-up for this kind of fabric (especially for a popular car), no use to keep stock, too rare vintage catalogs, no archive at the Régie…

As we never admit defeat, one day around a forum we discover the message of our two protagonists of the herringbone fabric.

And since last July, the initial date of our flight, these good geniuses have provided us with all the help, all the generosity of which they are capable; they introduce us to passionate craftsmen, who share with us the methods of carrying out their trades: weaver, saddler, and an expert in textiles who will undoubtedly have a vital role in the implementation of the project. This is also the spirit of our 4L community!

At the moment, we are already counting more than half of preorders registered, given a target of 30 sets of fabric to reach.
We expect a remanufacturing there again perfectly identical to the original material, the cotton will be subjected to an in-depth analysis from a period sample, with the implicit guarantee of a fiber in all vegetable points.
With a very clean sample found in a saddler in Touraine, we return in early December from a trip to Lyon to meet the expert and an agent of the Minolta company for the study of color by spectrography. . We took care to ask for a colorimetry from the back of the fabric, face never having undergone solar or lunar radiation, from where an apparent difference of nuances between the fabrics met with these days here and there and the true color such that it could appear to the eye when a new car was delivered.
After this essential operation, our expert will study the thread and choose spinners and dyers before the weaver enters the lists.

It is impossible to count how many R4Ls are still circulating today. Taking into account a production very provided as of the exit of the car, one could schematically estimate a figure of 300,000 for the model which interests us between 61 and 63. Beyond September 63 indeed, it will be the famous red skai coral which will coat the interior of the 4L.
How many are left today? Very difficult to say. Not to mention the non-rolling cars, yet put on sale on well-known shopping sites, and which we can hope to be promised for beautiful restorations!

Let’s already think of 2021, 60 years of Beauty; our project will be closed for a long time! How will our future young enthusiasts do if they want to rehabilitate an ancestral 61 forgotten in the nettles? How many goldsmiths have we come across who have brought back to life a wreck on which no one would have bet?

We have exposed to the supplier "Vintage Vehicles" our ambitions, our passion, but also our fears of knowing that such a project would self-suppress as soon as the production of the number of expected kits is completed. And the response from this brand was spontaneously positive, without any ambiguity. Thanks to these people who suddenly take up the cause of our initiative, the project is saved, and for a long time!
This is a great boost to our motivation and our enthusiasm to serve it, and above all, to serve you.

Happy owners of a first generation 4L, don't hesitate to order!
To reach us, it's very simple:
Either you write to the email address created for the project This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Either you join our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Red-Tissue-R4L-103053134411614

The more we support this project, the more we will gain from its launch and its price,

Quatrelle-aesthetically,

Gilles & Marie-Noël LEBRETON