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Car of the Day: September 4, 2015; Matchbox '74 Renault 17 TL
Topic Started: Sep 4 2015, 02:31 AM (348 Views)
Dean-o-mite
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Muscle Car

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Today's car of the day is from corvairjim's collection, and is Matchbox's 1974 Renault 17 TL.


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Wikipedia
 
The Renault 15 and Renault 17 are two variations of the same coupe designed and built by French automaker Renault between July 1971 and August 1979. The R17 was sold as R177 in Italy, respecting a superstition. They were effectively coupe versions of the Renault 12. The main differences between the two cars were their headlight configuration (the 15 had two rectangular headlights whereas the 17 had four round headlights) and their rear side windows. Some markets show the 17 with the rectangular lights for TL versions. The Renault 15 and 17 were presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 1971.



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For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Renault 17


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The chassis and most of the running gear came from the Renault 12, while the 1565 cc 107 hp A-Type engine in the more powerful R17 TS and R17 Gordini models was derived from the engine in the Renault 16 TS. Though the mechanicals of the cars were derived from other Renaults, the body was completely new. October 1971: Introduction of the Renault 15 and Renault 17 two-door coupes. The R15 TL had the 1289 cc engine from the Renault 12 (rated at 60 hp), whereas the R15 TS, R17 TL and R17 TS all had the 1565 cc from the Renault 16 TS, rated at 90 hp for the R15 TS and R17 TL, and at 108 hp injection for the R17 TS. The R15 TL, R15 TS and R17 TL all had a 4-speed gearbox whereas the R17 TS had a 5-speed gearbox. 1973: Fabric sunroof available on R17 TL and TS. 1974: R17 TS engine upgraded to 1605 cc. In late 1974, for the 1975 model year, the R17 TS is renamed R17 Gordini without any technical differences. March 1976: New R15 and R17 ranges introduced as follows: R15 TL, R15 GTL, R17 TS and R17 Gordini. The R15 TL/GTL were mechanically identical to the earlier R15 TL, while the R17 TS and Gordini had the 1647 cc engine from the Renault 16 TX. 1979: R15/17 production ends.



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pjedsel
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:toy: For me one of the fun parts of growing up with little toy cars from Matchbox and others was the opportunity to be exposed to so many different brands of cars. In those pre-internet days it was more of a challenge sometimes to learn about these brands although there was a time when Renault was sold in the US. I can't say this was one of my favorite Matchbox models and if I hadn't been a completest in those days I am not even sure it is one I would have gotten. :) Again for the time it was what we anticipated and expected from Matchbox - opening doors, tow hitch - just nice play features and always little trailers from Matchbox to go behind this Renault and other cars.
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Hobie-wan
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Also available as an evil twin. :P

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atombaum
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The Quest Continues
pjedsel
Sep 4 2015, 11:36 AM
:toy: For me one of the fun parts of growing up with little toy cars from Matchbox and others was the opportunity to be exposed to so many different brands of cars. In those pre-internet days it was more of a challenge sometimes to learn about these brands although there was a time when Renault was sold in the US. I can't say this was one of my favorite Matchbox models and if I hadn't been a completest in those days I am not even sure it is one I would have gotten. :) Again for the time it was what we anticipated and expected from Matchbox - opening doors, tow hitch - just nice play features and always little trailers from Matchbox to go behind this Renault and other cars.
PJ, Thanks for recommending this site!

In any event, as a kid, I actually believed that most of the Matchbox models were dreamt up by Lesney's people in long blue lab coats (seriously) in some place called England, (hey, didn't the Beatles come from that place too?) and I used to admire what must have been their wild imaginations for coming up with such interesting looking cars - and all for the kid toy market. Why weren't such cool cars on the road? Remember how the kid brain worked? (if not - watch "A Christmas Story") - if you didn't know something, your imagination kind of took up the slack and filled in the blanks. It wasn't until much later that I began to realize those brilliant, but "odd looking" models were actually cars sold in other parts of the world. Who actually knew what a UNIMOG was in 1967? My dad and I used to look at the #49 UNIMOG (green/tan) and kind of chuckle, "What will they think of next?" And what did "Mercedes" mean? "Who Knows?" Other strange names: Corsair, Aveling Barford, Muir Hill, tipper, Bedford, Cortina, etc. It was on a trip to Scotland in 1995 that I first saw a Ford Anglia in person. It was a fun moment.

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Figure 1. Ford Anglia / Luss Scotland / June 1995

Don't mean to hijack the thread. Today's C.o.t.D. is great. I have five of the Renault 17TL in various states of existence.
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juantoo3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time this came around my attention was on girls instead of toy cars...

I have come across one or two in the past decade, and I like them. Kinda remind me of AMC Gremlins.
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corvairjim
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I think I mentioned on here recently how my best friend's father owned the local AMC/Jeep/Renault agency. The AMC/Jeep part of that combination was a later addition. It was "All Renault, all the time" until about 1973 or so. Yeah, he signed on just in time for the Pacer and the other-worldly Matador coupe. His demonstrator all through this time was generally a Renault something-or-other(He would bring home a Jeep with a snow plow on nights when snow was in the forecast, to plow out the driveways of friends and customers in the neighborhood, including ours after my folks bought a Pacer from him). One day, he saw me walking home from a visit to the junkyard behind the dealership (The only thing I would take were photos (and pulled over to give me a ride home in a silver blue Renault 17 Gordini. Three things about the car stick out in my memory: Its canvas sunroof that was very nearly the size of the entire roof, great ride and it's lack of sound deadening. I remember that I really liked the styling of the car, but I had to wonder just how safe a car with just 3 lug nuts per wheel could be.

Then there was the oddball of the lot: A Renault 16 that had been converted to a pickup truck! Not only that, but it wore lettering down each side proclaiming "Official Pace Car ISLIP SPEEDWAY". This trucklet had a coat of lime green metalflake worthy of a fiberglas dune buggy!

(P.S, - Welcome aboard, atombaum!
Edited by corvairjim, Sep 4 2015, 09:17 PM.
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