The Renault With A Past

I was in college when I had a close encounter with Renault. My French lessons at Alliance Francaise were going strong and I was an aggressive student with a passion for anything that had something to do with France, ranging from boring Le Revolution movies to raging Gerard Depardieu hits. And of course I was saturating myself with all the Peugeot, Citroen and Renault stuff that the Alliance library could throw up.

Such was the scene when a friend told me that there was an auction at which a Renault was up for grabs. He rode a BSA Bantam 11, labelled The Great Indian Patriot in college, and off we went on the metal horse to attend the auction.

 

The location was a health department yard where many white Ambassadors and Standard 20 vans rusted in peace. The car in question was a Renault 4 with a World Health Organisation stamp in blue on either side. It had been there for long and rust was beginning its art on the door sills. My friend was all over it and declared it eminently restorable and was already suggesting the possible paint tones that ranged from bold sun flowers to reproduced college graffiti. I was generally satisfied with his assumptions, but had already spotted a birds nest next to the steering wheel console. My friend dismissed it as trivial and was now enquiring the price of the machine. The minimum to be quoted was about six grand and we were positive that we would get the machine for just under ten if we really wanted it. Things were actually happening, and we were about to buy a French car, that too a Renault 4. Then tragedy struck.

A man, maybe in his late fifties, approached us from the modest gathering that was now seated around the auctioneer. You want to buy this car? We took a step back as the pungent smell of arrack hit us with more force than the BSA single exhaust. Buy it if you like it, but I just wanted to tell you that I have transported many sick people in this car and some dead bodies too. He hastily added that the car was otherwise perfect but his voice was already wailing in the wake of the BSA exhaust note as we rushed out. No, we couldnt possibly drive around a Renault 4 painted in the sunflower theme with the thought that it did nobler acts in its past. Like carrying dead bodies.