I wish I had survived the ravages of time so well !
I met the owner of this car whilst he was walking his dog. He was my age, late sixties I guessed, and the dog was a 12 year old female labrador retriever. Once friendly relations had been established with my dog, we exchanged doggy information, as dog owners usually do. It was only when I got back to my car that I saw his car parked next to mine. I wish I could have asked him about it.
It is a Renault 6TL, according to the badge on the back door. I guessed Seventies and found out later it first appeared in 1968. Admire the chrome bumpers, the absence of plastic, even the tiger tail windscreen mascot is indicative of its era. Clearly it was being used regularly: the dog's blankets covered the back seat. It was in pristine condition, inside and out.
I wondered if he had owned it a long time. Many older French people did not change their cars as often as we do. Perhaps it was his first car, bought new as a young man in his twenties, then carefully maintained ever since. Did mini-skirted girlfriends have to get in and out whilst trying to maintain some decorum, or the structural integrity of their beehive hairdos ? Was the back seat filled with kids and the family dog, with suitcases strapped to the roof, for the annual holiday? And indeed, how many dogs have passed through those doors over the years ?
Nearly 2 million of these cars were produced, and I wonder how many remain. Their chief weakness was corrosion, as with many cars of that era. Here by the Med we don't put salt on our roads in winter, so perhaps it's for that reason that this one has survived.
Vintage cars have charisma