La Renault 4, La Voiture Blue-Jean

LES CAHIERS PASSION 4 RENAULT TOME 1 - GÉNÈSE ET ÉVOLUTION PART 1 - GENESIS AND EVOLUTION T1_HISTOIRE_ET_PASSION.indd 1 19/01/11 11:20 THE ““BLUE-JEAN” CAR > Projet 350 - 1958 > Publicité châssis - 1967 “Give me some volume” Appointed head of the state- centres - they moved into new from Monday to Friday, then For Pierre Dreyfus, the car owned Renault Company urban districts that sprawled transform into a family car of tomorrow was all about on 27th March 1955, Pierre outward to the suburbs. It for weekend trips away and versatility : it had to suit town Dreyfus contemplated the car was a new world, with an summer holidays. and countryside, weekdays with the eye and analytical increasingly dense active and weekends, work and There was one more change to mind of a sociologist, re ecting population and a burgeoning holidays, men and women. come, a slower but crucial one on its conformity before middle class. The suburbs nonetheless, gaining momentum This was why the term “blue deciding that a complete were a new kind of space : as the years passed : the role jean car” was such a perfect t. overhaul was required : “The half-urban, half-rural, like a and place of women in society. car must no longer be just a town in the countryside. Thanks to full employment, the few seats and a boot. Give me For Pierre Dreyfus, the picture arrival of the second household some volume”, he instructed was clear : the era of one car inco me transformed social Design Department head Yves for the town and another for groups and family patterns Georges. the country was at an end. A and accelerated consumption, Pierre Dreyfus wanted a multi-purpose car was called including that of cars. Cars car suited to a fast-evolving for. Yet this versatility would were adopted by women. Not society. Everywhere, people not be determined only by only did the number of driving were deserting the countryside location. The spread of the licences nally begin to even out in large numbers. The age of towns and the absence of between the sexes, but women modernity was beginning with public transport networks were using cars so much that a rural exodus. These new gave the car a crucial role. It they began to play a key role urban types did not aim for city needed to become a work tool in buying them. > Pierre Dreyfus 2 T1_HISTOIRE_ET_PASSION.indd 2 19/01/11 11:20 LA RENAULT 4, LA VOITURE BLUE-JEAN «Faites-moi donc un volume» Nommé à la tête de la régie des champs. Il faut inventer campagnes, de la semaine et Renault le 27 mars 1955, l’automobile polyvalente. Mais des week-ends, du travail et Pierre Dreyfus regarde cette polyvalence ne tient des vacances, de l’homme et l’automobile avec l’œil et pas qu’au lieu. L’étirement de la femme. C’est là que le le sens de l’analyse d’un de l’habitat et l’absence terme de «voiture blue-jean» sociologue et s’interroge sur le de réseaux de transports va prendre toute sa mesure. conformisme de l’automobile, collectifs donnent une place au point d’aller résolument à primordiale à l’automobile. son encontre : «la voiture ne Celle-ci doit être un outil de doit plus être des fauteuils et travail du lundi au vendredi une malle. Faites-moi donc puis devenir les samedis et un volume», glisse-t-il à Yves dimanches la voiture d’une Georges, Directeur du bureau famille partant en week-end des études. ou, l’été, en vacances. Pierre Dreyfus veut une Reste enfin une dernière voiture adaptée à une société évolution, lente, mais en pleine évolution. Partout, essentielle et qui s’ampli e au la population déserte les [ l des ans, la place et le rôle campagnes, dans un large de la femme dans la société. mouvement où la modernité Grâce au plein emploi, l’arrivée commence par l’exode rural. du deuxième salaire bouscule Ces nouveaux urbains ne les catégories sociales et les viennent pas dans les centres- schémas familiaux ; il accélère villes, ils se dirigent vers de la consommation, dont celle nouveaux quartiers urbains de l’automobile. Le produit qui tendent à s’allonger pour est justement adopté par les se prolonger en banlieue. femmes : non seulement le C’est un nouveau monde les nombre de permis de conduire nouvelles classes moyennes. tend enfin à s’égaliser entre La banlieue devient un les sexes, mais les femmes nouveau lieu, mi-urbain, mi- utilisent l’automobile au point rural, une sorte de ville à la de jouer un rôle décisif dans campagne. l’achat. Le trait est parfaitement Pour Pierre Dreyfus, la voiture dessiné pour Pierre Dreyfus : de demain se décline sur les c’est la fin de la voiture des polyvalences : elle doit être à villes si différente de la voiture la fois celle des villes et des > Salon de l’Automobile - 1961 3 T1_HISTOIRE_ET_PASSION.indd 3 19/01/11 11:20 THE “BLUE-JEAN” CAR > Routes du Monde - 1983 The “Blue-jean car” and technical revolution The “Blue-jean car” bucked before reaching ladies’ the trend, much like the item wardrobes. More rebellious of clothing “you can wear in than revolutionary, unisex any situation, if you are not and egalitarian, they were as concerned about snobbery or much the clothing of James social conformity, explained Dean and Marlon Brando as Pierre Dreyfus, [An item] of the hippies who adopted that serves every purpose, them, customising them with can be taken everywhere, is embroidery and ares. inexpensive and can be taken The car was to have its own on and off without making you version of jeans. Pierre Dreyfus feel disoriented...” began by setting the price. It Originally work trousers would cost 350 000 francs, manufactured using a hard- and not a centime more ! The wearing denim weave, jeans message was so plain that were the overalls distributed designers referred to the project to New Deal workers in the quite simply as “350”. In other United States that in turn words, the cost determined the became popular trousers, design of the car, rather than then a fashion phenomenon the other way round - a method for student and artist types, that was outlandish for the time. > Habitacle - 1970 4 T1_HISTOIRE_ET_PASSION.indd 4 19/01/11 11:20 LA RENAULT 4, LA VOITURE BLUE-JEAN Voiture Blue-jean et révolution technique La «voiture Blue-jean» avant d’entrer dans les garde- s’écarte des conventions, à robes féminines. l’image de ce vêtement «que Plus rebelle que révolté, l’on peut porter en toutes unisexe et égalitariste, il circonstances si l’on n’a pas est autant l’habit de James de prétention au snobisme Dean ou de Marlon Brando et au conformisme social, que celui des hippies explique Pierre Dreyfus, [un qui se l’approprient en le habit] qui vous rend tous les personnalisant de broderies services, qu’on traîne partout, ou de pattes d’eph. qui ne coûte pas cher, qu’on peut remplacer sans se sentir L’automobile aura son jean. dépaysé…». Et Pierre Dreyfus commence par en fixer le prix. Ce sera Pantalon de travail fabriqué autour d’une toile denim 350 000 francs, et pas un sou > Insolite - 1971 inusable, le jean est tour à de plus ! Le message est si net tour la salopette distribuée que les concepteurs vont tout aux ouvriers du New Deal bonnement appeler le projet aux États-Unis, un pantalon «la 350». Autant dire que populaire, puis un phénomène l’étude de la voiture part d’un de mode pour les populations coût, soit une méthode tout à estudiantines et artistiques, fait inhabituelle pour l’époque. > Crash test - 1970 > Maquette Renault 4 - 1965 5 T1_HISTOIRE_ET_PASSION.indd 5 19/01/11 11:20 RENAULT 4, THE BLUE-JEAN CAR The “Blue-jean car” and technical revolution (next) From this requirement grew engine compartment on one the idea of keeping the 747 cc side and a shared boot and engine from the 4CV. passenger space on the other. The available space could be The interior equipment was modified to suit every need limited : the 350 would be by tilting the rear bench seat, inexpensive because of thus transforming the car from the features it did not have. a utility to a family vehicle. Styling, meanwhile, was not a major concern. To create a sturdy car that could be driven anywhere and To make the car versatile, the would be as hard-wearing as [ rst idea the designers came a denim weave, Renault opted up with was the at \ oor, which for independent torsion bar made loading easy. This was suspension, which provided of course followed by three signi cant travel, allowing the other features, made possible car to cope just as well with by the use of torsion bars dirt tracks as it would with > Salon de l’automobile - 1961 and horizontally-positioned motorways. hydraulic shock absorbers in the rear : the absence of a Although jeans could not be rear end panel, the extremely ironed, the Renault 4 had no low loading sill and the ability maintenance limitations : there to open the car from the back, would be no more lubrication via what was then called the points, or water levels to keep “service door”, later to be an eye on. The development known as the tailgate. of a sealed cooling system with an expansion chamber This brand-new architectural eliminated the risk of model revolutionised both overheating. Renault’s technical culture (the Renault 4 became its first front-wheel drive model after the Estafette LCV) and that of the automotive world : Renault had invented a twin- volume body, made up of an > Renault 4 fourgonnette - 1962 6 T1_HISTOIRE_ET_PASSION.indd 6 19/01/11 11:20 LA RENAULT 4, LA VOITURE BLUE-JEAN Voiture Blue-jean et révolution technique (suite) De cette obligation naît l’idée carrosserie à deux volumes, de conserver le moteur 747 cm3 composé d’un compartiment de la 4CV.

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