the victorian renault RENAULT CAR CLUB OF VICTORIA IN THE BEGINNING A look back at the start of the Renault Car Club of Victoria REVIEWED Berwick’s dealer of our favourite marque RENAULT OF THE DECADE La Nouvelle 4 CV. “54” february 2013 DIAMOND JUBILEE 1953 - 2013 THE VICTORIAN RENAULT FEBRUARY 2013 Contents Welcome back, COMMITTEE MEMBERS 4 First up, let us make our apologies for the lateness of this PRESIDENTS REPORT 5 edition of The Victorian Renault. The changes we wanted to make took more organising than we anticipated. RENAULT MEDIA 5 News from the World of Renault As forecast, for this ‘Diamond Jubilee’ year we are fo- A DECADE IN THE HISTORY OF THE RCCV 6 cusing each edition on a decade in the term of the club. How the club began The Renault of the Month becomes the Renault of the REVIEW 8 Decade. We thought it would be a difficult task settling Dealer Review: Barry Bourke - Berwick on a particular model for each decade but it turned out ALSO IN ‘53 - ‘62 11 to be more straightforward than we expected. We hope What else happened in our first decade you agree with our choices. There were, of course, other worthy contenders in each decade so we have COMING EVENTS / CALENDAR 12-13 given some an ‘honourable mention’ as well. RENAULT OF THE DECADE 14 We are still undecided on the model for ‘83-’93 so Renault 4CV (aka 750) we’re asking for your nominations for that decade. CENTREFOLD 16-17 Original drawing - Dauphine Gordini In December we will also have a ‘Renault of the Half- Century’ - the iconic standout Renault in Australia over HONORABLE MENTION 19 the life of the club. We’re keeping our choice a secret Other significant models of the time and are opening a guessing competition. Write in and COOKING WITH GABRIEL 20 tell us your pick and, at the Christmas Do, we’ll award Confit Fruit Cake Loaf a prize to the first correct answer. You can change your mind by sending in another pick to replace any previ- JANUARY MEETING MINUTES 21 ous one you have but you only get one go at a time. TAKING CARE 22 A highlight of these six editions is the Centrefolds. There’s a better way to skinning a cat These are original works of art done by Rob Mekenk- SPORTING 25 amp expressly for the club. He’s donating the originals Motorkhana Jugiong 2013, VHC Hillclimb- to the club for auction or sale at the Christmas Do. ing, Australian Targa Championship For the history of the club series, this one, naturally, MOTORSPORT 26 Formula 1 starts at the beginning. To add to our woes in getting this edition out to print was the difficulty in finding infor- I’M NOT SELLING MY LAGUNA 27 mation on the early days of the club. If we do find more information on the first decade later on we may JANUARY GENERAL MEETING 27 ‘supplement’ what we’ve got in here. To go with the club history and to remind those of us who were CLUB SHOP 28 around then we’ve got a few notes on what else was going on at the time. VICTORIAN DEALERS 28 There’s a new one in Bendigo We hope you like the changes and that it is worth the LAUGHS PER MINUTE 29 wait. Ken and Geoff RECYCLED RENAULT 29 Copying- Disclaimer- Car club newsleTTers and magazines are free To copy The opinions expressed in The VicTorian RenaulT may noT be Those of The wiThouT wriTTen consenT, as long as recogniTion of ediTor and/or The commiTTee members acTing on behalf of The RenaulT the source material is given. Car Club of VicToria Inc. All arTicles are published in good faiTh and no responsibiliTy can be held due To circumsTances beyond our conTrol. February 2013 3 THE VICTORIAN RENAULT RENAULT CAR CLUB of VICTORIA COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESIDENT Mikee Elliott 0409 939 935 [email protected] VICE-PRESIDENT Ken Marriott 9399 1614 / 0418 178 788 ken.marriott@hmleisureplanning,com SECRETARY Chris Gajic 9735 0358 / 0421 459 226 [email protected] TREASURER Glenn Armstrong 0413 107 131 [email protected] MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Amanda Elliott 0409 195 002 [email protected] SPORTING COORDINATOR Stephen Langridge 0424 537 714 GENERAL COMMITTEE Two vacancies Volunteers welcome EDITORS Ken Marriott 9399 1614 / 0418 178 788 ken.marriott@hmleisureplanning,com Geoff Rasmussen 0419 357 509 [email protected] WEBMASTER Geoff Rasmussen 0419 357 509 [email protected] MERCHANDISE Kay Belcourt 9885 4376 CLUB PHONE NUMBER 0429 881 128 Welcome to new members ... CLUB MEETING Front Cover: Renault 4CV () WHERE… Dorothy Laver Reserve Pavilion Articles by Chris Gajic, Ken Marriott, Geoff Rasmussen Dorothy Laver Reserve Saxby Road Glen Iris (Mel 59 K10) Photos by Ken Marriott, Geoff Rasmussen, Rowena Rasmussen, Mikee Elliott, Amanda Elliott WHEN… Third Tuesday every month 7.30 pm 4 February 2013 DIAMOND JUBILEE 1953 - 2013 THE VICTORIAN RENAULT PRESIDENT’S REPORT What an amazing event we've just had! A we'll be needing a new home for the Roundup. Several op- brilliant turnout for the Roundup this year, tions are being Considered already, and priority is being with many Cars showing the benefits of our given to both spaCe and surrounding faCilities. DeCember detailing masterClass. Of note in partiCular was Paul Stewart's trusty R12, Motorsport for the year is beginning to get underway again, having reCently developed a surprising lustre with the first rounds of the ViCtorian HillClimb and Motork- and depth to its paintwork obvious in the full sun of the day. hana Championships held already. I'm keen to flex the Club's competition muscle again in this year's Rob Roy Interclub My heartfelt thanks to Ben PasCoe from City Automobiles for challenge, and with some potential new Cars popping up we making himself available for the duration of the event to may be in onCe again with a good CraCk at taking out the top showCase the new produCt available, and fielding many en- billing. Grab your Calendar now and reserve the 23rd June, quiries from interstate tourists curious about the sudden we'd love to have you there no matter what you drive, with appearanCe of the better part of a hundred Renaults in a everything from an R4 to the latest RenaultSport Clio having somewhat unusual loCation. taken part in the event in the past. OnCe again, it was great to see the R20 from South Australia Should Competition not float your boat, we're well underway make the trip, as well as the Tasmanian RS 225, and a sur- with planning for the next two big events on the Calendar, prise NSW guest in the form of an R26 Megane replete with our 60th Anniversary dinner, and this year's FrenCh Car Fes- rollCage was a welCome guest for the earlier part of the day. tival. I had oCCasion to briefly reminisCe about the venues we've used in the past, and it'll be a shame to lose the DoCklands Happy Renaulting! as a venue. We've heard rumour that ConstruCtion of a hotel of some desCription is due to CommenCe, so it looks likely Mikee RENAULT MEDIA News from the World of Renault Ken Marriott ReCord Sales Achieved...and a New Country Dealership He said that Renault Australia was “extremely confident of continuing growth in Australia in 2013, as we have a bevy of Here we go... another year, and for Renault in Australia, it’s exCiting new models to launCh, most notably the new Renault looking up! Sales are growing and the dealer network hit, Clio IV light car, whiCh will be available in the second half of 5,011 for the year, an amazing 38 perCent growth over the the year, and whiCh will plug a gaping hole in our line up. 3,622 sales of 2011. This is the highest sales level sinCe the brand returned to Australia in 2001. Even more, Hocevar noted that “The affordable Renault Clio IV light car monthly sales reCords for 6 of the 12 months of 2012 were will give us the musCle power to Compete in one of the big- the highest sinCe 2001. gest and most aCtive market segments. We promise light Car buyers looking for a ChiC, sexy, sporty and exCeptionally well- One dealer PrinCipal reported that whereas he had not so equipped five-door hatCh that Renault will have the answer long ago been selling 4-5 cars a month, he’s now up to 4-5 a to their needs”. week, helped hugely by Renault Australia’s support for capped serviCing, low interest rates, the 5 year, unlimited Plans are also afoot to expand the light CommerCial vehiCle kilometre warranty for new and demonstrator vehiCles, bet- range and to extend the marque into new market segments ter marketing and better produCt. while more emphasis will be put on the Approved Used Cars program, on adding more dealers in Convenient locations Last month (Jan 2013), Renault Australia announCed that it outside the major metro Centres, and on Continuing the five- is to Continue Capped serviCing aCross the entire produCt year faCtory warranty on new passenger Cars. range. All passenger vehiCles will be Capped at $299 inClud- ing GST for the first three years while CommerCials will be Another Koleos capped at $349 –the most Competitive rates in the market. The late November 2012 announCement from Renault Aus- Justin HoCevar, Managing DireCtor of Renault Australia, said tralia that a new Koleos Privilege Diesel will take its plaCe at “We are delighted that we were able to welCome so many new the top of the Koleos line-up will Certainly help sales further, Customers to the brand..