Renault 6 rescue: part deux

I told you last time how we discovered my late friend Bob's Renault 6 that had been hidden away for 23 years, but where I left the story the car was still in his garage and no attempt had been made to move it. We went there purely to buy some model buses and had no idea we were going to find a car, so we were totally unprepared and had no tools with us on that first occasion. Here we pick up the action just over a week later, back in Rugby with the trusty Zafira packed to the rafters with tools to deal with any eventuality, including a six-foot scaffold pole for applying some brute force should that prove necessary. Transport had been arranged, thanks to Chris of Field of Dreams fame, so our aim was to get the car rolling so it could be moved out of the garage ready for the journey to its new home.

What have we let ourselves in for and will it come out of there?

The first job was a bit of gardening to dig away the mounds of earth that Bob had for some reason dumped in front of the garage. That done, we could finally pull the doors wide open and get a proper look at what we had bought, and we weren't disappointed. A potential lack of keys was a concern as the car would have to be turned through 90 degrees to get it out into the alleyway, and without the key in the ignition the steering would be locked. Barry had found some Renault keys but they didn't fit this car, so what they were for and why Bob had kept them remains a mystery. I had a rummage through Bob's tin of keys and after finding a set for a long-gone Lada soon pulled out a Renault keyring, which sure enough contained a full set of keys for the 6.

First class accommodation. Bob adorned the windows with railway stickers.

It had been left unlocked but all of the door locks still work and the doors and windows open and close without issue. The ignition seems to be broken though as the key goes in but won't turn, but as luck would have it the steering lock is also not working so it could be steered out of the garage. Fortunately Bob had left the car with the handbrake off and only the nearside front brake was seized - a bit of persuasion with a breaker bar soon got the wheel turning and the scaffold pole didn't need to be employed. The tyres weren't completely flat so they were pumped up and held air, and it was time to see if the Renault would move. It's so light you can grab hold of the bumper and pull it around, and less than two hours after we arrived it rolled outside and saw daylight for the first time since 1994.

A momentous occasion. It's out of the garage for the first time in more than two decades.

All this activity soon attracted the attention of the neighbours, who knew the car was there but had never seen it move, so they were amazed to find it being worked on out in the open and delighted to hear it had been saved. They all agreed Bob was a lovely man but a chronic hoarder who was very reluctant to throw anything away or spend any money on the house, so the fact he had kept the car for so long wasn't at all surprising. We did find a handwritten for sale sign with an old four-digit phone code so it looks like he made a half-hearted attempt to sell it and then laid it up when he didn't find a buyer. The garage wasn't completely abandoned though and Bob must have been in there fairly recently as among all the junk we found a pile of TV guides dating from 2013. Searching inside the car sadly didn't yield any hidden treasure, just some cloths and an ancient Fairy liquid bottle full of water on the parcel shelf and a pencil in the glovebox.

A sight the neighbours never thought they'd see

With the wheels now free to roll the car was pushed back into the garage to spend its final week there before it could be collected. One week later and just a few days after what would have been Bob's 75th birthday, we set off for Rugby again, this time with Chris in his Range Rover and trailer. We were delayed a bit by a problem with the trailer lighting, but as you'll see later this must have been divine intervention by Bob. The journey was uneventful and the Renault was soon loaded up and ready to leave its home town for the first time in its life. Towing such a distinctive load caused a lot of passers-by to look and point in disbelief, but that was nothing compared with the amazingly improbable coincidence that was about to happen.

All loaded up and ready to go. It's quite something to behold.

Just five miles outside Rugby we were flagged down by a couple in a modern Ford, who were most insistent we should stop so all sorts of thoughts ran through our minds. Had we upset them somehow? Were the straps loose? Was it falling off the trailer? No, it turns out they had owned this very car in the early 1980s and sold it to Bob, and were utterly gobsmacked to see it again as they had assumed it was long gone. Naturally we swapped contact details so they should be able to help us fill in some of its history and see how its resurrection progresses. What are the chances of such a thing happening just 15 minutes after the car had left its hiding place of the last 23 years? Had we not suffered the earlier delay our paths would never have crossed, so I have no doubt Bob was influencing events from the next life.

Bye bye Rugby. A new life starts here.

The rest of the journey passed without incident and the Renault duly arrived in its new home. The first task was to give it a thorough clean and see what it really looked like under more than 20 years of grime. There appears to be nothing significant missing and even the original jack and wheelbrace are still in place under the bonnet. Considering it was brush-painted, the paint is very sound and did a good job of protecting the bodywork; there is some rust in odd places but none looks serious. As we suspected the engine won't turn over and will need further investigation, and a brake rebuild is also a necessity. It definitely has a lot of potential though and is far too good to scrap, so the aim is to get it running and stopping, then put it in for an MOT and see what happens.

Home and dry. I hope we've done Bob proud.

Several long-standing MBF members have fond memories of Bob attending meetings in the Renault a long time ago and were surprised that he still had it so many years later, and hopefully before too long it will be back on the road and appearing at our meetings once again. We may have had no intention of acquiring another classic but everything just fell into place and this little car obviously wanted to be saved, so I firmly believe Bob was up there guiding its destiny and is smiling down in the knowledge that his old car has found an enthusiastic new home. What an incredible and unexpected adventure and a fitting tribute to a dear departed friend.

Maxi meets its new friend. The Renault looks better already for a good wash.