As the Renault 5 turns 50 this year, we talk to some previous owners about life with the French supermini … and reveal how the classic car is set to make a comeback writes Geraldine Herbert
Jack Lynch was Taoiseach, Elton John was topping the charts and The Godfather was the film everyone was talking about: the year was 1972.
It was also the year Renault launched the first supermini, the Renault 5. It was a voiture à vivre: a car for all seasons, for holidays and work, for weekdays and weekends, for town and country and would go on to sell more than five million units.
And it wasn’t only the Europeans who were charmed by the innovative design and practicality — it was sold in both the US and Japan under the name of Renault Le Car and Renault Go respectively.
Cheap and reliable, it was a big hit with first-time car buyers. Jason O’Brien splashed out £300 on a 1981 Red Renault 5.
“I was 24 and I bought if off an old lady in Tramore,” says Jason. “I travelled all over the country in that car. There was no heating in it, and no radio. The windows sometimes rolled down, but not back up. The driver’s door had no lock, so I had to always park the driver’s side of the car near a wall and climb across and get out the passenger’s door. I also bought one of those steering locks that were put on the steering wheel and gearstick to prevent your car been robbed. Looking back now, I don’t think I needed it.”
Siobhán Cronin was the proud owner of a lime green Renault 5 she bought in 1989, having just started her first job as a ‘roving’ reporter with the Leitrim Observer.
“As a child, I never had many dolls but I had a big box of Corgi and Matchbox cars, which I still had until very recently! And when I watched American TV shows I was always more fascinated by the cars the detectives drove, rather than the characters.
“Having spent the first few weeks of my new reporting job getting lifts off solicitors and court clerks to attend courts all around Leitrim, Cavan, Sligo and Roscommon, I was so excited to have my own ‘wheels’. I also was able to ditch the two-stage bus or rail journey from Leitrim home to Cork once or twice a month, and have the comfort of my little Renault, ‘Robbie’ – complete with the Goodmans tape stereo system, of course.”
Siobhan still remembers one particular visit to the courthouse in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim
“I wasn’t long driving and had parked outside the gates of the courthouse. To my horror, I hit the accelerator instead of the brake as I was stopping, and my car jumped forward and create a domino effect with all the cars parked on the little hill there, all the while being watched by what seemed like every garda and solicitor in Co Leitrim, who were all chatting outside the courthouse.
“I did a small bit of damage to several tail-lights. I left a note on every windscreen with contact details, but nobody ever rang me. I think all the owners probably saw it happening and felt sorry for the cub reporter with the L-plates,” says Siobhán.
Most Renault 5s were fitted with a modest engine but if you wanted to go fast on a budget, there was the Alpine. Launched in 1976, it was the original hot hatch.
Karl Carpenter’s first set of wheels was a beige Renault 5.
“My car had a stereo unit, a tape cassette radio, and Siberian tiger print seat covers. It was like something out of Only Fools and Horses. I thought it was great until I went to France, where a mate of mine had a Renault 5 Alpine. It was a monster, and on the road it was incredible,” recalls Karl.
But it wasn’t just young drivers Renault had identified as their target market — there was a growing demand for a second car in households and women were increasingly becoming car owners.
A busy mum to five kids under the age of six, Maureen Tully bought her first car — a blue Renault 5 — in 1982. After a decade of reliability and service, it was replaced by Maureen’s ‘Red Rocket’.
“The Red Rocket was just wonderful. It was noisy enough to announce my arrival to one and all and small enough when collecting the now teenagers from Wesley Disco to smell the illegal alcohol consumption that they hoped eating a packet of Tayto would hide.
“The stories I overheard on those journeys home, the hearts broken and mended and the plans that were hatched when they thought I couldn’t hear them over the exhaust noise.
“In the end, the Red Rocket was towed more often than driven and when the time came to say goodbye, I did shed a tear,” says Maureen.
The Renault 5 model was available as a three- or five-door, but other variations included the Alpine or Turbo and there was an automatic option. It was to prove very popular with families as reliable and enduring transport.
But some Renault 5s became family cars more by accident than by design, recalls Colman Noctor.
“My dad worked for Renault so that’s all we drove, and one weekend he had a green Renault 5 on loan to see if my mam wanted to buy it. Mam, who drove a red Renault 4 at the time, wasn’t keen on it at all and in particular the colour.
“It was parked on a hill in our driveway when I, then only a four-year-old, while pretending to drive it, let off the handbrake and it rolled out the gate and crashed into a trailer. I can still see my dad chasing the car out the gate! We ended up having to buy it and years later both my sisters and I learned to drive in it,” says Colman.
Rob Farrell’s green family car came with an extra feature — a silver bonnet.
“Back in the eighties, Renault 5 cars were crazy colours and it was easy to find a part for a car very cheaply. Sometimes parts would land on your doorstep when you least expected them,” recalls Rob
“One day my dad was out driving when he came across a silver 5 with a green bonnet. The other driver and my Dad were on the same page straight away. They pulled over and struck a deal and no money exchanged hands. You’d never see the likes of that today.”
There is no doubt the real strength of the Renault 5 was the diverse range. From the first generation with the gear lever on the dashboard to the R5 Turbo, it appealed to everyone from learner drivers and young mums to families and more mature drivers seeking reliable wheels. There was even a successful rallying version. It also paved the way for a host of other superminis and was eventually succeeded by the Clio.
But the story of the Renault 5 doesn’t end here — a new chapter begins in 2024 when the classic car is due to return as an all-electric model. Watch this space.
Geraldine Herbert
21st February 2022
