Italy vs France: 1962 Fiat 1200 Granluce vs One Of Several Renault 16s

Good morning! Today we’re headed back to project car land again, with a lone Italian against a half dozen French hatchbacks. I’ll explain in a minute. First, let’s see where we landed with Friday’s all-wheel-drive contenders:

Interesting. My wife actually preferred the Bravada, and her opinion counts more than any of yours. And I don’t really want to deal with a transverse V6, the more I think about it. With a little more searching, we’ve discovered that better deals are to be had on the larger SUVs, so we’re considering things like Expeditions and Tahoes and Yukon Denalis (or is it “Yukons Denali,” like “Attorneys General?”). I’ll let you know how it all turns out.

Today, however, we’re looking at smaller, older, rougher, more European vehicles. I found someone selling an adorable little Fiat, and a Renault hoarder looking to divest. Let’s see what they have to offer.

1962 Fiat 1200 Granluce – $1,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.2 liter overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD

Location: Garden Grove, CA

Odometer reading: unknown

Runs/drives? Engine runs, but not driveable

The Fiat 1200 was a larger, more upscale version of the 1100, which is one of those cars that was license-built for decades after Fiat stopped building it themselves. It never was a common sight in the US, but show this car to anyone of a certain age in, say, India, or Eastern Europe, and they’d recognize it instantly. The four-door sedan version of the 1200 was known as the “Granluce,” which translates as “great light” or “daylight,” a reference to the car’s enormous greenhouse, with a tall roof and big windows for a bright, airy feel.

Believe it or not, this is a six-passenger car. Its bench seat and column shifter wouldn’t look out of place in a contemporary American car, and supposedly it’s wide enough to allow three-across seating in both the front and the back. I think you’d all have to be really comfortable with each other, though. The seller says the seats are “together and functional,” which, hooray?

The little 1221cc pushrod four does run, but the car isn’t exactly roadworthy – it needs at least a brake master cylinder and the fuel tank cleaned out, and probably lots more. There’s some rust here and there (I mean, it’s a Fiat, after all) and the interior needs some work, but look at it! It’s so cute!

Yes, you’re right; you’ll never find certain parts for it, especially trim and interior bits. But who cares? Think of it as a blank slate. Finish it off however you like. No one is going to know what the interior of a Fiat 1200 Granluce is supposed to look like anyway.

One of six 1970ish Renault 16s – $1500-3000 each

Engine/drivetrain: 1.6 liter overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, FWD

Location: Glendale, AZ

Odometer reading: various

Runs/drives? Not for decades

The Renault 16 is one of those cars that was successful everywhere except the US. French cars never really caught on here, but they do have their enthusiasts, and the folks who love them really seem to love them. I mean, they made over 1.8 million of these things, and this guy owns 0.0003% of them. Not exactly cornering the worldwide market, but I bet it’s a significant portion of the US models.

The Renault 16 is a hatchback, but it predates the term; it was called a “Sedan-Wagon,” which I guess is accurate. It’s a weird design – when Renault went from rear-engine cars to front-engine cars, they basically just took the whole engine/transaxle assembly and moved it forward. The longitudinally-mounted engine, which was behind the rear axle, is now just behind the front axle. But that’s not the weird part. Because of the rear suspension design, the wheelbase is actually almost three inches shorter on the right side than the left. You’d think this would cause handling weirdness, but apparently it doesn’t, and in the grand French tradition, the ride quality is reportedly superb.

Unfortunately, it’ll be hard to experience that famous French smoothness in any of these without some work. Two of the cars have license plates with the registration tags visible; one was last on the road in 1979, and another in 1987. On the others, your guess is as good as mine, but I think it’s safe to say that the last tankful of gas pumped into any of these cost less than a buck a gallon.

Obviously any of these cars is going to be quite a project to put back into service, but they’re neat cars, and I think at least a couple of them deserve a chance. It’s probably best to carefully choose two of them and make one good one, and I bet the seller would make you a pretty good deal. Or – hear me out – buy all six, get ’em running, don’t worry about the cosmetics, and make the greatest spec-racing series of all time.

Yeah, I know, a lot of you hate it when I do project cars. But I think these are cool, and I like the idea of saving them. Who’s with me, and which one do you want?

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)