Sweet sixteen 1: my personal R16 history

My first automotive memories were on the R8 of my father. That was, like me, of 1966 and white. The sound of the rear engine is still in my ears...

Later, a silver Renault 16 was bought. That was only short with our family, then came THE R16 of my childhood: a leomn yellow TS, of 1974. I discovered a lot of things in this car: reading light for the passenger! Rear screen demister! Rev counter! Foldable armrest for the rear passengers!, and so on... what a difference to the R8! In this car I also understood the principle of H - gearshift, and as well the play with clutch and accelerator (in the garage, with my father´s permission!). The TS had a black "racing line" on the sides, with "R16 TS" written in it, very sporty, very seventies. Later this car became victim of an undeserved accident.

This car really made a deep and stable impression to me, but later I never owned one - until they nearly disappeared from Austrian streets. But I stayed with Renault - R12, Fuego, R6, R18, R9.

Meantime I travelled various times to latin america, where a lot of more or less beautyful old cars are used in normal road traffic. Especially in Colombia, where you Renault assembly factory is located, you can find a lot of R4, R6 and R12. So I had the idea to have my own classic car.

Due to my own history, certainly it could only be ab old Renault. First of all I thought about an R4, but soon I remembered the R16. Memories came up in my mind! It should be an R16! Soon I read several ads, and two times I found an R16. But both were to be abandoned (something that´s called "good restauration basis"). Then one day I heard about an R16, that was retired for more than ten years now:

My R16 Bj. 1966 called "Viktor" Back to "My sweet sixteen"