S.A.P.R.A.R. was the department within Renault dealing with accessories and spare parts from the 1930s onwards. In collaboration with coachbuilder Pourtout, the company released a small series of sporty roadsters and convertibles based on the Primaquatre. One still exists and the spotlight was on it at Rétromobile.
In March 1939, at the Geneva Motor Show, an extremely elegant convertible, based on the Primaquatre Sport, was presented on the Renault stand. A roadster version followed soon after. As World War Two broke out only a few months later, the commercial careers of these two versions came to an early end.
S.A.P.R.A.R. stands for ‘Société Anonyme Pièces Réparation Accessories Renault’ and is, as it were, the forerunner of the Renault Boutique. Through the Renault dealer organisation, the company supplied spare parts as well as accessories, some of which were purchased from external suppliers. At the end of the 1930s, the company also started modifying existing Renault models. In November 1938, the Juvaquatre convertible (découvrable) was the first of such conversions. In January 1939, a similar variant of the larger Renault Primaquatre followed promptly, but it remained unique, with only one model built by coachbuilder Pourtout.
But S.A.P.R.A.R. went a big step further. Pourtout was asked to design a convertible based on the Primaquatre Sport. To this end, the company called on the help of its own design department, headed by Georges Paulin. This department was also responsible for the design of the Peugeot 302 and 402 Darl'mat, which were also built by Pourtout.
The first version was a 2+2 convertible. The roadster, which had lower-cut doors also had a windscreen,which could disappear directly into the bodywork, right behind the bulkhead. A total of fifteen convertibles and nine roadsters were built up to the outbreak of the war. The tenth roadster saw the light of day at Pourtout in October 1945.
Unsurprisingly, hardly anything survived of this small series of special Primaquatres and, as far as is known, there is one survivor. This red/black specimen spent a large part of his life in Spain and is now part of a large collection of the former Renault dealer in Madrid, C. de Salamanca.
At the last Rétromobile, we spoke to Jorge Agero, a cousin of the person, who bought the car some forty years ago, simply because he thought the Renault was elegant and beautiful. "My uncle had the largest private collection of classic cars in Spain, composd of no less than twelve hundred vehicles. For thirty years, my mother's family was a Renault dealer in Madrid with five branches. That was from the 1950s to the 1980s and, when my uncle died, the collection was split into three. My niece, the current director of C. de Salamanca, owns part of the collection, of which this Renault Primaquatre Sport S.A.P.R.A.R. forms a part. In this collection, there is also a Renault EK and a larger model dating from before 1920. A few years ago, a beautiful 40CV ‘skiff’, with aluminium bodywork, was sold, the car being originally delivered new in Spain".
Jorge, a camera man by profession, is in charge of the collection. An eighteen months’ restoration project was completed around 2014. The car retained its red-over-black colour scheme, although this turned out not to be original. As part of the research for the book about Darl'mat, published by ETAI some years ago, Emile Darl'mat's son-in-law came to Spain, especially to view the Primaquatre. He could not believe that the car still existed.
Jorge added "I have been asked many times whether it is a replica. However, the French visitor was able to rconfirm that the original colour of this car was probably Darl'mat's familiar light green. He also told me that this must be the eighth car in the series of Renaults, converted by Pourtout".
As previously mentioned, the car has been part of a large Spanish collection since around 1980. But the Primaquatre was supposed to have been in Spain as early as around 1942. On the bulkhead, next to Renault's diamond-shaped shield, is a second plate showing details of the first Spanish owner. His name was Emilio Carpas Gutierrez Zorilla. He lived in Granada at Vistillas de los Ángeles and he drove the Renault at that time on the same license plate, which the car now carries - M 66265. This means that the Primaquatre has retained the same license plate for almost eighty years and Jorge wants to keep it that way. Accordngly, he did not choose to have a classic license plate, because then he would have lost the original number.
Jorge explained "This is the first time that this Renault Primaquatre Sport S.A.P.R.A.R. has been exhibited. When the car was completed, I sent pictures of it to Renault Classic and that is how the contact started. As far as we know, this is the only survivor of this series. Very occasionally, I drive it. It turns out to be surprisingly comfortable. It takes some time to get used to the large lever, which operates the starter motor, in contrast to the small pedal which was common in those years. It is also remarkable that the long gear lever is almost on the floor. Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that, with the roadster, the windscreen can descend vertically sink into the bodywork and thus the gear lever could not run at a higher level through the bulkhead".
The beautifully machined aluminium dashboard was worn out and had to be completely rebuilt during the restoration. Originally, Jorge had the convertible hood made in beige, but it did not look good at all in combination with the paint scheme. That is why a second hood was made in black. An amusing detail is that the original carburettor fitted to the 2.4-litre, four cylinder ‘85’ engine could no longer be repaired and that is why the engine is now fitted with a Renault 4 carburettor, which works fine.
To be more precise, the car is a 1939, Type BDS-2 Renault Primaquatre Sport, which carries the chassis number 923187 and the engine number 85105. A look in the interior reveals that everything is new - from the red, leather upholstery to the beige carpet. Form pictures, Jorge shows that the car had both a front and a rear bumper at the time of purchase, but those turned out to have been put on later in Spain. Originally this car did not have any bumpers and they did not reappear during the restoration either. Although they do not appear on the original 1939 pictures, this car has four round, chrome openings in the bonnet, in the style of the Darl'mat Peugeot 402. This detail was already present at the time that the car was purchased by the family. Jorge would like to modify the rake of the steering wheel, because, at the top, the rim is so close to the split windscreen, that, when manoeuvring, one’s hands become stuck between the rim and the windscreen.
Jorge believes it to be important that the Renault Primaquatre Sport S.A.P.R.A.R. should havze been exhibited for the first time in Paris at Rétromobile. He is grateful to Renault Classic that this small car with a great history and a beautiful design has been able to shine on Renault’s official stand. And enthusiasts owe Jorge a debt of gratitude that the Primaquatre has crawled out of its Spanish shell after such a long time.