300 kg to help the farmer

Back in 1935, Robert Trinquesse started his Renault dealership in Rolampont, located in the French department of Haute-Marne where he initially focused on passenger cars such as the Celta, Prima- and Vivaquatres. However, after the war the demand for agricultural tractors increased considerably and in their rural surroundings Robert Trinquesse and his son, Claude, saw a gap in the market. At the beginning of 1956 Renault launched the new D-series tractors available with diesel engines due to the introduction of cheaper agricultural diesel. This marked the beginning of a flourishing trade that continued until around 1980.

At that time, Claude was running the company together with his brother but whilst Claude was very much in favour of  pursuing the tractor dealership, his brother prefered to concentrate on cars. It could have been argued that as small farms in the Haute-Marne were ceasing their activities at that time, the sales opportunities for agricultural tractors may be reduced. Said Claude Trinquesse: "Ever since we started selling Renault farm tractors in the mid-fifties, we have also supplied diesel oil to farmers, and we still do."

During the fifties, at about the same time as the start of the tractor dealership, Robert Trinquesse acquired a Renault Juvaquatre 300 kg van still fitted with the early engine, the original 1 litre side valve engine that was launched in this model in the late thirties. Claude recalls "When the D-series tractors came on the market, my father had the Juva painted in bright orange with matching signwriting. The white doors feature the Renault logo in four-colour edging. The colours correspond with the different types in the series: yellow (D22), red (E30), blue (D30) and green (D35). I can remember that we used the Juva in our company for about five or six years".

The third generation of the Trinquesse family, Claude's son, became interested in the restoration of classics some time ago and, together with a friend, he first restored a Simca Aronde. He then managed to enthuse his father which lead to the purchase of a 4CV found locally, completely dismantled and then restored to perfection by the two of them.  

Claude: "I was set on only the one classic but my son knew how to seduce me - if only he could find a Juvaquatre exactly like the one grandpa drove! Well, in no time we found a Juva van in a farmer's barn that had been driven in there on its own  and then remained untouched for a long time. The purchase was agreed with a nominal payment because it could clearly abe seen that there was a lot of work needed on it".

The Juvaquatre was brought to Rolampont to emerge as new after about 1,500 hours. "It  became a three-year project as the bodywork was in a bad state. The undersides of the doors were completely gone and we used doors from a Renault 18 Société to repair them. The car was turned on both sides to do the welding correctly and the woodwork also needed considerable attention and had to be replaced in several places. Nails had to be removed from the rear door to expose what was left of the wood. To show how bad the car was, the piece of sheet metal from under the rear door is displayed in the cargo space as evidence. When the Juva was finished in about 2014, we proudly exhibited it in the showroom and it covered no more than 500 to 600 kilometrest. It's nice to have an old lady in the showroom, always good to see the enthusiastic reactions. But we can make better use of that company space for the sale of cars".

The engine, Claude says, is about the only part that hasn't been apart. The 1 litre four-cylinder engine smokes pleasantly, but ticking over as usual, happy to have been brought back to life after so many years of sleep. The signwriting has been completely reproduced by a specialist using an old, yellowed photo of the original Juvaquatre from the family archives. All this makes the Renault a beautiful example of nostalgia. The combination of orange and white has a long history as Renault service colours, not only for tractors but also for passenger cars. When the Juva appears in the French countryside with a village in a valley as a backdrop,

old times seem to have returned. Especially so with a restored example of a 1958 D22.

On opening the rear door, Trinquesse points to a device attached to the right hand inside panel which was used to check the D-series injectors. The equipment also includes an old leather tool bag and a beautiful, historic battery charger.

When it comes to the Trinquesse garage collection, it's not just the two classic Renaults. In passing Claude mentions a Estafette as a Renault Sport service van, a 12 Gordini belonging to his son, plus a 750 kg 4x4, a 4L and of course a tractor, a 7022  from the early days of the former tractor dealership.

This Juvaquatre appears to be a type AHG2. In November 1945 Renault restarted the production of this Juvaquatre based van which was almost identical to the pre-war AHG1, whose production came to a complete standstill in June 1941. The AHG2 met the needs of small businesses in France and the surrounding countries enormously. The last model rolled off the assembly line on 2 October 1953 to be replaced by the similar R2100. The most important news was that the pre-war engine was succeeded by the well-known 747 cc engine from the Renault 4CV.

The simplicity of the interior is striking with the small seats and the flat dashboard housing a semi-circular speedometer in the middle. This same instrument includes the odometer and trip meter as well as the ammeter and fuel gauge. The spare wheel is located directly behind the back of the driver's seat.

The rear door hinges open to the right, which doesn't seem entirely logical as the pavement is usually on the right side of the road. Nice to see that in several places such as the cargo space and the engine bay, the metalwork has been sprayed in a basic beige colour. We must not forget that the colour scheme of such a service van wasn't available directly from the factory which meant that a dealer bought a Juvaquatre in any standard paint colour and then painted it orange and white on the outside. This alone shows that the restoration was carried out with the greatest possible accuracy and  is remarkable considering the original specification retained by the minuscule rear lights: a central brake light and two small red dots as rear lights!

En detail...

Renault AHG2 1952

Engine:

Engine type 488, four cylinder four stroke petrol, bore x stroke: 58 x 95 mm, displacement 1,003 cc, Solex 26 AIC carburettor, power 23 hp at 3,500 r/min, torque 6.4 mkg, compression ratio 1:6.5. Top speed 81 km/h, consumption 7.5 litres/100 km. Electric system: 6 Volt, 90 Ah.

Gearbox:

Manual gearbox with three gears (type 213), second and third synchronised. Gear ratios: 1st - 2.92, 2nd - 1.58, 3rd - 1.00, reverse - 3.82. Rear axle of the Banjo type with a final ratio of 7 x 36. Independent front suspension with transverse leaf springs. Tyres: 5.50 x 16.

Brakes:

Drum brakes all round, hydraulic (Lockheed). Mechanically operated handbrake on the rear wheels.

Dimensions:

Total length 3,73 metres, width 1,40 metres, wheelbase 2,35 metres, height 1,59 metres. Weight 865 kg, payload 300 kg.