1993 Renault 19 RT TD - 413k miles
Discussion
Yet another build thread from me. I'm starting to think I have too many proj... ahhahahahaha NOT!
This latest acquisition is a much different one from my usual VAG Mk4 Golf era platform. Very different, even, to that of my MX5 content. This time it's, French *shudder*.
But what a little car. A treasure trove of design from a bygone era. I love it!
Well, what is it? It's a 1993 K plate Renault 19 RT TD (Phase 2) with 413 THOUSAND genuine miles. That's enough to go to the moon and half way back :eek
Why did I but it? That's, once again, entirely Craig's (my friend) fault. You see, he started this buy accidentally winning a Phase 1 Renault 19 1.7 GTX on eBay. Then convinced me with many, many a single text message, that I should get one too. Originally, I was looking for some late 80s or early 90s Citroen of sorts; a BX, AX, whatever-X I could find. I then came across this 19 and fell in love.
Now, it just so happened this is the exact spec car my parents had when I were but a wee innocent child. The same spec car that my dad "nudged a Lotus Elise out of the fast lane on the M4" coz it was like "s
t off a shovel". It was the same year, had the same interior, the same engine, the same optional extras like electric windows and electric sunroof. It's a slightly different colour being Brooklands Green over the Gunmetal Grey my parents had. But nonetheless, I needed to own it. So one day, I did.
I struck a deal with the eBay seller, who was a dealer, that wasn't a dealer, but all the other listings were cars, but he wasn't a dealer, but he insisted on providing me with an invoice, but he definitely wasn't a dealer
and arranged for the car to be collected from Bradford (what's those three rules about buying used cars again?) and delivered to me in South Wales. So a friend of mine went to collect it and drove it back the 221 miles home on trade plates (after putting some part worns on the front to make it legal). It made the trip without fault and was described by my driver as “bloody comfy”. Winner.
There’s a nice little story to this car, but more on that later. For now, here’s some unadulterated 90s nostalgia for your eyeballs. These pics were taken the evening I took delivery of it, so they make the car look spot on. Do not be fooled. It needs work
Granted, the body needs some love. The rear arches and sills needs replacing, luckily panels are available. I think it needs new shocks and/or springs on the front, or maybe a droplink/ball joint as there’s a slight knock. But for a 28 year old car with nearly half a million miles on the clock, it’s in remarkable condition!
So, the mileage. It’s 413k miles, one owner from new and there’s a great story behind it. When the car arrived it came with a disappointingly small folder that the dealer-not-a-dealer said was “FSH”. However, it was just MOT certificates. For the last 20 years. What I noticed was that they were all done at the same garage in Barnsley, signed by the same person. For the last 20 years. So I called them and asked if they remember the car. Well, of course they did. Who wouldn’t?! The gent I spoke to was just that. He mentioned knowing the car and the previous owner and went through all the digitially recorded service history they had logged since 2012. Cambelts, services, MOTs, suspension work, you name it. He was even kind enough to email me a copy of the service history for my records. One funny little story he told was how he’d been doing some general maintenance on it and realised the actuator for the wastegate wasn’t connected. Turns out that 6 years prior, Renault fitted a new Turbo as part of a recall and couldn’t have connected the wastegate. So for 6 years, it was running at Wastegate boost pressure When they rectified it, the owner at the time couldn’t get over how quick it was
It also transpired that he happened to still know the previous owner quite well. A sweet old chap in his eighties. I offered up my details and told him I’d be delighted to hear from him if he’s interested in regaling me with tales of the cars history and the, undoubtedly, many adventures the car had been on!
To my absolute delight, a few hours later I get a call from the previous owner. Exactly as described, he was an absolute gentleman and unsurprisingly seemed to lap up the opportunity to recall some of his favourite memories of the old Regygy 19. He was a former engineer who travelled the world for work. Whenever he could, he’d take the 19. France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Eastern Europe; name a country and it’s likely this chippy little car had bloody been there. He told me it’s on the original engine, original gearbox and it’s 5th clutch. It had a whole new rear axle in France one time he was out there. It was excellent to hear how excited he seemed to be reliving the moment. Some might say it made the room incredibly dusty
My favourite story from him was about a time he took his two young girls with him to France on work trip, to make it into a mini-holiday. Whilst there, they found their new favourite shop which sold niche little French things. The name of the shop was Gabrielle and such was their love for the shop, they thereby anointed the little Reggy 19 with the name of Gabrielle. So he was quite insistent that I continue the namesake. Who am I to go against the sanctity of two little girls’ naming of the car eh! ?? They’re not just steel boxes on wheels, after all! Long live Gabrielle!
My plans for it are pretty simple really. Make it roadworthy and keep on clocking up those miles. I’d love to get the old girl to 500k miles and, I don’t think she needs that much doing to get her there. Obviously the welding will take precedent so I’ll start looking to order some repair panels and get it in to have the work done. That’s probably the only bit I won’t do myself (I hate bodywork). Otherwise everything else I’ll crack on with.
A list of the little quirks I’ve found so far
ETA: We've done a little YouTube vid on each of our Reno19s. Feel free to take a look!
This latest acquisition is a much different one from my usual VAG Mk4 Golf era platform. Very different, even, to that of my MX5 content. This time it's, French *shudder*.
But what a little car. A treasure trove of design from a bygone era. I love it!
Well, what is it? It's a 1993 K plate Renault 19 RT TD (Phase 2) with 413 THOUSAND genuine miles. That's enough to go to the moon and half way back :eek
Why did I but it? That's, once again, entirely Craig's (my friend) fault. You see, he started this buy accidentally winning a Phase 1 Renault 19 1.7 GTX on eBay. Then convinced me with many, many a single text message, that I should get one too. Originally, I was looking for some late 80s or early 90s Citroen of sorts; a BX, AX, whatever-X I could find. I then came across this 19 and fell in love.
Now, it just so happened this is the exact spec car my parents had when I were but a wee innocent child. The same spec car that my dad "nudged a Lotus Elise out of the fast lane on the M4" coz it was like "s
t off a shovel". It was the same year, had the same interior, the same engine, the same optional extras like electric windows and electric sunroof. It's a slightly different colour being Brooklands Green over the Gunmetal Grey my parents had. But nonetheless, I needed to own it. So one day, I did. I struck a deal with the eBay seller, who was a dealer, that wasn't a dealer, but all the other listings were cars, but he wasn't a dealer, but he insisted on providing me with an invoice, but he definitely wasn't a dealer
and arranged for the car to be collected from Bradford (what's those three rules about buying used cars again?) and delivered to me in South Wales. So a friend of mine went to collect it and drove it back the 221 miles home on trade plates (after putting some part worns on the front to make it legal). It made the trip without fault and was described by my driver as “bloody comfy”. Winner. There’s a nice little story to this car, but more on that later. For now, here’s some unadulterated 90s nostalgia for your eyeballs. These pics were taken the evening I took delivery of it, so they make the car look spot on. Do not be fooled. It needs work
Granted, the body needs some love. The rear arches and sills needs replacing, luckily panels are available. I think it needs new shocks and/or springs on the front, or maybe a droplink/ball joint as there’s a slight knock. But for a 28 year old car with nearly half a million miles on the clock, it’s in remarkable condition!
So, the mileage. It’s 413k miles, one owner from new and there’s a great story behind it. When the car arrived it came with a disappointingly small folder that the dealer-not-a-dealer said was “FSH”. However, it was just MOT certificates. For the last 20 years. What I noticed was that they were all done at the same garage in Barnsley, signed by the same person. For the last 20 years. So I called them and asked if they remember the car. Well, of course they did. Who wouldn’t?! The gent I spoke to was just that. He mentioned knowing the car and the previous owner and went through all the digitially recorded service history they had logged since 2012. Cambelts, services, MOTs, suspension work, you name it. He was even kind enough to email me a copy of the service history for my records. One funny little story he told was how he’d been doing some general maintenance on it and realised the actuator for the wastegate wasn’t connected. Turns out that 6 years prior, Renault fitted a new Turbo as part of a recall and couldn’t have connected the wastegate. So for 6 years, it was running at Wastegate boost pressure
When they rectified it, the owner at the time couldn’t get over how quick it was It also transpired that he happened to still know the previous owner quite well. A sweet old chap in his eighties. I offered up my details and told him I’d be delighted to hear from him if he’s interested in regaling me with tales of the cars history and the, undoubtedly, many adventures the car had been on!
To my absolute delight, a few hours later I get a call from the previous owner. Exactly as described, he was an absolute gentleman and unsurprisingly seemed to lap up the opportunity to recall some of his favourite memories of the old Regygy 19. He was a former engineer who travelled the world for work. Whenever he could, he’d take the 19. France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Eastern Europe; name a country and it’s likely this chippy little car had bloody been there. He told me it’s on the original engine, original gearbox and it’s 5th clutch. It had a whole new rear axle in France one time he was out there. It was excellent to hear how excited he seemed to be reliving the moment. Some might say it made the room incredibly dusty
My favourite story from him was about a time he took his two young girls with him to France on work trip, to make it into a mini-holiday. Whilst there, they found their new favourite shop which sold niche little French things. The name of the shop was Gabrielle and such was their love for the shop, they thereby anointed the little Reggy 19 with the name of Gabrielle. So he was quite insistent that I continue the namesake. Who am I to go against the sanctity of two little girls’ naming of the car eh! ?? They’re not just steel boxes on wheels, after all! Long live Gabrielle!
My plans for it are pretty simple really. Make it roadworthy and keep on clocking up those miles. I’d love to get the old girl to 500k miles and, I don’t think she needs that much doing to get her there. Obviously the welding will take precedent so I’ll start looking to order some repair panels and get it in to have the work done. That’s probably the only bit I won’t do myself (I hate bodywork). Otherwise everything else I’ll crack on with.
A list of the little quirks I’ve found so far
- There’s a toggle switch under the dash (where the choke would live on an early petrol) which turned out to be for a manual glow plug relay installed in the bonnet. According to the previous owner, the electronic box on the bulkhead used to turn on the glow plugs failed and they couldn’t find a replacement so the garage installed, let’s call it, a “workaround”. On a cold morning, starting it is a two handed affair
- There’s an extra key that came on both sets of car keys that match a lock inside the glove compartment. This turned out to be some sort of 90s spec ghetto immobiliser. Turn it on, and it triggers the fuel cut off solenoid. So once the fuel that’s in the line is used, it won’t run. Love that.
- Fully electric sunroof, that works!
- Electric front windows that work!
- Original stereo that I paid £8 quid to get a code for which then didn’t work :rollsyeys:
- It has the coolest oil level gauge on the dash that shows you the engine oil level when you turn the ignition on (but don’t start it).
ETA: We've done a little YouTube vid on each of our Reno19s. Feel free to take a look!
Edited by MikeDrop on Thursday 20th May 20:17
I love Renault 19's! I had a couple of 1.4 petrols as my first and third cars and then later on I had a pair of 16v, one hatch and one cabriolet which became one good cabriolet out of the pair of them!
I see yours has the classic 16v spoiler which stops you being able to change the rear wiper blade! Does it still have the little magnetic cover for the radio to hide it?
I see yours has the classic 16v spoiler which stops you being able to change the rear wiper blade! Does it still have the little magnetic cover for the radio to hide it?
Wow! Can't remember the last time I saw a 19 on the roads. I had to check the plate, because my Dad had a K-Reg TD 19 in British Racing Green! This was back in the 90s though, and it's not the same one. I was only a kid then, but at the time I liked it. I can remember him saying the clutch cable went pulling off from a set of lights with some people from work in on a trip, and them having to push it out the way. Classic Renault. He used to moan about the cost of parts too, but he's always been tight 
Anyway, enjoy. Good to see that at least one of these is still kicking around.
Anyway, enjoy. Good to see that at least one of these is still kicking around.
Cfnteabag said:
I love Renault 19's! I had a couple of 1.4 petrols as my first and third cars and then later on I had a pair of 16v, one hatch and one cabriolet which became one good cabriolet out of the pair of them!
I see yours has the classic 16v spoiler which stops you being able to change the rear wiper blade! Does it still have the little magnetic cover for the radio to hide it?
It sure does I see yours has the classic 16v spoiler which stops you being able to change the rear wiper blade! Does it still have the little magnetic cover for the radio to hide it?
One of my favourite things about the car 
My Dad and I both had R19s and we loved them both they are brilliant cars and at the time I seem to recall they were quite advanced for their time.
Mine was a dark green GTD model, it was my company car for three years in that time it travelled the all over the UK and also on business trips into France. It also went to France with my two little daughters at the time on holiday to Brittany. I sold it two my brother in law with about 135,000 miles on the clock and ran it until 2014 when some idiot smacked it up the rear and was written off, miles at the time 340,000 i think.
Its claim to fame was it appeared on the front of the Daily Telegraph motoring section about pleasure motoring in the south of England.
Dad had a RT/DT like yours in metallic blue, it was his retirement car and thus it spent its 80,000 miles popping to the local golf club, and his and mums holidays to France and Switzerland. Again his was a paragon of reliability, but my mum wanted a then new Megane which was good but not as much character as the R19.
Like you I would fancy another one in my garage just for sentiments sake
Mine was a dark green GTD model, it was my company car for three years in that time it travelled the all over the UK and also on business trips into France. It also went to France with my two little daughters at the time on holiday to Brittany. I sold it two my brother in law with about 135,000 miles on the clock and ran it until 2014 when some idiot smacked it up the rear and was written off, miles at the time 340,000 i think.
Its claim to fame was it appeared on the front of the Daily Telegraph motoring section about pleasure motoring in the south of England.
Dad had a RT/DT like yours in metallic blue, it was his retirement car and thus it spent its 80,000 miles popping to the local golf club, and his and mums holidays to France and Switzerland. Again his was a paragon of reliability, but my mum wanted a then new Megane which was good but not as much character as the R19.
Like you I would fancy another one in my garage just for sentiments sake
Always fond of a bit of R19 love, owned 3, 2 new, a 1.4 RN in Grey, a 16v in Sports Blue and a 1.7 GTX in a green colour (not Brooklands).
I keep looking on ebay to see what pops up, only a couple of heaps, a very battered 1.4 was one of them, they do bring back memories, the heavy clutch though... wasn't too fond of that!
I keep looking on ebay to see what pops up, only a couple of heaps, a very battered 1.4 was one of them, they do bring back memories, the heavy clutch though... wasn't too fond of that!
Absolutely love that, what a great find! Right up my street.
I'd always assumed this this was a Peugeot/Citroen thing, as I've had various 306s/406s that do the very same. Great feature.
Really nice to hear about your chat with the previous owner. Given all the memories from the many years/miles he owned the car, I'm sure it made his day to hear that it's in good hands. I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting it to 500k. And when you do, you can sell it to me and I'll take it to 600k!
MikeDrop said:
- It has the coolest oil level gauge on the dash that shows you the engine oil level when you turn the ignition on (but don’t start it).
Really nice to hear about your chat with the previous owner. Given all the memories from the many years/miles he owned the car, I'm sure it made his day to hear that it's in good hands. I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting it to 500k. And when you do, you can sell it to me and I'll take it to 600k!
Great to see something different and fantastic that you are rescuing it. These have a very fond place in my heart, my mum had 2 when I was a little boy, the first a 1991 1.4RN manual in white and second 1994 1.8RT auto in brooklands green. Dad had to get her an auto as she was no longer able to use a manual through illness, sadly it was to be her last car.
Looking back at our families car history, a lot of my mum and dad cars were 80s/90s French, influenced perhaps by my late grandfather who was account lead for Peugeot Citroen advertising in 70s and 80s. We grew up around the following
Peugeot 505 estate
Citroen 2CV
Citroen Safari
Citroen Visa
2 x 19s
1993 Clio
Renault Safrane 1993 2.0vi
Peugeot 605 3.0 svi
2 Peugeot 106s including Roland Garros and XSI
Theres just something about that era of Frenchness.. the seats, steering wheels, interior ergonomics just seemed we thought out, when it worked!
Looking back at our families car history, a lot of my mum and dad cars were 80s/90s French, influenced perhaps by my late grandfather who was account lead for Peugeot Citroen advertising in 70s and 80s. We grew up around the following
Peugeot 505 estate
Citroen 2CV
Citroen Safari
Citroen Visa
2 x 19s
1993 Clio
Renault Safrane 1993 2.0vi
Peugeot 605 3.0 svi
2 Peugeot 106s including Roland Garros and XSI
Theres just something about that era of Frenchness.. the seats, steering wheels, interior ergonomics just seemed we thought out, when it worked!
I had one of these in red sold it back in 1998 with 150k miles on it.
I'd put the 16v wheels on it it looked good!! I remember that the accelerator cable used to stretch easily and the clutch being stiff other than that is was a great car it went to South Wales after I sold it and did another 200k on chip fat. Solid car.
I'd put the 16v wheels on it it looked good!! I remember that the accelerator cable used to stretch easily and the clutch being stiff other than that is was a great car it went to South Wales after I sold it and did another 200k on chip fat. Solid car.
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