The Caravelle is one more bit of evidence that the Volkswagen Beetle changed motoring forever: it was the existence of the Beetle and its offspring, the Karmann Ghia, that motivated Renault to design a car to compete with Germany’s offerings. Yes, the French company was already producing the Dauphine, but dealers believed American consumers needed a convertible option. The Caravelle was launched in 1958 – actually in both convertible and coupe form – sharing many of the characteristics of its German competitor: small-displacement rear-mounted engine, two-seater body designed by Ghia, and a “style over speed” sensibility. Here on eBay is a 1960 Renault Caravelle project looking for a new home; it is bid to $305, reserve not met. The car is located in Scottsville, Kentucky.
Based on the economical Dauphine, the Caravelle was originally delivered with an 845 cc four-cylinder situated in its tail. Performance from the 37 hp engine compared favorably to the Karmann Ghia, but 60 mph still required over 20 seconds. Early cars (up to 1962) wore their radiators toward the cockpit; thus, the external rear fender scoops meant to aid cooling. Later cars featured a repositioned radiator at the rear of the trunk and hood louvers. Usually, the transmission was a three-speed manual, but a four-speed was available.
The swanky foundations of a French car can still be seen in this derelict example: trim bucket seats, Art Deco horizontal gauges, slender gear lever. This car is equipped with the optional radio. A locking glove box was standard. Before we swoon too much over the stylish cabin, though, note that there’s no hard top present, and I can’t see the frames for a soft top either. Parts can be challenging to source for these cars, so it’s worth a visit to figure out what might be missing from here.
Pietro Frua penned the lines of the Caravelle – to good effect. Details like the slope of the trunk lid down and away from the tops of the rear fenders, a reverse slant to the nose, and generally pleasing proportions lend panache to this simple sports car. And yet: while the Caravelle sold about 117,000 copies over eleven years, the Karmann Ghia sold over 440,000 units and remained in production for almost 20 years. Today, Caravelles go begging – the nicest one on the planet might cost $20k but many sell for around $12k – while a comparable Karmann Ghia convertible will set you back $30k. Which would you rather own?
Saperlipopette! ( had to look that up) A Caravelle, Ms. Rand, this pushes the limits as to how far you will go, a Caravelle. I say more of an Italian MGB with a rear engine. Had one, or better yet, the old man had one, yep, ( rolling eyes, another 3am rigamarole ?) when I was a kid, maybe 12, late 60s, brother was 14, the old man came home with one, surely gotten from the “auction” or traded a window air conditioner for it. He had a Dauphine for a short time, and a Peugeot 403, the only foreign cars he owned, I think he felt bad for the French seeing what attrocities they went through 1st hand. It may have had a hardtop, I think may have been standard(?) and was a really nice car. I like the K-G too, but the Caravelle had a real heater, great CONVENTIONAL motor, btw, I read it was 34.5 HP, it was that .5 that got you over the hill, the “S” had 37 HP!. The one nice day we had in the Badger, we took the hardtop off, and we had some friends, who were all very large,( it WAS the 60s) the father alone was over 400lbs, nice folks, loved to eat, is all, anyway, my dad gave him a ride and the poor Caravelle broke in half! Not literally, just couldn’t close the doors. He felt bad, and my dad tried to get it fixed, but was too far gone. I’m quite sure there are probably tons of mechanical parts, may require French speaking to get them, I believe Renault used the same stuff across the line, body parts, now that could be an issue. The Caravelle was a great car.
I wonder what Barney Fife is doing there?
I’ve had some experience with Caravelles, and found them to be quite nice, if not especially quick. Even the late examples with the larger engine from the R8 offered pretty tepid performance.
The only surprise in Michelle’s detailed writeup is that she somehow missed the fact that the Caravelle was called “Floride” in Europe. Presumably, Renault decided that non-Floridians wouldn’t buy it when U.S. sales began and changed the name.
Not to many Americans bought Caravelles anyway. Most of the examples I’ve seen over the years were in roughly the same condition as this one — or worse. They were subject to all the mistreatment dished out to cheap cars, with the addition of the notorious scarcity of replacement parts for which Renault was known in this country.
They’re pretty little cars for sure, slightly more refined than the K-G (water-cooled engines tend to be a bit quieter), easy to work on (assuming you can find parts), and you won’t see many at Cars & Coffee. It’s nowhere near the top of my wish list, but I’d enjoy having one.
It’s sitting a bit low at the back. Otherwise, doesn’t look any worse than most projects.
A fan of roadsters, unfortunately, this is another model I have never seen outside of pictures. Very sharp little cars and they should have given the Karmann Ghia a run for their money. Supposedly they were made until 1968, but I don’t know for how long they were imported into the US.
Michelle,,I always enjoy your write-ups! I collect odd cars and one of them is a Caravelle. Ghias and Caravells are both four-seaters and the convertible top on the Renault stores so low when it is down it hard to see…I THINK I can see it in the pics. In their attempt to one-up VW the Caravelle had four wheel disc brakes. Too bad a removable hard top isn’t listed in the add…with it in place most everyone is surprised it is a convertible. Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing your abilities with the rest of us.
Oh Mark, thanks for the kudos! – but, calling the Karmann Ghia a four-seater is a stretch. My lab couldn’t even fit on that glorified parcel shelf! I’m not sure I could get my cat back there – is joke, only because the cat turns into Edward Scissorhands any time you do anything with her…. technically the cat would fit.
Well written article Michelle but in Athens, Greece the B.F. page doesn’t respond to ‘like’ for this article-car (?)
I drove an R10 for 7 years as a commuter car. Actually a fun car and I averaged 44 mpg. Outside of one electrical issue, trouble free. The Caravelle was a much prettier package.
I drove an R10 for 7 years as a commuter car. Actually a fun car and I averaged 44 mpg. Outside of one electrical issue, trouble free. The Caravelle was a much prettier package.
Howard, I can feel your broken Caravelle pain. Dad bought a Dauphine as he was running service calls all over Northern Illinois and Indiana. Since he was getting paid mileage he was making out like a bandit. (usually) At my age of 7. He taught me how to change the distributor cap which failed often and a spare was kept in the glove box. Almost like it was timed, at 60k he came up to a stop sign and the windshield fell out onto the hood. The wonderful Illinois roads had beat the body shell into a pretzel and could no longer hold the windshield in place. With the unbroken windshield half sticking out of it’s original hole and the other half resting on the passenger seat. He drove directly to the dealership. The car was now about 18 months old. They gave him a new car for practically $0 saying it should not do that. At approximately the same mileage on the replacement car. Dad noticed that the windshield was starting to rattle. He traded it in on a used Plymouth. (IIRC) Due to my experience level with that generation Renault I can believe your “broken Caravelle” story. I had an older 4CV that was a tank, a,good friend had an R10 that served him well for many years and later I had a generation 1 Spec Racer that had Alliance drive train that was a hoot on track days. So I guess the moral/message here is Dauphines and Caravelles NO. The rest of Renaults OK.
Hi Wayne, that story is true I’m here to say,,,funny you mention the 4CV, my and my brothers 1st car was a ’59 4CV. It was sitting in the back row of an upscale sports car dealer north of Milwaukee, $25. Once we got it running, I made a lot of trips up and down my parents drive. JC Whitney was the savior there, the only place with a head gasket!! They had EVERYTHING. Not sure why we got that car, didn’t have it long, it was horribly inept, and my next car, a 1958 PV444, $50( with a bad coil) was much better.
A friend of the family gave my Dad the 4CV. I think it was also a ’59. It had the electric clutch setup. So 2 voltage regulators. One for battery charge and one to operate the clutch. A couple of weeks before getting the 4CV. Dad had been teaching me how to adjust a voltage regulator. So we “dove into” the clutch regulator. A new one back then was $78 (1965 price) the regulator would not function in the rev it up to engage the clutch. So, my Dad asked what should we do? I said “bend that tab over so that the clutch is always engaged and it will disengage when holding the shift lever. ” So how will you get going? Since we don’t have any pavement here. I will just rev up the engine and let go of the shifter, spinning the wheels at every start. Dad said OK, here is the keys, it’s yours! (I was 12 at the time) I started blasting around our acreage faster and faster. Mom said he might hit a tree! Dad said, it’s ok, he won’t hurt the tree much! I started sneaking out to the fire roads out behind our house. (About 5 miles due west) it was all woods and a pond. A few months later I was hot footing it around the bend by the pond and managed to roll it into a very high and thick thicket. Luckily, a 4CV has a very rounded roof and I managed to rock it back onto its feet. And away I went. I started reading everything I could find about cornering and thought I had it figured out. And then, I rolled it again in exactly the same place. Then I figured out that you don’t let up in a corner with a swing axle rear suspension! I did a few more laps faster and faster without rolling it. (a technique that came handy a few years later when blasting around in my sister’s ’63 Corvair) One day Dad was inspecting the roof on the 4CV which had by this time had become rather scratched up and had a very minor dent. He never said a word but a few days later the car was gone.
1960…small town America… I was 10 and like most kids was absorbed into learning about what it may be like to be grown up. There was a hair salon nearby and a wealthy woman had a new Caravelle conv. and every Friday she parked it among the large Buicks and Cadillacs.. the future looked ok to me….
Bid is up to $300 now. If closer and not rusty. It might be fun to play with it. If I screwed it up. No harm, no foul. I have always liked the body style. But the first thing to do would be to reinforce the body shell. Then you can start figuring better handling (hello rear swing arm suspension) not that rear swing arm is bad. But Corvair, Spitfire, VW and early Mercedes provided uneducated drivers with exciting times! And then add some horsepower. 3 bolt wheels with a very small threaded center hole (for hub cap attachment) make for tire balancing issues. (Although skinny Michelin tires don’t normally require an abundance of wheel weights anyway.)
Pay VERY close attention to tire pressures…being rear-engine powered, so much weight bias towards the rear. I believe my Dauphine has a recommended front tire pressure of 14 psi. Still, respect the swing axle and don’t drive it like one stole it. My two francs.
Oh, do drive as if stolen! My two francs-worth is – don’t lift! Keep it moving.
You are exactly tight about the tire pressure, Cobra Steve. Back in my horribly misspent youth, I had a 1965 R-8. Not a Gordini unfortunately, just a regular R-8. I ran 16 PSI in the front tires and 32 PSI in the rear ones. The handling was nearly (but not quite) neutral. Flinging that little tin bomb down twisty mountain roads here in Western NC was quite a hoot. By the way, the swing axles were prevented from getting too “swingy” by a heavy fabric strap that was looped under each axle.
You’re right that Caravelles (named for the jet?) are thin on the ground. Years ago I spotted steel hardtop in a neighbor’s trash. He let me have it, but it took me a year to figure out what it came from–a Caravelle. Then it took me another 10 years to sell!