Brand creates ‘craziest possible car’

A car that needs two people to drive it, has 12 doors and a second, raised passenger compartment was one of the most eye-catching lots at a special auction of unusual Renault vehicles.

The 1986 Renault 21 fetched €1,445 (about NZ$2,800) when it went under the hammer in France.

Auction house Artcurial notes the car appeared in the film Lévy and Goliath, directed by Gérard Oury in 1987 and starring Richard Anconina and Michel Boujenah.

“Anconina played a diamond merchant and, through an unfortunate combination of circumstances, the diamond powder he was bringing back to Antwerp was replaced by cocaine,” it says. 

“Without being aware that the two bags had been swapped, he delivered what he believed to be diamond powder to the Renault factory, where it was used for industrial purposes, but the cocaine had some harmful effects on the production line and resulted in the car we are offering for sale.

“Built at Renault’s plant in Courbevoie, it is the same length as the goods lift there and the team who created it evidently had fun producing the craziest possible car.”

Behind the vehicle’s bonnet, which conceals a real engine, is a platform accommodating a diverse array of parts and there is a series of articulated doors on the sides. 

A second passenger compartment is mounted above the first, and it takes two people to drive the car: one at the top to steer it by means of a wheel at the end of a lengthened steering column, and the other underneath to operate the pedals.

The quirky vehicle was among 175 lots at the Renault Icons sale held at the Renault factory in Flins-sur-Seine, about 40km from Paris, in December last year.

Other offerings included a number of Formula 1 cars, an electric first-generation Twingo, concept cars from the 2000s, and more.

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