September 2010 44 Pages Draft.pdf - Renault Owners Club Forum

C L A s s I C A N d C o L L E C T o R sTrafic & master30 th AnniversaryIcame into working with Renaults firstof all via vans. Yes, I was drivingRenault 4s up and down theallotments at a silly age and I was alsodriven around by my dad in variousRenaults throughout my growing years.However, despite a short spell as a carcleaner in the local (Renault) garage (CrossRoads, Abingdon) and as a taxi coordinatorat a weekend golf tournament (inReading), my first real employment, whichinvolved Renault vehicles, was with (longgone) ATT Papworth.This organisation was set up before mytime by a group of people, with the aim ofgiving jobs to TB sufferers awaiting orundergoing a cure. The problem was that,when they had been cured, no one wantedthem. Hence, a village built aroundfurniture, electrics, vehicles and luggage,amongst other trades.Following on from their governmentcontracts with BT, Rail and the GreenGoddesses, they now built major fleetvehicles for BT, the rail, NHS and thePost Office. Now, the TB colony has allbut closed and in its place is a thrivingcommunity.From 1980 to 1997, it manufactured thefirst generation Master.From 1997 until today, the plant has builtthe second-generation Master which hassold more than one million units in 45countries.and external facelift and a lot of the panelwork on the 3rd one is shared - there islogic to this as modern day conversionsrequire detailed type testing and bykeeping elements common their is noneed to retest these elements.The Mark 1 Trafic was sold from 1980 to2000 with a facelift in 1990, and later wassold by Tata and in kit form toWinnebago. It replaced the Estafette.The Mark 2 had at least 3 facelifts.Viewed as workhorses, it is easy to forgetthat they are thirty years old – as old asthe Espace in the UK and much older thanthe very first Clio. As a club, we havementioned some of the newcomers to thescene, but is it not about time that webestowed on these vans the honours,which they rightly deserve?’Orders for New Master – the thirdgeneration of the vehicle willSoVAB (Société des VéhiculesAutomobiles de Batilly) plant is now theone and only production site for the newRenault Master. The plant is located inthe département of Meurthe-et-Moselle,30 km north of Metz, in northeasternFrance.It is on this site, which celebrated its 30thanniversary at the beginning of June, thatthe specialized production of large vanshas been carried out since 1980.progressively replace the current versionwhich is to stop production at the end of2010.Although listed as having 3 generations,the second went through a major internalThe Mark 3 has just been launched.Alasdair WorsleyR E N o T E s m A G A Z I N E255