1967 RENAULT R8 GORDINI

RENAULT 8 GORDINI FOR SALE

Superb R8 Gordini 1296cc, 5 speed, built January 1967 Melbourne. Fully restored copy 1969 R8G Monte Carlo rally winner with 2017 Targa Tasmania livery. Roll cage, Halda Twin Master, Engineer’s Report and other rally instrumentation. Highway cruising differential. Perfect mechanically, rebuilt by Rob Sealey in Melbourne. Featured in Australian Classic Car, January 2008. A Frame with all specifications, photos and history. Full details, including extensive spares, contact James Coleborne, Stockinbingal 2725 Mobile: 0434 604 865 Email: jcolebor@bigpond.net.au. ONO - Offers around $65,000

RENAULT GORDINI – MODEL R8 1135
1969 MONTE CARLO REPLICA

OWNER - JAMES COLEBORNE

MODEL R8 1135

DIAMOND PLATE 0205128

OVAL PLATE R1135 1999

COLOUR French Blue - Colour 418

ASSEMBLED Melbourne, January 1967

ENGINE Model 812-00 5540 - 1296 cc
Bore 75.7 mm, Stroke 72 mm
10.5 : 1 Compression
Cross Flow head
Extractor exhaust system

ENGINE POWER 120 bhp approximately

CARBURETTOR Twin Weber 40 DCOE

GEARBOX 5 speed close ratio

SUSPENSION 4 wheel independent coil springs
Front anti roll bar
4 telescopic shock absorbers rear
2 telescopic shock absorbers front

FUEL Twin tanks, rear and front. Runs on Aviation Gas

BRAKES Servo assisted 4 wheel disk brakes

TOP SPEED 180 - 200 kms per hour

WEIGHT 850 kg unladen

ACHIEVEMENTS

An R8G 1135 driven by famous French rally drivers Jean-Luc Therier and Marcel Callewaert was placed second in the 1969 International Monte Carlo Rally. An R8G driven by Bob Watson and Jim McAuliffe from Victoria won the 1970 Australian Rally Championship. The main competition in its class came from Mini Coopers and Lotus Cortinas.

HISTORY OF THIS VEHICLE

This R8 1135 Gordini was manufactured in Melbourne at the Renault Australia Factory in January 1967.

The Gordini has been meticulously rebuilt and restored with new parts by Melbourne Engineer Robin Sealey and returned to showroom condition.

Rob Sealey knows the story of the car’s history. It was bought by Peter Merrigan new in 1967. He raced the car in limited competition rallies with Victoria Police, with a Policeman as a navigator. Merrigan took the car for Sprint meetings at Mallabar which was then used as for the V8 Touring Car Rounds in Adelaide. However it seems he earned quite a few speeding fines and in the end could not afford to keep the Gordini. Somehow he managed to sell it back to Renault Australia in Moorabin, who were the main dealers at that time. The car was in very good condition and stood in their showroom as no doubt Renault Gordini’s were scarce and hard to get to sell.

Bill Lord-Milne who ran Monaco Motors in Dandenong and Derrick Smith asked Renault Australia if they could run the Gordini in the Sandown 3 Hour Race. Lord-Milne and Smith were motoring personalities of the time who ran in open wheel hillclimb events.

Vehicles in those days were raced on “price” in the Sandown 3 Hour Race not on engine capacity. Australian Motor Magazine, November 1968:56 describes the outcome as follows.

“A Renault Gordini, driven by Bill Lord-Milne and Derrick Smith won class C, completing 106 laps, two more than the HR Holden, which finished second. The Fiat 125 of Abbott and Brownrigg led the class for 62 laps, but ran out of petrol and later blew a piston”

The historic black and white photos of the R8 Gordini racing in this Sandown 3 Hour race on 15 September 1968 were identified and provided by David Blanch of Autopics, through his website www.autopics.com.au

So the Renault Gordini won its class in the Sandown 3 Hour Race by 2 laps and received much acclaim. Renault Australia were very happy with the result and the ensuing publicity. Lord-Milne and Smith dutifully handled the car back to the showroom until it was purchased by the next buyer.

Unfortunately the history of the car goes quiet at this point until it was acquired by Mihan and Wayne George in the 1980s. George is described as a Renault fanatic who had acquired a number of Renault 8 Gordinis and Gordini parts. He possessed a number of 1134 and 1135 models and several other Renaults until he had a domestic split and, inevitably, all the cars and parts were sold.

Rob Sealey, a Melbourne Engineer loved Renaults too and so he bought the lot. By this time the 1135 Gordini was a sorry sight, it was basically just a shell with all the mechanicals stripped out. Rob Sealey had been a successful GoKarter but had finally given up the urge and needed a project to get his mind off karting after rallying them for years.

In 1996 Rob Sealey took the car to Dave Barker Superspray Smash repairs at Dandenong and reached agreement on the repairs – Dave Barker would do the cutting and welding and Rob Sealey would do all the laborious rubbing and sanding down. He blocked it back and took out all the ripples and blemishes. They repaired both A pillars and the B pillar on the right hand side was cut out and replaced.

Dave Cavanagh from French Connection in Melbourne cut out a pillar from an R8 parts car and Dave Barker welded it in place. The originality of the shell can be seen in the bump under the rear seat, which was a factory cutout to accommodate the 5 speed gearbox.

The body was then acid dipped to bare metal, given a phosphate coating and etch primed. It was then given one main heavy coat of deep French Blue all over.

Rob Sealey worked meticulously on the Gordini for four years bringing it to completion in 1999. Rob fitted the car with the 1296 cc pistons which he made from a brand new set of Alpine pistons. The compression ratio is closer to 11:1 and Rob always ran it on 50% Avgas. The 1135 engine is thus the later more powerful 1296cc Gordini motor Number 812-00.5540.

The differential is a 4.375 which is slightly lower than the standard 4.125, made from a new crown wheel and pinion Rob managed to obtain. The 5 speed gearbox is standard, as is the carburetor with the twin Weber 40 DCOEs.

Rob thinks that the heads would have been shaved a bit, maybe a few thousands taken off and this adds to the compression. The suspension is fitted with adjustable Koni shock absorbers, adjusted to the nearly top of the hard settings, with standard springs and sway bar. The car was previously fitted with an aftermarket stainless steel exhaust supplied by Colin Stark of Alpine Affaire at Ringwood, Melbourne.

This R8 Gordini can be found on the R8 Gordini register at
http://www.geocities.com/alpinesau/register.html

In 2002 James Coleborne travelled to Melbourne to collect an 1134 Gordini he had bought from Rob Sealey and saw the finished 1135 sitting in his garage. It looked just stunning, absolutely brilliant but, unfortunately, it was already sold to Adam Spence from Sydney. James kept in contact with Adam Spence, who kept the car for three years and when he moved to the UK, James purchased the car from him in 2005, after some negotiation on price.

The car came with NSW Renault Car Club of Australia historic plates but James wanted it registered as a normal road going vehicle, so it could be driven whenever the urge to took over and without the normal restrictions of being an historic car.

First the RTA required a full engineer’s report as the vehicle was modified with a half roll cage, was fitted with the Halda Tripmaster and could only be registered as a 2 seater because of the limited space left in the rear seats. It also had to have the chassis number from the oval plate engraved into the bodywork, as this could not be easily found after 40 long years and under the recent thick coat of acrylic paint.

James has also replaced the muffler with an original Devil Gordini muffler making it sound just like it should with the deep characteristic raspy roar that only a Gordini produces. He has also fitted a set of rally stopwatches purchased from Heinrici in Deutschland to the front dashboard where they would have been used to time various sections of rallies by the navigator.

The car was purchased with 13 inch Cosmic Mark 2 wheels of the period. James has since acquired a set of original Renault rims and had them carefully restored by the Wheel Factory in Fyshwick, Canberra. These can now be fitted with non highway Dunlop rally tyres, similar to those the Gordini would have likely used in the Monte Carlo race itself.

To match the vehicle to the original signage of the 1969 Monte Carlo race, James worked with photographer and designer Adam McGrath from Zoo Communications in Canberra , who researched the specifications and designed the Monte Carlo plates to match the original signage from this era.

Some of these historic plates are still for sale from rallymemorabilia.com at
http://www2.prestel.co.uk/edscer/rallyplates.html. Adam also designed the now famous Monte Carlo 89 numbers and the driver and navigator identification.

Then it was over to Tony Mostyn from Screenmakers in Queanbeyan who crafted the red and white Monte Carlo signage on aluminium plates and magnetic backing, and also provided the driver and navigator identification.

James has also had most of the brightwork redone by All Metal Bumpers in Ingleburn who specialise in restoring brightwork on classic cars.

MONTE CARLO REPLICA

The car as presented now is based on the 1969 Monte Carlo Competition car driven by the famous French drivers Jean-Luc Therier and Marcel Callewaert. It has a competition roll cage, full dual racing harnesses, Halda Twin Master Rally meter, long range Cibie driving lights, Koni shock absorbers and some additional instrument gauges. The twin white stripes were a factory option.

The car is in immaculate condition, as shown by the photographs and takes you back in time to the late 1960's. Its remarkable performance makes it exciting and exhilarating to drive, even by today's standards.

The twin webers, cross flow head, high compression motor, extractors and five speed gear box with the dual shock absorber rear end work extremely well.

Under full throttle the Gordini accelerates instantly and powerfully, pulling extremely hard from around 5000 revs, pushing the driver and any passenger game enough to ride with you, right back firmly into the seats.

In fact it seems to accelerate exponentially, the harder it revs the faster it goes until it peaks out around 7000 revs with no flat spots evident anywhere in the range. The roar from the engine is unmistakeable. The five speed box works beautifully, with tight movements and great potence, especially in 3rd and 4th.

As the twin Weber 40 DCOE’s kick in, the cross flow head breathes easily out through the extractors with a turbine like rush clearly audible from the rear. The first time you hear it, you can’t help feeling the rush that sends tingles straight up your spine. The road just disappears under the front bonnet at an alarming rate. Braking is instantaneous with handling to match. In short it is such a delight to drive, if you didn’t know, you’d think it was turbo powered.


AWARDS AND STORIES

The Gordini has won many awards at the French Car Day in Sydney in recent years, including Best French Car (2003), Best Renault (2006), Best 60’s Renault and Best Renault (2007). It always draws great interest with many car buffs just standing, looking on in apparent amazement and talking with you about the car for hours. There is always someone who had one earlier in their youth, or who knew someone who did. They all have their stories to tell.

On one occasion I was approached at the French Car Day by a retired man who said he had formerly been a Highway Patrol Officer based in Wollongong. He told me how he had been patrolling Mount Ousley in his then high performance Mini Cooper S in the 60’s. He spotted a Renault 8 speeding up Mt Ousley and gave pursuit but the driver of the R8 saw him and took off. He flattened the Cooper S and gave it everything he could. But the R8 just accelerated right away and disappeared in a flash of blue over the top of Mt Ousley and outran him, disappearing rapidly into the distance.

The Cop couldn’t work out how he could be outdone by an ordinary Renault R8, until he came upon the offending vehicle parked beside the road many miles further up the Princes Highway towards Sutherland. It was a Renault R8 alright, he told me, but there was this extra little silver badge stuck on the rear which said “GORDINI”. I gave him a very nice ticket for his troubles I did and then kept a good eye out after that for any more of these little blue R8Gs. Clearly they had to be taken more seriously.

In 2007 the French Embassy in Canberra invited a selection of vehicles from the Renault Owners Car Club of Canberra to attend the Bastille Day celebrations on a sunny winter’s day. James took his R8 Gordini to meet the French Ambassador Francois Descoueyte and his senior staff. But when they saw the Gordini, they were to a person overcome with excitement and all exclaimed “Ooh La La, La Gordini” and simply threw their arms in the air in delight.

James said he had never seen such excitement and sheer enthusiasm. All the staff at the French Embassy had driven a Gordini in their youth, all had fabulous stories to tell of their various exploits in what they regard as the French national car symbol.

In many ways it seemed to represent a symbol of the empowerment of ordinary French people, of rally drivers able to prevail over those with far more expensive cars and win races outright with a car straight from the showroom to the track.

James said he loved it when they all wanted photos of themselves standing in front of the Gordini. As the Canberra Times reported the Bastille Day event, “the cars, including a legendary Renault Gordini sparkling in distinctive blue, were a fun distraction for guests ...and we sipped champagne and sang La Marseillaise!” Such are the joys of owning this magnificent little French car, the Renault Gordini.

MONTE CARLO RALLY

Monte Carlo Rally (officially Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo) is a rally racing event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco who also organize the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco and the Monaco Kart Cup. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and southeast France.

From its inception in 1911 by Prince Albert I, this rally, under difficult and demanding conditions, was an important means of testing the latest improvements and innovations to automobiles. Winning the rally gave the car a great deal of credibility and publicity. The conditions typically comprise of dry tarmac, wet tarmac, snow, and ice, sometimes all in a single stage of the rally. This places a big emphasis on tyre choices, as a driver has to balance the need for grip on ice and snow with the need for grip on dry tarmac. For the driver, this is often a difficult choice as the tyres that work well on snow and ice normally perform badly on dry tarmac.

This rally features what is possibly the most famous rally stage in the world. The stage is run from La Bollène to Sospel, or the other way around. On this route it passes over the Col de Turini, which normally has ice and/or snow on sections of it at that time of the year. Spectators also throw snow on the road. Until a few years ago, the Turini was also driven at night.

SOME PERSONAL DETAILS

James Coleborne has always loved the French language and Renault cars. His mother Kathleen Coleborne was his French Teacher and his father, Dr William Coleborne was a Language Master at Maitland Boys High School until 1971. James’ first car was a white 1965 Renault 8 which seemed virtually indestructible. I knew of the Gordini versions, but of course as a young teacher, I simply could not afford the high performance models – they were way out of reach. I recall looking in awe at the then brand new 1135 Gordini model on the Renault stand at the 1966 Sydney Motor Show, as it glistened under the display lights. In 1968 I traded the R8 in on a Renault 10, but it simply didn’t compare to the agile R8.

Thirty years passed before some Renault aficionados in Queanbeyan and Canberra rekindled my interest. In addition to the 1135 R8G Monte Carlo Replica, I found a 1967 Renault 10, an awesomely modified 1964 Renault 8 with a Weber sidedraft, 1.4 pistons and an alpine rear end. This was quickly followed by an original 1967 1135 Gordini Cannes Blue R8G which I further restored and sold to Jason Emmelkamp from the Renault Car Club of Australia.

I acquired a knockabout 1964 R8G from Rob Sealey which I use for occasional hill climbs and rallies. And then there was a very different 1985 Renault Fuego, also a superb car. Louis, former owner and Justin Eckersley former mechanic, from Alpine Motors in Canberra, gave much valuable advice and performed a great deal of mechanical work on all these other Renaults.

James likes to consider himself as “Le Conservateur” or the Curator of the car, as it’s nearly a museum piece – I like to think it is always going to be kept in concourse condition, to be put on show to share with other like minded Renault enthusiasts.

Hopefully many more fun times ahead at French and other car days.

James Coleborne


MOBILE 0434 604 865

EMAIL jcolebor@bigpond.net.au

14 March 2026