As we hit the height of summer here in Europe, we wanted to take a look at some of the past summer lovin’ cars from the continent in a mix of vehicles that represent everything from dune buggy style to safari offroad. The Renault Rodeo was first presented back in 1969 as a competitor to the Citroen Méhari (more on it later) and appeared on the market the year after.

The first model to be introduced was the Rodeo 4, based on the R4 Fourgonette platform and equipped with an 845 cc engine with 26 hp. The Rodeo was a small car 366 cm long and weighing 650 kg. It had a top speed of 100 km/hr and could manage about 17 km on one litre of fuel.

The Rodeo 4 had a restyling in 1974 and the range was expanded to the Rodeo 6, developed off the base of the Renault 6. It became a larger car, 406 cm long, and had a 1.3-litre engine with 45 hp. Top speed increased to 135 km/hr. In the meantime the Rodeo 4’s engine got more power and went to 34 hp.

In 1981 both the Rodeo 4 and 5 models were replaced by the Rodeo 5 at 356 cm long. Despite its name it used the R4 sedan as a basis and had a 1.1-litre engine with 34 hp. Top speed then dropped back from the Rodeo 6’s 135 km/hr to 115 km/hr. In 1984 the ‘Hoggar’ 4×4 version debuted. It was the last in the range until production was stopped in 1986. About 60,000 Renault Rodeos in total were produced and while we’ve never seen one, we think there’s probably a few still out there enjoying salty air.

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