• Discovered derelict in Toulouse, France • An older restoration • Engine rebuilt in 2011 • Completed the London-Brighton Veteran Car Run in 2012 • Last outing in 2018 (last run 2025) Founded in 1898 by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand, the company that would become France's biggest automobile manufacturer started humbly enough, with a solitary 1¾hp De Dion-engined prototype, the sprung rear axle of which would soon be copied by many contemporaries.

At a time when automobile design had yet to crystallise, Renault's front-engined, rear-drive design presaged that of the modern car, while other advanced features included wire-spoked wheels shod with the newly invented Dunlop inflatable tyre.

Few changes were found necessary before the Type A was ready for presentation to the public in 1899.

Production at the Billancourt factory was soon under way on a large scale, demand for its products being enhanced by the performance of Renault cars in the great inter-city races so...