Shown on the left is the 'Édition Speciale', I think the oldest Régie publication about the R4 is, maybe a special issue of the Renault Magazine, probably even before the presentation at the Salon. It's a twelve page booklet in black and white. The text reads 'Our image hunters followed the first kilometers of a Renault 4, caught on the roads of the Provence'. I am not sure what is was used for; certainly not as sales brochure.

1961-1962 has the very first brochure, appropriately titled 'La nouvelle Renault'. It was published in large and small formats, both folded and containing about the same pictures and showing a red 4L. Note that the license plate reads the model year 1962; the publication dates from 1961. At least it exists in french (la nouvelle), german (der neue), dutch (de nieuwe), italian (la nuova) and english (strangely called the remarkable). Of course, England wouldn't be England if this brochure weren't available as left hand drive, too. Perhaps this is an Australian one? The spanish 'el nuevo' brochure shown below, although similarly named, is in fact a completely different one (see the FASA Berlina section for the how and why). Some versions of the red brochure and its blue counterpart (shown below) show the central ribble that was abandoned very quickly after the launch in 1961, and some don't; all have the low fuel pipe entry.

This single page blue one, being loaded with a chair that will clearly not fit in the trunk, is also from the first year. The australian, danish, english, german, italian and swedish versions are just about the same. Rather special is the australian black and white version, which has a completely different text than the colour version, as well as right hand steering on the back side. It was also available as postcard. The famous slogan which was kept so long ('Pas d'eau, pas de graissage, juste un peu d'essence', or 'no water, no greasing, just a bit of petrol') is already in these brochures. Strangely enough, all pictures are hand drawn, not a single photo is present. The available versions, given the french version, are R3, R4 (which was the same as the R3 except for the engine and the logo on the hatch), 4L and Super Comfort.

This leaflet on the right, taken obliquely from above, also shows the very first bonnet without the central ribbles, so undoubtedly it is from 1961 too. French, italian and german versions of this 4-page leaflet are shown in the Spot the Difference section. Below a small dutch leaflet ('here is Renault 4L'; for some reason it existed together with the dutch red and blue brochures) and a small german brochure.

1962 A single new brochure was published in two versions (large and small), just about the Super. 'Elle est merveilleusement pratique et confortable', which does certainly not apply to the hatch which opens downward and then just gets in the way. There are more Supers than just in France: from 1963 is the canadian Super leaflet, while this spanish Super brochure is from 1965. It is a model completely different from the french one, and would last years longer, until the seventies, as the R1125s). The font used for the Super text, however, is the same for all three countries.

1963 The brochure from this year is entirely different. It is an A4 booklet containing 32 pages, more like a magazine. The text is about press opinions, fabrication and technical details, and a number of made-up (?) stories of satisfied customers. The R3 has already been discontinued, but the Fourgonnette is present for the first time. Even before the appearance of the Parisienne, this brochure devotes 4 pages exclusively to women ("Who are you, madam?'). Below also a canadian triple A4 sheet from this year (perhaps 1964?) showing a local version with the double Super-bumper, but without the downward opening hatch. It contains some of the pictures of the 1961 introduction brochure. The dutch version consists of a single page and shows a 4L. There appears to be even a greek version!

1964 This one is somewhat similar to the 1963 one: a 32 page booklet, titled 'Renault 4 - Aux 4 coins du monde. The contents are also somewhat similar: a couple of technical pages, but much more stories. Except for Billancourt, production lines are now in Belgium (Haren), Ireland (Dublin), Spain (Valladolid), Italy (Milan and Pomigliano), Algeria (Algiers), Madagascar (Tananarive), the Philippines (Manila), Australia (Melbourne and Wellington) and Mexico (Sahagun). The stories are from Germany ('Green magic in the Black Forest'), France ('La vie de Chateaux'), Italy ('Romance Romaine'), Sweden ('A swedish spring') and again Italy ('La Campionissima'). Photos from these stories are shown here. A small version of the brochure is shown below. Page 29 is the 'Magazine féminin R4', showing the Parisienne, although this name is not yet mentioned. Also from 1964 is this single page Parisienne brochure (pictures from the Elle Magazine issue 'Elle prend le volant' are here).

1965 Strangely, 1965 has as much as 3 different brochures, a black one, a colorful one showing horses on the front page, and a small poster also with horses, primarily devoted to the R4, but which also shows the other current Renault models (this German version is slightly different, showing 'Renault 4' instead of 'R4' and two photos swapped; there is also a French version showing the text 'Renault 4' but without '65'). The former two both consist of 16 pages, the black one being the technical one and the other filled with stories. The models are now R4, R4L, R4 L Export and La Parisienne. The stories are varying: about horse-riding couples, an cartoon about an R4 telling about itself ('I was born in Billancourt, March 21 1964...'). Of the other ones, the most telling is the one about Natacha and her Parisienne named Pénélope. Many nice photos, among them one showing a Parisienne-like model in red with yellow sides! A single page dutch brochure named 'de econoom' (the economist) is shown below. On the back side is information about the Fourgonnette Break.

1966 A strange year, as I don't know any real brochure from this year, except for a folded poster (published in a couple of variations, some showing pictures of the Parisienne), showing an elephant loading suitcases into the trunk (on a smaller photo in the leaflet, the french childrens hero, elephant Babar shows up). Various versions exist, showing (especially) different logos. The chassis and carrosserie are shown apart from each other (like was already done during the 1961 Salon), which was to be repeated often in brochures in the coming years. The available versions are now R4, R4 Export and Parisienne: 'R4: Trois voitures en une'. Quite different is the spanish brochure for this year: 'el coche todo ventajas' ('the all window car'). In white a small dutch brochure, showing the logo of the Renault 4 Vrijbuiter club.

1967 - Except for the cover color the french and dutch brochures are essentially the same. They contain many photos of the same family (father, mother, son and daughter and the inevitable dog), driving around in an R4 of which the cabin has been removed by a couple of fairies, dressed up as craftsmen (who act on the front page of the UK brochure for this year). As the story goes, the family have all they need, except... In 10 pages they admire the passenger space and the trunk, the suspension, acceleration, brakes, steering circle and the amount of models (Luxe, Export and Parisienne). The rest of the brochure is devoted to nice photos of the interior and technical details. A subtle choice it was to select bordeaux red as the colour of the car to be pictured, in a brochure of the same colour. The R4 already has the new beige dashboard and the new steering wheel, but still the old round gearshift handle.

1968 - The blue one features a bright blue R4 with the new grille, encompassing the headlights. The gearshift handle is now the familiar pear-shape. All pictures of last years family show up, not on the first but on the last pages. The photos are merely the same, only the background colour nicely matches the blue R4. The remaining pages show many nice detail photos in blueish shades, corresponding to the car pictured. Hand drawn versions of some of the photos in this brochure were also used in the booklet 'La R4 de papa'. No reference is found anymore to the various models from this year on. The Parisienne is not pictured anymore so it probably left the building. Remarkably, a dutch 4-page brochure with some of the same photos is purple on the outside. The german counterpart is a different shade of blue. Two UK 1968 brochures (red and blue) both have an entirely different cover but similar content as the french one. Nice examples of photo manipulation between the french and english versions are shown here). For the UK, there is also an alternative small 3-page fold-out celebrating the new front.

1969 - The 1969 brochure is orange. The model in this brochure is a kind of cream colour, which nicely goes together with the orange background. Strangely, a dutch language version containing the same photos as this french brochure has the blue cover of the french 1968 brochure.

1970 - The 1970 brochure is again orange. On the cover the large '4', when compared to the 1967-1969 ones attracts the eye. The contents are very similar to 1969. Further, 1970 has single page and two-page leaflets (versions with red and yellow '4' exist), with the cream R4 on the front page. The UK version has a different cover, and inside the brochure some more examples of photo manipulation (similar to the ones of 1968) can be found.

1971 - A hand drawn R4 in orange and green on the front (with the orange indicator lights that were custom in Germany and the UK!). Each page is devoted to a distinguished feature of the 'incroyable Renault4' (showing the same photo as on the 'La complice' advertisement): 'Elle a pris des goûts de luxe' (about the luxurious interior), 'Faites-lui en voir de toutes les couleurs elle aime ca!' (emphasizing its comfortable behaviour on country roads) , 'Mettez-là au régime, elle adore ca' (concerning the low cost of maintainance), 'Une traficante que s'en sort toujours' (its small size permits it to go anywhere in the city - the photo on this page is the same as the 'Louez deux motards', but with different text) and 'Elle se charge de tout' (praising the capacity of the trunk).

Starting from 1971, the UK brochures would for a number of years be rather similar to each other, but wholly different from the french ones; have a look at those from 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1975.

1972 - This one has a red R4 on the front page, with a very coarse raster over it. Inside, emphasis is laid on its allround character 'tout-terrain', the small budget it needs, the advantages of its small size (see the advertisement 'Louez deux motards' in the Advertisement section), the comfortable seats and the spacious trunk. Funny detail: both the 1971 and 1972 brochures exist in two versions with different titles: 'Les Renault 4' and 'La Renault 4'. This german version has a slightly different cover but inside it is largely the same. This alternative german version has an entirely different cover. Also a small french version exists, which is shown below:

1973 - This brochure is one of my favourites. It opens with 'The Renault 4 is the car to simplify life'. It shows many pictures of a group of 4 bearded gentleman, camping out in the open, smoking pipes, playing the flute, etc. It all empasizes that the R4 (and its owners!) is non conformist, practical, easy going and still comfortable. The R4 pictured is a nice pistachio-green one. In these years, it is often mentioned that 'elle peut coucher dehors', she can sleep outside, because the paint is so good and resistant to any weather. This is also reflected in a commercial from the same year, a perfect small chanson, attributed to Michel Fugain and published recently in Germany in the 'R4 Pressemappe'. The small smallv version of the brochure is shown below:

1974 - In this year, the Renault logo was changed to the one that was used until about 1990. In my opinion, it does not go very well with the second grille. Luckily, this combination was abandoned the next year (although I lament the loss of the second grille). The brochure shows a couple having played tennis, ready to roll off in their yellow R4 (yes, I am jealous of the open roof...). The whole brochures breathes an atmosphere of sports: we see young people kayaking, crossing rivers in their R4 (accompanied by a metallic green one), skiing, scuba diving. The dashboard, by the way, has changed into black. The german version of this brochure has, of course, the color of the indicator lights changed into orange, and that of the headlights into white. As was common for the last few years, there is also a small smallv version of the brochure, shown below:

1975 shows the new plastic black grille. If the previous two brochures were aiming too much at a young public, this one has 'R4, from 18 to 98 years' on the front page. Inside there is a careful mixture of young and old people exercising their R4 (a white and a red one), going into town, playing in a band, parking in small spaces etc. The last page shows all actors together sitting on a terrace having a good time together. From 18 to 98 years, that's for sure! It's the 1975-1976 model I think I like most. Like in 1972 and 1974, the german version of this brochure is different; not only are the indicator lights orange (the plates are still french, though), also the foreground picture is absent, and the photo bigger. Inside most photos are slightly different, too. Very special is the spanish brochure from this year, shown below. Two versions are shown, the Súper (in the foreground, with the new grille), and a basic version which still has the first grille!

In the period 1976-1982, the brochures are only A5 portrait size. Each one shows an R4 pictured more or less from the front side (except 1981), each year a different colour. For 1976, there are two: the standard red one and the Safari. Also take note of the spectacular Swedish version, showing a clearly non-existent grille (!) somewhere between the 2^nd and 3^rd generation, and also a right rearview mirror. 1977 is beige (the german one has its indicator lights colored), 1978 green (the german version is again a little different). 1979 is red and shows the GTL for the first time on the front page. In this brochure, the GTL already has orange front indicator lights. 1980 is yellow (in the UK version the photos are mirrored and the sunroof is gone!) and 1981 white (there is also a 4 page leaflet of this year entitled 'La voiture au quotidien'). Finally, 1982 is red.

Although not listed in the 1978 green brochure, the GTL was introduced in this year, in a separate leaflet (shown here in french, dutch and italian - please take note of the difference in consumption between the french and italian versions: 5.6 vs. 5.9!). Inside, pictures show the 1978 white indicator lights.

In my opinion, this period illustrates the decline of the good looks of the R4. 1976 is still great (hmmm, my own R1125TL is from about that year, yes). After that, all kinds of details I like are changed: the round indicator lights disappear in 1977, the metal air inlet in 1978, simultaneously with the introduction of the grey grille. In 1978 the grey side protection boards are introduced on the GTL. Let us not speak about the relocation of the front license plate to the bumper, the redesign of the door hinges, the R5 dashboard and steering wheel, the new Renault font... and who needs 1108cc and 34hp anyway? Also, because the brochures are much smaller, there is no room anymore for the nice stories and photos that characterized the period until 1975. Let's face it, the eighties brochures are just boring, although the 1981 Jogging and 1985 Sixties ones are atypical and therefore quite enjoyable, as well as the 32 pages '25 Ans' booklet the Régie published in 1986 on the 25th anniversary.

Anyway, for the sake of completeness, here are the brochures for the last decade: