1927 Renault Cabriolet Cabriolet

This 1927 Renault Two-Door 'Big' Cabriolet by Million-Guiet rests on a shortened 40 CV chassis and is the only 'big' chassis, open two-door, prewar Renault. Its one-off coachwork was built by Million-Guiet and was delivered new for display at the 1926 Paris Motor Show on October 7th of 1926. It was purchased by a wealthy American couple and had it sent to their summer residence in Southampton, New York. En route, the car was displayed at the 1926 New York Auto Salon on December 4th, perhaps as a likely contingency of the purchase agreement between Renault and its buyers.

The car remained in the care of the Southampton family until 1989, by which time it had fallen into a preserved but disused state. It was then acquired by a Connecticut-based collector and between 1989 and 1991 was given a meticulous restoration. Upon completion, the car was entered in that year's Great American Race. It was then returned to storage and rarely used until it was rediscovered by its current caretakers in 2017. Since then, the car has received extensive mechanical recommissioning including a new clutch. Over $30,000 was spent in returning this Renault back to road-running operation.

This Renault is powered by a numbers-matching straight-six engine backed by a four-speed manual transmission sourced from a contemporaneous 40 CV. It has Marchal headlamps, factory wood-spoke artillery wheels, dual side-mount spares, trafficators, luggage rack, Jaeger Paris instrumentation, and shock-absorbing bumpers.

By Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2022