Renault Frégate1951–1960

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FactRenault's plant at Flins was later named for Pierre Lefaucheux, the boss who died in a single-car accident driving his own Fregate.

The Renault Frégate is an executive saloon manufactured and marketed by the French automaker Renault from 1951 to 1960, with estate variants, the Domaine and the Manoir, introduced in 1956 and 1958. It was conceived in the years immediately after World War II, when the newly state-controlled Renault needed a modern upmarket model to improve its image and serve the expected middle-class recovery; originally planned with a rear-engined layout like the 4CV ("Project 108"), it switched to a front engine in 1949, so the engineering was rushed. It was presented at the 1950 Paris Motor Show, with the first production model delivered in November 1951 and manufacture at the Flins plant, later named for Pierre Lefaucheux, who died in a single-car accident in a Frégate. From early 1953 it was offered in two trim levels, the "Frégate Affaires" and the "Frégate Amiral". The 2-litre type 668 engine produced 58 PS, raised to 64 PS by a January 1955 compression-ratio increase; complaints about the lack of power were addressed for 1956 by the bored-out 2141 cc Étendard engine with 77 PS, a luxurious Grand Pavois trim package arrived the same year, and in 1957 a three-speed "Transfluide" semi-automatic transmission became an option along with an 80 PS version of the Étendard engine. Sales peaked in 1955 with 37,717 cars, slumping to 9,772 in 1957 as Citroën's DS and ID and Simca competition intensified; the final Frégate was assembled on 18 April 1960 after 163,383 were made at Flins. Renault replaced it with the imported Rambler Classic Six sold as the Rambler Renault.