In the pantheon of lost prototypes, the DF104 is unique: It was not a flight of fancy. It was a sound, logical, brilliant solution to a problem—simply born ten years too early and into the wrong company.
The DF104 chassis was a revolutionary concept: a mounted ahead of the front axle but behind the transmission. Wait—longitudinal? In a small car? renault df104
Renault, still reeling from the 1968 civil unrest and facing aging rear-engined models like the Renault 8 and 10, needed a modern voiture à vivre (a car for living). The directive from the Régie Nationale des Usines Renault was brutal: Create a car smaller than the R4, cheaper than the R6, but as spacious as a R16 inside. In the pantheon of lost prototypes, the DF104
Unlike the transverse Fiat 127 or the Mini, the DF104 prototype housed its engine (an all-new, all-aluminum 956cc or 1108cc unit) longitudinally , with the gearbox mounted under the engine sump. The differential was ahead of the engine. Power flowed from the crank, down into the gearbox, then forward to the front wheels. Wait—longitudinal
The man tasked with this impossible geometry was , a young engineer who had worked on the R16. His solution became Project 104 . 2. The DF104: The Mechanical Mule Before the styling clay or the marketing plans, there was the DF104 —a codename standing for Direction des Fabrications / 104th project . This was not a car for the public; it was a rolling test bed.