Renault 2087 Goélette 4x4

The Renault 2087 Goélette 4x4 is the four-wheel-drive version of the Goélette utility vehicle of 1949 and the first light 4x4 vehicle of the French maker. Right after the Second World War the freshly nationalised Regie Nationale Renault was chosen under the Pons five-year plan to design and make a utility vehicle in the 1,000 to 1,400 kg class, shown in late 1945 as the 1,000 kg and the best-selling van in its category in France in the 1950s. The French army, busy in Indochina, ordered a 4x4 all-terrain light truck from the Regie to reinforce a fleet of surplus American Dodge WC51 and 52. Renault started from the light utility R 2062, later named Goélette, raised it on banjo axles and leaf springs, and fitted a torpedo cab and a canvas-covered body; a fully enclosed ambulance version was also built. From September 1951 to April 1953 the Regie first produced 1,780 of the type R 2064. The type R 2087 adopts the engine of the Frégate, the Étendard 671-4 developing 64 hp at 3,300 rpm, with a four-speed gearbox and a two-speed transfer case.