When I was a youngster, I had an uncle who bought a new 1958 Dauphine for his two teenage daughters. It was a cute car and I remember the town and country horn ("beep-beep" and "boop-boop"). Renaults did not hold up well to US climate and driving conditions and theirs failed with engine problems in less than two years. In the mid-sixties, Renault introduced the more substantial R-10 sedan and I remember the advertising campaign: "The Renault for people who swore they would never buy another one".

I remember one of my mother’s lady friends had one of these cars in the early 1960’s. We lived in Nebraska at the time. As a young “car guy”, I found it fascinating!

M first car was a new Renault Dauphine, and I loved it. Great on gas, rear engine, easy & fun to drive. More convenient than VW's because it had 4 doors. Drove it from Vermont to Louisiana, w/ no problem. Those were the days!

When I was a little boy in the early sixties there used to be many of these here in Texas, including our minister. I loved them!

@classiccars4067

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I was the same as you, very lovely car.

I remember them when I was a young boy. I was born in 1954. Still a lovely car.

I went on my honeymoon, to Quebec, in a Dauphine. Nice design, much more livable than the VW Bug I had, but had reliability issues, like the carburetor falling off. Had to sell it when I was posted overseas.

My father bought one of these. It gave him so much trouble he sold it in six months.

Born in 151, I lived in a cul-de-sac where there was only one car, a Dauphine. In the next street the house at the entrance to ours the householder, a painter/decorator, had a Morris Traveller.

My father bought one of these in the late 50s. Unfortunately, it was completely overwhelmed by our Canadian winters and also rusted quickly. I think I have a family snap of us in the car somewhere.

Unfortunately in the UK these cars had a very poor reputation for rusting, in a period when rusting was a problem with most late 1950's and 1960's cars. The swing-axle rear suspension could also catch out the unwary.

The swing axle rear suspension can bite. I rolled one over because I didn’t know what happens when you lift off in a sharp turn. Oversteer!

@classiccars4067

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When I was kid, have no clue about these cars. But my uncle had this car for 15 years. No issues.

This car was so terrible that Renault bought full page ads in major magazines in the Seventies apologizing for the Dauphine. They were hoping for a comeback in the U.S. market but they were hampered by the celebrated disaster that was the Dauphine. Unfortunately Renault's infrequent attempts to re-enter the American market have been futile because they continue to build awful cars in the tradition of Fiat and pretty much all British cars. The litany of parts tested is amusing. I wonder how they managed to do such extensive testing and still build an unrelievedly inferior automobile. The car was certainly attractive (like Fiat and British cars of the time), but had great difficulty actually moving under its own power.