A van is a tool, a box designed to carry things and stuff from one place to another; a real tool is not designed to appeal in any way other than through its practical ability to complete or enable the job at hand. Indeed, a heavily stylised tool will often ultimately feel inferior to a simple, classical one. I’ve nevertheless always had an admiration for these vans, essentially due to their styling.
However functional and simple, the Master is very deliberately styled to emphasise its role as a tool. There are no unnecessary flourishes on the sides; the nose is blunt, with the driver’s seating position evidently pushed as far forward as possible; the door handles are large and prominent, and of a common design; and the rear doors appear to be mounted on the outside of the box with external tracks, thereby seemingly limiting intrusion into the load bay. No sliding door on the driver’s side? Then there’s a fixed panel that mimics it exactly, rather than a blanked full side panel.
These features are, of course, devices to give exactly the impression I have referred to. They work together to give the impression that this van is designed to be a practical proposition for moving stuff. This is a four-wheeled tool box, that clearly will work as a tool, and not as a lifestyle accessory that can’t accept a 8’ x 4’ (or even a 2.5m x 1.5m) board, or many cases of red wine.
It is actually tempting to look at these details and consider them to be almost Scandinavian in their design logic, with the emphasis on practicality, uniformity of components and function driving form.
The Master and its smaller brother, the Trafic, were first introduced in 1980 to succeed the long running Estafette series, alongside cars like Renault 18 and, soon after, the Renault 9 and 11 (Alliance and Encore), signaling that Renault was moving away from a defiantly (stubbornly?) French attitude to a more conformist, mainstream European style. Even the new names suggested such to the demanding, unsentimental commercial vehicle market. Bob the Builder is not going to buy a van whose name he can’t pronounce.
You can argue if this is progress or just common sense for a volume-dependent business. This version of the Master was produced from 1980 to 1997, with a range of 4 cylinder petrol and diesel (the majority) engines from 2.0 to 2.5 litres and a five-speed gearbox. Most were front wheel drive, but Renault also offered a rear drive option and conversions to 4×4 were available. The usual wide range of specialist bodies was offered by the conversion industry, as well as a range of wheelbases.
The key competitors were the Ford Transit, Mercedes-Benz 207D and the Peugeot J5/Citroen C25/Iveco (Fiat) Ducato family. From the UK, there were also the LDV 300 and 400 series vans developed from the long running Leyland Sherpa (and indeed early 1960s BMC J4) van, but these were essentially UK only competitors.
There are many thousands still in use in France, for every purpose from the market van to minibus and with specialist bodies also.
And the killer detail for me? That sliding door that appears to run, like a cover, over the whole side the vehicle from the roof gutter to underside of the sill. A stylish detail that proclaims the van’s utilitarian purpose.
(Although these vans were never sold in the US, the related Renault Trafic van was the basis for the Winnebago LeSharo FWD motorhome (CC here) – ED)
Related reading: Renault Estafette and Citroen H van
Wikipedia mentionned then the Trafic Gen-1 was made until 2000. Opel got a variant sold as Opel Arena (there a small picture of it on page 37 on the PDF link), the Arena was replaced by the Vivaro. And from the following pictures I saw on this French forum http://www.forum-auto.com/marques/dacia/sujet4085-3080.htm#t777707 it was also sold as a Chevrolet in Argentina in the late 1990s.
Edit: There more pictures of the Argentine Trafic at http://globalcarbrands.com/make/chevrolet-trafic/index.html
These are truly the cockroaches of the European van-trade. You can find them in daily use at every town market. Grocers, florists, etc. They just never say die…
“…Peugeot J5/Citroen C25/Iveco (Fiat) Ducato family.”
The Ducato was never sold as an Iveco, only as a Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen and, only in Italy, as the Alfa Romeo AR6. Iveco had, and still have, its own van, the Daily.
And the Daily is a heavier duty van than the Ducato…
Exactly. The Fiat Ducato (Ram ProMaster) is a FWD light duty van. The Iveco Daily is RWD (or 4×4), BOF, and is available with the bigger 3.0 liter diesels. Dual rear tires on the heaviest models. So it’s more a downscaled “real” truck.
Iveco Daily with its fresh 2014 face.
In the UK the Peugeot J5 was called the Talbot Express.
Versatility and practicality that a SUV can only DREAM about. I love it.
It would have been nice to have seen these in North America. But, I suspect it would have the same reliability/durability issues as concurrent Renault products. The space utilization looks outstanding.
Here in the UK, these, as with most / all French vehicles soon earned themselves a reputation as being rather crap in service. Once the warranty expired, you were on borrowed time. The dire residuals are not a fluke. The smaller more common Trafic swiftly became known as the Tragic . Ask a man who has owned one !
If I’d only got a penny for every kilometer behind the wheel of my 2.5 Diesel (an Iveco Diesel actually were used for these)
I have Always seen the Master as the spritual successor of the famous Citroën H vans, a large tin box, large opening rear doors to get a pallet or pallets in, a low loading ramp and a very high opening “sky”door as a sliding door.
Life was OK doing around 70mph, no need to push the Diesel, thelarge wheels gave you a comfortable ride and mine had power steering,, yeah man, power steering.
In those days Diesel engines used to get ‘tired’ after a couple of hundred thousands of kilometers, and the long hills between Brussels and Luxemburg, you’d really feel the old girl had seen better days.
Today’s Master is a totally different beast, a direct injected turbo Diesel that climbs a hill effortless after half a million K, built to what we call ze Mercedes standard, so no wobbly doors nor panels falling off so to speak.
But the typical French charm went out of the window as well.
…”the typical French charm went out of the window”…
Right. Old Citroën, Renault and Peugeot vans were always special, just like their cars. Without seeing a brand name you could always tell it just had to be French.
Joint-ventures are very common now in van land.
Renault Traffic=Opel Vivaro=Nissan Primastar.
Renault Master=Opel Movano=Nissan NV400.
Fiat Ducato=Peugeot Boxer=Citroën Jumper=Ram ProMaster.
Add to that strange bedfellows Mercedes and Renault.
Renault Kangoo = Mercedes Citan.
Yes, Mercedes decided to badge-engineer Renaults smallest van. For what purpose boggles my mind.
The new Smart-for-Four is also the new Renault Twingo!
Plate number 24, Dordogne… I had a girlfriend from there long time ago… I am feeling nostalgic.
Tough van, like the old Fiat Ducatos, but the best Euro van i was the small Citroen C15, based in the Citroen Visa. it is impossible to kill.
Oh yes, tough little van. Nearly 1.2 million of them were built from 1984 to 2005.
And as I said above, this can clearly only come from France.
A horticulturist nearby had one, plain white. He had it many years, simple non-turbo diesel engine, all maintenance DIY. It spent more time off-road than on paved roads.
Once had to take a C15 Diesel from NW France back to home base in Holland.
I had a Mk II VW Golf company car.
A LOADED Golf: 1.8 engine and even , even, a five-speed gearbox. and a REVV counter !
Got into the C15 tin can, drove off and was surprised for the next three hours that te road surface had smoothened out for the whole journey.
Even in the simplest, most humble van the French knew how to create comfort.
Just purchased a late model 1995 Master – will update on the experience in due course.
Yup collected the Master – and straight into service moving a cast-iron stove. 1995cc petrol engine under the floor in the cab. Pulls well – about 60mph on the highway. Its sci-fi looks have already gotten nice comments. Now rare on UK roads – more in France where I am off to this week in it. Massive load capacity and driving position higher than most UK vans. A true classic!
The Fiat Ducato / Peugeot J5 / Citroen C25 / Talbot Express / Alfa-Romeo AR6 (surely rivalling 1960s BMC for badge engineering!) was a much smaller and lighter built van than the Master.. Direct equivalent of the Renault Trafic in fact.
The Master was a much heavier-duty vehicle.
The Master in action…on the ferry to France – mixing it with younger vans.