Ashtrays: 1974 IMV1600 Super-B-Turist

Driven to write continues its determined efforts to catalogue the world’s automotive ashtrays.

1974 Renault Estafette ashtray
1974 IMV 1600 super B turist interior

You’d think the dealer would know what they were selling. You’d think maybe I’d check. The vehicle is labelled as a Renault Estafette even if it has an IMV badge on the front. The eagle-eyed Sean spotted that the car was not what I claimed it was in the original version of this post. Let’s deal with the important stuff first….

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The ashtray looks like it could have been hinged horizontally at its base but is in fact a flip-up type. That makes it a bit of a Fitts’ Law sinner, being a small target that is a long way from the driver. That said, it looks large enough to hold about a box’s worth of cigarette waste and is finished in robust and cleanable chromed metal.

The IMV generally is robust and cleanable too: rubber mats, vinyl seats and a lot of exposed metal inside. The vehicle has room for eight or even nine passengers inside its 4 metre length which means it surpasses the Fiat Multipla for its people carryingness. Of course, it’s probably not a car you want to have a head-on collision in since the driver and front passenger are sitting in the crumple zone. Everyone is in the crumple-zone, really.

So, who were IMV? They were Industrija Motorih Vozil (Industry of Motor Vehicles) who had a factory in Slovenia. According to the source of all truth, Wikipedia (please donate!) they started making cars under licence to Austin from 1967 to 1972. That means there are Slovenia-badged Austin 1300’s, Mini 1000’s and Austin Maxi’s. The firm switched allegiances and began working with Renault and also produced some vehicles of their own.

There is not a whole lot out there about this vehicle and what little there is happens to be written in Slovenian. That means this little vehicle is something of a real rarity and doubtless has an interesting story behind it. There’s a little more here and here.

What I have gleaned is that the IMV appeared in 1967 and had an Austin engine, type 16EB (which code is not listed in the Wikipedia catalogue) with 1622 cc, making 16 hp at 4700 rpm. The rear axle** came from ZF and the vehicle’s top speed ran to 110 kmph.

Here’s the original Slovenian text: ” Na beograjskem avtosalonu leta 1967 je IMV predstavil kombi 1600-B z novim motorjem in prenosom moči. Motor je bil Austinov, tipa BMC 16 EB, 1622 kubični štiritaktni štirivaljnik z 62 konjskimi močmi pri 4700 vrtljajih. Za prenos moči je tokrat poskrbela tovarna ZF, ki je menjalnik priredila za ta motor in hkrati za IMV-jev kombi. Z tem motorjem je kombi postal veliko bolj uporaben in zmogljiv, največja hitrost je bila čez 110 km/h.

Z tem močnejšim motorjem se je pokazala tudi možnost povečanja nosilnosti, tako so na Beeograjskem salonu leta 1969 predstavili novo triosno vozilo 1600 super kamionet z podaljšano kabino in kasonom, z nosilnostjo 1,5 tone. Kmalu se mu je pridružil še furgon z povišano streho.

Naslednje leto so v Beogradu javnosti pokazali še kombi z Austinovim dizelskim 1489 kubičnim motorjem in 40 konji, ki je bil zaradi majhne moči na voljo le za dvoosne modele, pa še teh so izdelali le majhno količino.

V tem času so gradili tudi novo proizvodno dvorano, temeljni kamen je bil položen leta 1967, samo gradnja pa je stekla leta 1968 in se končala leto kasneje, ko so oba nova delali povezali v enotno dvorano površine 21000 kvadratnih metrov. Ker so gradili v fazah, da bi tako čimmanj ovirali proizvodnjo, se je gradnja nadaljevala še do leta 1975, ko so dogradili še prizidke in dodatni nadstropji na prizidkih. IMV je zdaj imel kompletno sodobno tovarno z težkimi prešami in najmodernejšo lakirnico, ki je delovala po postopku kataforeze. V tej tovarni pa niso izdelovali samo kombije, temveč tudi prikolice Adria in osebna vozila po licenci BLMC. Prav pri izdelavi Austinov pa je precej škripalo, Angleži kljub dogovorom niso hoteli prepustiti IMV- ju izdelavo posameznih delov karoserije, poleg tega pa tudi niso hoteli od IMV-ja kupovati dogovorjenih sestavnih delov- tako imenovanih protidobav. Zaradi tega je tovarni stalno primanjkovalo deviz, ki so jih potrebovali za uvoz sestavnih delov.

Ko pa so poleg tega začele še težave z dobavami delov iz Anglije, je direktorju Levičniku zakuhalo, in je kljub opravičevanju Angležev in pripravljenosti na povračilo škode jeseni leta 1972 prekinil kooperacijsko pogodbo. Seveda je v skladu z takratno prakso moral vse skupaj požegnati še delavski svet, tako da so še do konca leta varili Austinove karoserije, v začetku 1973 pa so iz tovarne zapeljali še zadnji Austini. Kljub temu pa so kombiji še vse do leta 1974 vztrajali z motorji Austin.”
This has to be DTW’s most obscure ashtray.

[The original comments have been left to reflect the fact that for a few hours this vehicle was mistakenly named as a Renault Estafette. R.H, April 14, 22.00 CET.]

[**The text was revised to say that the transaxle was provided by ZF and not the gearbox as stated in the second revision. RH, April 15, 09.50 CET]

Author: richard herriott

I like anchovies. I dislike post-war town planning.

12 thoughts on “Ashtrays: 1974 IMV1600 Super-B-Turist”

  1. I was, indeed I am, going to make a comment about the image of chain-smoking Frenchmen passing stubs forward to the patient driver to dispose of in that impressive bin. But then I realised that this isn’t an Estafette, leastways not like the one I nearly blagged off someone 40 years ago to drive round Europe in. Then I thought it might be some kind of Barkas, but that isn’t right. What is it? Does the vendor maybe not know?

    1. On first glance it looks like a UAZ 452, but the secondary lamps are in the wrong position???

  2. IMV from Slovenia. That is very confusing. Is it Renault based, though the Estafette was never as big as 1600cc. I see that IMV once built Maxis under licence. It would be exciting if it was Maxi based – though wrong capacity too. Shouldn’t a seller actually know what they are selling?

    1. …and to paint the front like a split screen VW Kombi for added confusion!

  3. Front engine FWD, rear engine RWD, and front engine RWD simultaneously? I’ve come up so far with Simca, Fiat, and VW – think LT.

    Oh, and GM – Corvair, -ado cars, and everything else.

  4. Hmm. There’s bit of a Barkas look, but it’s a DKW Schnellaster adapted to take BMC B series petrol and diesel engines in more or less J4 and JU250 capacities and specification.

    To complicate matters further, I’ve found mention of later versions using the 1647cc Renault petrol engine, and a 2197cc Mercedes-Benz diesel.

    The ZF transaxle could be the same type as supplied to Alfa for their Romeo van.

    1. If it’s 1974, I’d guess it was the Renault engine, hence the seller’s confusion and mention of the Estafette.

      As an aside, I can say that the rear UJ from an Alfa Romeo van is a perfect fit at the end of the propshaft of a Bedford CA van. Now there’s a useful tip that might get you out of trouble one day, like it did me.

  5. This article has ended up like a British Leyland car: the users are doing testing. I have made a revision regarding the ZF component. Thanks for your comments on this mystery car.

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