Renault 40CV Type JP Touring Widerkehr
The huge six-cylinder engine of this Renault 40CV has a 9-litre capacity, and the car is one of the largest Renaults ever built.
This example is the only one still in existence with coachwork by Widerkehr from Colmar. The car was delivered on 2-2-1922.
Characteristics of the older Renaults are the position of the radiator behind the bonnet and the cooling ribs on the side. The 40CV’s radiator has a 45-litre capacity.
The 40CV was a successful attempt by Renault to gain a position in the uppermost market sector and it was not long before the car became a favourite in high society. It was delivered as a motorised chassis only, with the choice of bodywork being left to the customer. After the 1913 motor show in St.-Petersburg, the Czar of Russia ordered two of these cars.
In 1925 a 40CV won the Rallye Monte Carlo, and a year later another car with special single-seat bodywork participated in the Montlhéry endurance event where various records were broken. The car covered a distance of 4,167.6 kilometres at an average speed of 173.65 km/h.