Local differences: Sweden

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Sweden and some other countries with a lot of snow got the flap over the air intake in 1966, one year earlier than the rest of the world.
On the R16's from 1966 with flap you can see some remains of the grille from older cars (see arrow).
On newer cars the panel is completely flat.
From 1974 year model there was a law demanding cleaners/wipers on the headlights in Sweden.
Once Renault hade made the changes to the grille for the Swedish market they never modified it again, even the R16's sold in 1980 has the chrome grille in Sweden!
The first years 65-67 the reflective material in the rear lights were not legal in Sweden because it didn't have E stamped into it.
Extra, "legal", reflectives were fitted in Sweden on these models.
In Sweden the R16 was classified as a station wagon, this made it necessary to fit rear view mirrors. These were placed on the front wings, but eventually Renault fitted mirrors on the front doors as standard.
Most R16s, except the earliest, has a separate starting button. You start the engine by first turning the ignition key to on, then you push the button.
From what I have heard this is because you couldn't reach the key with the seatbelt correctly fastened. This would make it difficult to start the engine in a emergency situation when it had stalled.
The funny thing is that the starting button was still present when modern belts with rolls where fitted from factory...

Magnus Bjelk (magnus@r16site.com)

Last revision 2002-04-21