[Editor’s Note: Reader Marvin McFalls sent in this story discussing his research into a mystery Renault racer known as the Halliday Special.]
Renault specials are fairly rare, especially in the United States, and I had the honor of uncovering possibly the two most famous examples: the Louis Rosier Special as well as the second prototype built for Jean Rédélé. If these names sound familiar, Rosier was France’s only post-war racing Champion, winning the 24 Hours of LeMans as well as a number of Grand Prixes. Rédélé founded France’s sporting brand Alpine. Around the time I was writing about these cars, I met another enthusiast of unique cars, Geoff Hacker. Needless to say, the two of us became instant friends, and have remained in almost constant contact since.
A decade ago, nearly to the day, I received an e-mail from Geoff. He sent me some photos of a very tired fiberglass racer, sitting out in the desert. He asked me my thoughts on the vehicle, and after cursory glance of the photos, I came to the conclusion this car was much different than the previously mentioned specials. Unlike the Rosier and Rédélé which were built on stock Renault 4cv chassis with factory floor pans, this car was purpose-built for racing with a handcrafted chassis and floor, though using a significant amount of 4cv components.
So, over the next 10 years, from time to time, I would circle back to ask if Geoff had learned anything new on the car. The answer was always no, until recently. As it turned out Geoff had remained in contact with Paul Anderson who owned the Renault racer. Paul had sent the original photos of the car sadly laying on the ground in the desert. As it turns out, Paul had rescued it, and had been storing it ever since. Late last year, Geoff was able to acquire the car from him, and over the winter it made its way across the country from California to Florida.
Photo courtesy Geoff Hacker
Once in Florida, Geoff wanted to learn all he could about his latest acquisition. Upon inspection he was able to determine the front and rear clips were identical and made of fiberglass, while the doors and belly pan are aluminum. This was all done for the ease of swapping and replacing damaged ends during racing, with only one mold required to make a new front or rear section.
Next Geoff reached out to me, and once I had a complete set of current condition photos, I was able to begin finding out what was Renault and what was not. Next he contacted Joel Driskill, a noted California car researcher and photo archivist and good friend of Geoff’s. Joel searched numerous race car databases, and found records of a Renault based special that had raced in California at a number of sanctioned events. These included events at Bakersfield, Glendale, Palm Springs, Torrey Pines, and others between 1955 and 1958. Also of great importance, in these event records, was the car’s competition number, which in this case, was either ‘45’ or ‘145’ depending on the race. Through Joel’s work, he was able to confirm the identity of the car, the builder of the car and the owner. Dale Halliday built the custom one-off Renault race car in 1954 for Dr. Paul Winters and it first debuted at a Southern California raceway in January 1955 as the “Halliday Special.” The tired old Renault race car was starting to get pretty interesting.
Photo courtesy Geoff Hacker
With photos in hand, I began to forensically examine them to try to determine what was and what was not Renault. I quickly concluded that while the engine was from a Renault 4cv, both the intake and carburetor were not stock, as well as the water pump which appears to be driven by the generator. However, the most interesting point in regards to the power plant, is that it is not mounted longitudinally, but transverse. As Renault didn’t build their first transverse-mounted model for another generation, it has to come from either a Goliath, Gogoomobil, or a Lloyd. While I am not certain, my guess is that it comes from a Goliath.
Photo courtesy Geoff Hacker
Most apparently Renault are the wheels; the five lug, star pattern wheel was used on Renaults until 1957. Also, while it appears that the front suspension is primarily from a 4cv, the rear suspension is like nothing I have ever seen on a Renault. For that matter, it looks to be well ahead of its time. In fact it looks fairly similar to something Colin Chapman came up with six or seven years later. Regardless of the origin of the design, it certainly is a very well-made period racer, I would guess its biggest problems would have come from the Renault engine, which was underpowered and prone to overheating.
Also worthy of mention, in Joel’s original images the car has some type of fin at the rear. At first glance, I thought it a strange location for an air intake. But after studying the images, I do believe that is what it was intended for. More than likely it was used for the carburetor and not the radiator, due to the fact it is not present in the later photos when the car is yellow. As for the radiator, I believe it was also mounted behind the motor at the rear of the car, but it must have been cooled from air traveling under the car.
Photo courtesy Geoff Hacker
By this point, Geoff and Joel, had made significant progress in finding out the cars history. Most importantly it was built by Dale Halliday in Long Beach, California. Its first time in competition in January of 1955, it won its class at Bakersfield, which was H Modified and finished eighth overall. They also determined that car had been driven by Dr. Paul Winter, and it appears that the doctor was the only driver to compete in it during Halliday’s ownership.
So with the information at hand, the duo went back to the same racing databases, trying to determine historically where this car stood. While a number of Renault 4cvs had competed prior to the Halliday Special, both in California and on the East Coast, it is the first purpose built post-war Renault race car in postwar America. It’s construction utilized a custom-built space frame with Renault (4CV) power, Renault front suspension and a number of other Renault parts.
Photo courtesy Geoff Hacker
By the end of 1958 race season, the Halliday/Winter team appears to have been ready to part with their Renault Special. John Horton recalls going to look at the car. He actually almost bought the car. He believes it was either in 1958 or 1959. The car was red at the time. He met Dale Halliday, at his shop, which at that time was located in Long Beach, California, on Redondo Blvd just north of the Pacific Coast Highway.
While it is not certain who the next owner became, sometime after 1958 it was in the hands of L.T. ‘Red’ Caruthers, when a young mechanic named Jack Gesler, from Anaheim, had convinced Caruthers to let him race it. At that time, he picked the car up from Bill Stroppe’s shop in Long Beach. Stroppe had tuned the car and by this point it had two carbs/exhaust setups one for shorter races and the other for longer events. Gesler also mentioned that the car was left hand shift, another point that shows the quality of the build. He stated that summer he painted the car pearl yellow, with some paint he also received from Caruthers. At the time he was not old enough to compete in SCCA, but he had competed with it at various autocrosses and shown it at some local car show. During his time with the car, the suspension had folded up on him twice (most likely the independent rear suspension), so he parted ways with the little Renault Special.
DA77 Volvo Pen and Quill Concourse Paramount Ranch Orange County Gymkhana Sata Barbara 1957
The reason I am certain that it was after 1958, is because that was the year that SCCA began requiring roll bars, and in a photo Jack shared with the car painted yellow, it had acquired a roll bar. Also of note, Jack Gesler said he had licensed it and driven it on the street – California black license plate FMX 595. So even though it was clearly built for racing, it had lights, so it may have very well been street legal at that time.
Photo courtesy Geoff Hacker
Our hope is that we can get in touch with some of the family and friends that were associated with both building and racing the car, and that by sharing this story with Hemmings readers that a connection might be made. So far we only have one photo of the car from Jack Gesler and an image from the film that Joel Driskill’s research yielded. If anybody out there knows more about the car, get in touch!