Renault - Df104

Renault called it the "Moteur Billancourt soufflé" —a nod to the legendary 4CV engine, but turned sideways and blown cool by air rather than water. Here is why the DF104 never saw production: The seating.

30 HP sounds laughable today. But in a car designed to weigh less than 500 kg (1,100 lbs), that was enough to zip through the narrow streets of Paris with shocking agility.

But here is where it gets weird. Under the rear deck sits an air-cooled, flat-twin "boxer" engine. Displacement varied across prototypes, hovering around 700cc to 800cc. It produced roughly 30 horsepower. renault df104

Do you have a favorite "forgotten prototype"? Share this post with a friend who loves weird old cars.

Meet the .

It is the French automotive equivalent of a lost Beatles tape: imperfect, unfinished, but utterly brilliant.

The result was the DF104. It was a three-seater (driver in the middle, like the McLaren F1, but decades earlier) built on a steel chassis with a lightweight fiberglass body. Renault called it the "Moteur Billancourt soufflé" —a

We eventually got the Smart Fortwo (two seats), the McLaren F1 (center drive), and the BMW i3 (city-focused). But none of them have the raw, eccentric charm of the DF104.