Maybe it’s for irrigation, but there’s some fire extinguishers there, so I bet that’s not water in those pipes. I think it fits. The R12 does have a sort of lay-the-plans-on-the-trunk-and-point-at-the-thing-that-may-explode kinda vibe. 12 TS were the base model and TL the loaded ones that got fancier photo sessions The US model Renault had quad round headlamps that looked fine but I pined for those smooth Euro lamps. Other interesting “features” included a glass coolant overflow bottle, tall and soft-padded vinyl-clad seats, and despite the longitudinal FWD layout, generous torque-steer in the lower gears. Somehow it towed one of those little fiberglass trailers that were featured on this site a week or two ago, and we vacationed all over the southwestern U.S. in that rig. We never got anywhere remotely fast, but we always got there eventually. When my kids utter a peep of complaint on long road trips in our 21st century minivans, with their power tinted windows, air conditioning, leather seats, headphone jacks, dual-input flip-down screens that the Xbox can plug into, eighteen cupholders, and dreamy NVH management… I just wanna clobber them. Or take them for a long, sunny, summer drive in a Renault 12 with black vinyl upholstery and no AC, so they can finally appreciate how much character their old man built in his 1970s childhood. The man deserves a medal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE The shifter joint with the rubber insulators giving it the mystery shifting as it aged could be solved with stiffer isolating blocks or a couple of hose clamps. The system was used a lot by Renault, but was for some reason at its worst in the 12. Couldn’t it be cooling pipes for a nuclear power plant? I mean, France had a long love affair with nuclear energy (also) at that time, and Renault was state owned, so it’s practically the same people who made it. https://www.motortrend.com/features/why-renault-alliance-was-1983-motortrend-car-of-the-year/
