Start with what the Renault 40CV is: a car with 7.5 L and 9.1 L Straight 6, built from 1911 to 1928, as the assembly line was turning motoring into an industry. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Louis Renault.
How it came about
The Renault 40CV is a full-size luxury car produced by the French vehicle manufacturer Renault from 1911 to 1928. It was sold in many variations which were known by two letter names such as the CG, ES and JP. Originally launched with a 6-cylinder 7.5-litre engine (7,539 cc (460 cu in)), this was replaced by a larger 9.1-litre 9,120 cc (557 cu in) engine when the "Type HF" version of the 40CV replaced the "Type HD" version in August 1920.
In 1922 the 40CV was fitted with a hydraulic servo-brake system. The 40 CV was replaced by the Renault Reinastella in 1928. A 40CV won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1925, and a modified single-seater NM became well known in 1926 for being able to cover 80.5 kilometres (50 mi) at a speed of 190 km/h (118.1 mph) and broke the 24-hour record by covering 4,167.57 km (2,589.6 mi) at an average speed of 173.6 km/h (107.9 mph). Between 1920 and 1928 the Renault 40CV served as official transport for French presidents Alexandre Millerand and Gaston Doumergue, replacing a role previously filled by the Panhard 20CV.
The hardware
The engine is 7.5 L and 9.1 L Straight 6. On the scales it comes to 5440 kg. The wheelbase is 3.6m or 3.9m. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Renault line-up the Renault 40CV has a clear place: it handed the line to the Renault Reinastella; the factory was Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ford Model T, the Lancia Epsilon, the Panhard Tracteur Panhard-Châtillon. Its Renault stablemates include the Renault 10 and the Renault 10CV.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Renault 40CV — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.