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Servicio Vacaciones

The service

Between approximately 1967 and 1980 Renault offered a special road service, similar to the French 'service vacances' and named the 'servicio vacaciones'. It existed next to the ordinary 'Renault servicio' which also operated furgonetas. If it hadn't been for the frequent (at least 10 times, always in July!) coverage in Velocidad magazine little would be known about it nowadays except the toys cars that are available all over the web. Further, only a single Autopista 543 (1969) and Auto Revista 1147 (1979) with information were found. Therefore, most images below are from Velocidad. Common item, to be found in nearly each magazine: a photo with all furgonetas aligned.

Spanish Service furgoneta, brochures 1966-1969

French Service Vacances, appr. 1967

The service, also called the 'Operación Verano', was only available during the summer time. Usually 14 furgonetas were made available by Renault (8 in 1967, 15 in 1979), each one operating on a specific trajectory. The service was offered to all drivers, irrespective of car brand and nationality, for free, except spares. Velocidad reported on a near yearly basis on the routes, the amount of interventions by the 14 mechanics, the nationalities of the affected drivers, and the types of repairs that were made. The map below shows that during the first years Madrid was a focal point, while later the route along the Mediterranean between Barcelona and Alicante became increasingly important.

Changes in the Servicio Vacaciones network 1968 - 1980. Use the slider to see different years.

The map above shows the networks in 1968-1969, 1972, 1975-1976 and 1978-1980. Who knows the Velocidad magazines with information from the years 1967, 1970-1971, 1973-1974 y 1977, or after 1980?

The good looks

The Furgonetas had different eye-catching colour schemes during their existence, as shown below.

1968 - 1969

The first generation was painted red, with a white roof and a 10cm white stripe below the window along the entire side of the car. On the side a text read 'RENAULT servicio vacaciones', and the same text in French, English and German. Four flags were painted on the side, of France, Switzerland, Austria and Spain, together with a smiling sun. On the roof was a large (first type) Renault logo. The rims, without hubcabs, were painted yellow. On the rear window a large text read 'STOP'.

Servicio Vacanciones 1968 (Velocidad 356)

A big thank-you after a job well done (Velocidad 356)

Servicio Vacanciones 1969 (Velocidad 408)

Servicio Vacanciones 1969. The most popular shot: all cars aligned (Autopista 543)

The 1969 team of mechanics: Jesús Til Bravo, Antonio Sanchagarre Aguilar, Joaquin Molinero Arbosé, José Castany Vilalta, Pedro Blasco Calderón, Antonio Reina Cámara, José M. Segarra Pascual, Ramón Nieto Aguilar, Bernardo Berros, Antonio Durán Salgado, Venancio Moreno, Gonzalo Hontoria, Tomás Carvajo Osorio and Luis Fernández García (Velocidad 408).

1972

The colouring and text was slightly changed to include white doors, and the white stripe did not continue anymore over the front wings. The text was changed to 'RENAULT servic io vacaciones' (also in French, German and English), and 'a su servicio en su ruta de vacaciones' ('at your service on your holiday route').

Servicio Vacanciones 1972 in colour, photographed above the A6 Autopista del Norte near Collado Villalba (Velocidad 567)

A peek in the back of a service furgoneta (Velocidad 567)

1973 - 1976

The cars have become yellow, with a white roof and a 20cm band along the lower part of the body, with just the text 'Servicio vacaciones RENAULT' on the side. The flags, now including France, Spain, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany, were moved to the front wing. Instead of the huge logo on the roof, there was now a large (second) logo on the side, and above the roof a rectangular plate with text' servicio vacaciones'. On the back, a text on the rear window reads 'ayuda en carretera'. The closed rims were also yellow, without hubcabs. Of course, the bonnet still had the first grille. In 1973 there are 100 furgonetas operating on 14 routes!

New design in 1973, seen from the side (Velocidad 619)

New design in 1973, seen from the back (Velocidad 619)

Servicio Vacanciones 1974 - at exactly the same location as the 1972 photo shown above (Velocidad 672)

Servicio Vacanciones 1975, still the same design as in 1973 and 1974 (Velocidad 742)

Servicio Vacaciones 1976 (Velocidad 777)

1978 - 1980

The paintwork remained largely the same in yellow, but the bumpers (from rectangular to round in 1979), grille (boca ballena to black plastic) and rims (closed to 10 ventilation holes) changed. From 1979, the cars were the elevated type known as 'sobre-elevada'. Strange, Velocidad 956, of 1980, shows a photo of a sobre-elevada with the boca ballena grille. While the total distance of all routes remained relatively stable from 1968 to 1979 at between 1300 and 1700 km, in 1980 it exploded to nearly 7000. The furgonetas could be found nearly all over the Spanish mainland, and even on Mallorca. Notable white spots are the (apparently less touristic regions) western provinces like Orense, Salamanca, Cáceres, Badajoz and Huelva.

Servicio Vacanciones 1978 (Velocidad 880)

The routes in 1978 (Velocidad 880)

Servicio Vacanciones 1979, note - for the first time - the elevated roof (Velocidad 934)

Servicio Vacanciones 1980, note the boca ballena - and old photo? (Velocidad 985)

1981

In 1981 the furgonetas were replaced by F6, now mostly white, the lower 60cm of the body in yellow with a 10cm black stripe in between, just the text 'RENAULT Servicio vacaciones' and 8 flags on the front wings: Italy, Austria, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands (on drawings also the Swedish flag is visible).