At the tail end of the seventies, I joined a Renault dealership in Aldershot as Parts Manager. One day we had a vehicle come in for work, which i noticed was causing much interest & merriment to all the fitters who were working in the shop that day. Turns out, this new Renault 15GTL belonged to Hugh Cornwell, lead singer of local group from Guildford, The Stranglers. It was customary to receive an A4 sheet or letter from the customer, listing any problems with their car but this one we received today was hilarious. I do remember it was quite a long list and absolutely covered in expletives, e.g. the fucking heater doesn’t work and other such problems that our Hugh had encountered. I myself have had a Renault 15GTL for a while, so I felt Hugh’s pain. It was a really good looking vehicle but it had a large body and the 1300 engine supplied was not nearly man enough for the job ( 0-60 took forever )and I don’t recall ever hearing of The Stranglers frontman ever visiting our garage again. I’d love to know, what he got next though?
