My collection isn’t just about exotic cars like Lamborghini and Porsche. I also like everyday cars in miniature.

French cars have a certain Gallic charm. In real life I had two French Cars (a Citroen ZX and a Peugeot 306). I never had a Renault, although I did consider a 19 once.

I have always liked the Renault 17, it might have only had 4 cylinders but the style was from my favourite era: the early seventies. As a kid in the early seventies, I was car crazy and seeing a Renault 17 on the road was a treat. I have two in miniature the Matchbox model above and a Solido 1:43 model in blue.

The Corgi 16TS is probably my favourite Renault model. I found it here in Tbilisi at the Dry Bridge Market. It cost just 20 lari ($7.78). The model was made in Great Britain at the Mettoy factory in Swansea in the late sixties. The actual car was quite revolutionary, being both a hatchback and having front wheel drive, nowadays this is common but at the time this was ground breaking. The model has two cogs accessible on the base, which when turned tip the seats inside, an interesting Corgi feature.

The Matchbox Renault 5TL was produced from 1979 to 1986 and has an opening rear hatch. The Renault 5 was one of the first superminis in the 3 door hatchback style, which became very popular in Europe. The term supermini developed in the UK in the 1970s, as car manufacturers sought a new design to surpass the influential Mini, launched in 1959. Other superminis at the time were the Ford Fiesta, Fiat 127, VW Polo, Vauxhall Chevette and Mini Metro. From the first year (1972), the Renault 5 won over 5% of the French automotive market, then positioned itself 3 years later as European market leader. For more than 10 years it remained at the head of sales of small cars in France. In the end, more than 5,325,000 units were sold worldwide.

Alpine is the sporting offshoot of Renault.

The models are usually blue, the French racing colour, but it is the red 310 Alpine model which is actually made in France, the other models are made in Portugal, Italy and China. I have five, made by Solido, Bburago and Deagostini.The Bburago model of the Berlinetta is 1:24 scale, the Bburago model of the Alpine 110-50 is 1:64 the others are 1:43.