Forgotten Franco-American: 1985 Renault Alliance DL Convertible
In the late 1970s, American Motors Corporation was hanging onto a slender 1.8% share of the US auto market. While the US government bailed out financially fraught Chrysler, AMC was deemed dispensable. Buyers for a lagging automaker were scarce, but Renault stepped up with enough cash to take a majority share in AMC. Soon, AMC was marketing the Le Car, and retooling its Kenosha plant to produce a French car on US soil – only the second foreign automaker in the world to perform that feat (anyone know the first foreign car built in the US, what year, and at what plant?) The new car was called the Renault Alliance; it was an Americanized version of the subcompact, front-wheel-drive Renault 9. The interior was designed by Dick Teague, assuring at least a modicum of luxury to satisfy American buyers. Launched in 1983 to challenge the likes of the Chevette, the Rabbit, and the Escort, the Renault Alliance garnered more kudos from the automotive press than most of the rest. It was even named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year in 1983. Today’s example is located in Toledo, Ohio, and it’s a rare convertible DL. Thanks go to Ted for finding this uncommon Franco-American.
When the Alliance was introduced, the only engine available was the Le Car 1.4-liter four-cylinder with about 58 hp. But in 1985, the 1.7-liter fuel-injected four was optional on most models, and standard for this convertible DL. Output rose to 78 hp, good enough to clock a 14.6-second zero to sixty time. This car has a five-speed manual transaxle – considered far better than the automatic. The seller lists several mechanical renovations including a new timing belt and idlers (a broken belt can wreck this engine), shift bushings, and maintenance items. No photo of the engine bay is provided, but a couple of underside shots are included. I think I see rust here; I’d want a closer look. The seller does mention a rust hole in one fender; the sale includes an NOS fender. Fully independent front suspension and a torsion bar/trailing arm arrangement in the rear gave a soft ride – this isn’t an autocross prospect, but the road ride drew rave reviews. The seller says the car runs and drives well.
The driver’s seat upholstery is torn – unfortunately not along a seam – and the plastic dash appears faded. The power top works, though the rear window zipper is “fiddly”. The rear seats may look cramped, but thanks to single, curved seat tracks for each front seat, rear passengers had more room to stretch than this photo implies. This car has air conditioning which has been recharged with R12. Renault introduced an infrared sensor remote lock system – one of the first in the market. Also on board is the Systems Sentry fluid-monitoring module. The speedometer works, but the remaining gauges have issues. A spare gauge cluster comes with the sale.
The paint is a respray turned dull across all horizontal surfaces. These alloy wheels do not come with the car; the buyer will receive 13″ steel wheels. This ’85 Renault Alliance is listed here on facebook Marketplace, with an asking price of $3000. It’s been for sale for two months, so the seller might be willing to negotiate. If you have no appetite for refurbishing an Alliance, a better example can be found, but you’ll pay twice as much.
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Comments
The one on the “Bring a Trailer” website is a beauty. Well worth the sell price. This one, not so much. These would be fun little summer cars, but I wonder how parts availability is.
Parts availability? Pretty much nonexistent as far as I know. These turned out to be awful cars from a reliability and longevity standpoint and disappeared from the road very quickly.
To get an inside look at what went on during the Renault takeover and AMC’s last years check out the book “The Last American CEO” by Jason Vines and Joe Cappy.
But how far is “as far as I know”? As for “awful cars”, in whose opinion? Look at what was available at that time from GM, Ford, and Chrysler. It’s no wonder it got MT’s Car of the Year.
@JDC It goes pretty far. I kept up with automotive news regularly at the time and it quickly became evident by virtually all accounts that not only did the Alliance not have sufficient power for American conditions (especially with the base 1.4L engine, automatic trans, and A/C), the cars started falling apart rapidly and parts could be hard to obtain even when the cars were current. I had one as a rental back in the day and can personally attest to the lack of power. Merging onto a busy freeway was a white-knuckle affair.
Particularly amusing was a heater core that turned out to be prone to bursting and spewing hot water and steam over the front occupants. Chrysler was stuck with recalling them all to install redesigned heater cores. (Some say they even had to track down Alliances in the junkyard to perform the recall!)
Today you’re more likely to see Hornets and Gremlins and even older Ramblers than you are an Alliance both on the road and at car shows despite the Alliance being much newer and selling in large numbers.
These cars were not awful cars we owned 4 in our family a sedan and 3 convertibles including a GTA. I still have one with 160,000 miles that runs great. Much better than Chrysler’s K cars of which I have owned 2 and both fell apart and were scary at high speeds on the interstate compaired to the Alliance.
Had AMC dealers serviced the Alliance/Encore properly and actually stocked the parts, things would have turned out differently. Americans at the time didn’t believe they needed to do maintenance and Renault didn’t have the 1.7 ready in time.
Owning an R5 in the 80s meant I was very familiar with the AMC dealer so I have first hand knowledge of the attitude toward Renault. It’s a shame, because had they brought the Premier to market in time and managed to import the Espace and Alpine before Renault was forced to divest, things might have been very different indeed.
I never understood the irony of a product named “Franco-American” that featured primarily Italian foods. Oh, the Alliance, you know, I bellyached about folks not recognizing the Packardbakers as true Packards, the same could be said for the poor Alliance. I can say with all truth, the Alliance hit us AMC fans below the belt. Only true AMC fans bought the Alliance, a tough sell from the Asians. It was such an about face we probably never hoped would happen, but it did. The Alliance was an okay car, I never thought a car with an “oil level” gauge had much faith in their products. The car itself was okay, I like French cars, but to us that bled RW&B, it was a mockery to the brand that we never recovered from. I heard of disgruntled workers in Kenosha that would sabotage the cars, and considering the mindset then, it could have actually happened. A shame, such a profound car maker, reduced to this, as if to say, “what did you expect from a failing car maker”? It was an unfair end to a great automaker.
Well said Howard 👏 👌 🎯
Enough of these have been exported to France that Renault can be said to have really missed an opportunity by not importing these from Kenosha and selling them in Europe as R9 convertibles when they were new.
Michelle, Is the answer to your question the Volkswagen Rabbit built at the Westmoreland PA plant starting in 1978?
In modern times, yes! But… Rolls was here first, way back in 1921.
Springfield, Massachusetts
to answer the question…
The American Austin Car Company Inc was founded in 1929 to produce the Austin Seven, cars licensed from the British Austin Motor Company from 1930 through 1934
apologies to packard, but this is the car that you should “ask the man who owns one.” worst car i’ve ever owned. for some strange reason i still like it. let’s see, during dealer visit the service manager noticed my shifter knob was cracked, so he replaced it. he put it on by hitting it with the palm of his hand, and pushed the shifter through the floor. after that it was almost impossible to get it into 5th if i could get it in reverse, or into reverse if i could get it into 5th. they adjusted and adjusted. then (after warranty) the transmission seals went bad and had to be replaced, meaning the transmission had to be pulled and disassembled. then it overheated, (strange two-radiator cap system, one on actual radiator. difficult to get air out of system) and i had to get a used replacement engine. then the replacement engine overheated and i had it towed back to the bank and left the key in the ignition,
well, this one is actually my car, so you should ask the man who owns it. This is the 1.7 – you probably had the 1.4, which was much more prone to overheating when improperly filled.
“anyone know the first foreign car built in the US, what year, and at what plant?”
Rolls-Royce, 1921, Springfield, MA.
Very nicely done, CCFisher, and kudos to you LCL. For a history of Rolls in America, see here
https://springfieldmuseums.org/blog/rolls-royce-america/
Rolls Royce in Springfield Mass in 1921 omg i swear ccfisher hadn’t hit enter when I was typing I swear
I’m always amazed at how different the opinions are with these Alliance. I raced in the Renault Cup 1983, 84 & 85. Nobody who raced these had much of any complaint, especially considering how they were treated. In fact I found one back in 2000 that while it raced as n Renault Cup car from 1983 to 1985, it spent another 10 years racing in SCCA’s ITC category. Point is the car showed 38,000 miles on the speedo yet had never been registered, titled or driven on the street. 38,000 race miles.
Just ask any mechanic who worked on these.
July, 1910. American Fiat build a plant in Poughkeepsie. They would buy a chassis from Fiat in Italy and build it in Poughkeepsie. They earned the rights to all Italian Fiat patents.
Sorry ney sayers, I am owner a twin of this car only in white.
It is a great fun car especially in the warm weather of Ca.
I had to learn the hard way that this is an “inference engine” mean when the timing belt breaks, all hell breaks loose.
Mine did, so I bought another covert. for the engine. I now change the timing belt every 30K miles or 3 years.
A super fun nice car.
My brother had a hardtop one of those back in 85. It had the 5 speed and was a fun little car to drive. I would love to have this one but don’t have room
I like about any Renault except this one and the R8 and R10. Just not interested in any car with looks as lame as this and the other ones named. Toyota wanabes.
Don’t forget to replace the idler pulley when you change the Gilmer belt. Yes, the 1.7L is an interference engine as were the Lampredi DOHC Fiat/Lancia
engines.
The BMW “E” motors were/are belt driven cam and interference fit as well. Ask me how I know.
I worked at an AMC dealer briefly in the 80s. I gotta admit, I don’t remember this car but I definitely remember the Le Car. Piece of crap. This particular dealership was probably on its way out as it was terribly boring to work there. Basically nothing to do but process warranty claims.
I’m looking at the photos of this car. Is that the correct boot for this car? I’ve never seen a boot overlap the rear quarter panel like this one does.
It is the correct boot.
And Barn Finds………
Why do I get messages saying I’m posting too fast. Slow down. ?
Are you clicking the submit button multiple times?
I’m going to give the Alliance a little more credit than some might. My father traded in his 1972 Impala for a 1984 Alliance four door sedan.It kind of surprised all of us as he had been a Chevy man since before WW2. He said he wanted to drive a smaller car and that he wanted a stick shift. And Motor Trend had given it the COTY award. Ok. Sadly he passed on in 1988. My mom decided she wanted to pick her own new car and she bought a Ford Taurus. Since the dealer wouldn’t offer her a fair trade in value; I told her I would sell it for her. It took a few months so I drove it for my daily driver quite a bit. Not the fastest car but it rode well. Clutch and transmission felt decent. And the gas mileage was good. It really didn’t have any rattles or strange noises. I would have kept it except one of my wife’s coworkers wanted it. Renault must have been doing something right. They sold a lot of cars in Europe. Viva la Alliance, c’est une bonne voiture.
Looked at an Alliance, a Chevette, and an Escort in ’84, as my first new car. The Chevy had a weird pedal arrangement, and was a stone slug. The Alliance was a pleasant car, but the build quality was terrible, and the doors were as thin as wafers. The Escort felt solid, rode nice, and offered an “HO” engine option. I went with the Ford.
I remember renting an Alliance for a weekend when they were new. Build quality was atrocious! My rental example had less than 1,000 miles on it. Knobs and switches fell off or broke within hours. The driver’s side window jambed halfway and had to remain open for the rest of the weekend. Rain came in, and of course the car could not be locked.
At about the same time, a friend who was a GM salesman drove me to and from a job site about 75 miles away, driving a new Pontiac Phoenix demonstrator. It too was awful in the same ways. Stuff falling off the dashboard and into your hand.
Both my son and my daughter had Chrysler-built Omnirizons and they too were less than ideal in terms of build quality, but that little 2.2 L engine was really responsive – a ball to drive, and these things ran cheaply and forever.
‘Think the entire auto industry must have been experimenting with cheap and lightweight – particularly in their econoboxes during the ‘80s. At various timess, my own cars included a ’79 LeBaron station wagon, an ’80 Concord sedan, an ’83 Olds Delta 88, a ’76 Dodge Magnum, an ’85 Fury III and an ’86 Ford Bronco II. All of them were well built sturdy cars – showing an industry capable of quality and comfort, consistant with reasonable performance and economy.
I cannot understand the motivation for AMC to hang out with Renault. After all, Renault had defined its commitment to quality with the infamous Dauphines of 20 years earlier. Once they died out, I don’t recall any Renaults playing strongly in the American marketplace until the Alliance attempt.
I’m not just surprised, I’m startled that the word “Alliance” would ever come up in any collector-car discussion. What are we coming to?
Co-worker had one. Timing belt went & bent the valves. I pulled the head & replaced them; worked fine after that.
The big shock was the distributor cap, which had to come off to pull the head: a new one (this was in1991) was $65. They are glued on, so you destroy the cap to remove it. That was weird, even for the French (and I lived in France in the mid-70s!).
caps were not glued on. I have one and changed it several times over the years.
This is my car. Some errors in the notes here that I’d be happy to clear up: there is no Systems Sentry here; they are very very rare. The only rust on the car is the driver front fender; the underside is very clean. As mentioned, an NOS fender comes with the deal.
Mechanically, the car is in excellent condition. I was going to move on to the cosmetic issues but I found an 87 in very original condition. They are far more rare, so my focus is there.
As for parts, there is a very active enthusiast community. And since Renault sold well over a million of them, most parts are available – and we’ll help you find them.
Ask me any questions. I need the garage space and want her to go to a good home.