The Renault Medallion is the kind of car that you think about when you see one, which is never—almost. William Oliver captured this 1988 Medallion DL Sedan at a salvage yard of all places, but don’t worry, the salvage yard “knew what it had” and was in the process of selling it to someone who obviously appreciates forgotten French captive imports.
CC readers of all people know the Medallion’s history: It was a slightly restyled Renault 21, which was still a brand-new and striking sedan in 1987 when the Medallion was introduced. Unfortunately for AMC dealers, it came around just as AMC/Renault sold out to Chrysler, leaving it with an uncertain future, not exactly a recipe for customer confidence. Thus, the Medallion, which was introduced as a 1988 model, was given only two model years’ grace, at least one of those being tagged with the “Eagle” brand.
The 21 was far more fortunate, going on to sell millions through the mid-1990s, as explained in Tatra87’s excellent summary posted here. However, in the United States sales were understandably tepid—certainly under 40,000 total, and perhaps even fewer (sources vary, it seems that even they’ve forgotten the hapless Medallion).
At any rate, the version of the 21 that Renault offered Americans was a pretty good one, having one available engine, the reasonably powerful 2.2-liter, 103-horsepower overhead-cam four. Transmissions were a notchy five-speed manual (seen here) or a three-speed automatic, and road testers seemed to be pretty satisfied with the Medallion’s mix of power and economy.
The interior was comfortable, the ride smooth, and the controls well-marked; in all honesty, it would have been interesting to see how sales would have played out had AMC/Renault kept going for a few more years.
Overall, Motorweek seemed to really like the car, saying that it had attractive styling, 26-mile-per-gallon fuel economy, good brakes, and a supple ride. Their five-speed-equipped test car did suffer from the aforementioned notchy shifter, an issue that affected their acceleration times. As such, the Medallion’s zero-to-sixty acceleration time of 12.2 seconds could have been better, although its quarter-mile time of 17.9 seconds at 76 miles per hour was a more indicative showing, and they did expect that most American buyers would choose the automatic anyway.
Renault couldn’t escape a few quality-control issues such as windshield-wiper blades that fell off and a hood prop rod that was not quite up to the simple task of holding the hood up, but the price couldn’t be beat, just over $10,000 for a loaded sedan.
And at that price, it really did deserve to be a bigger hit than it was. Compare the Medallion to something like a Ford Tempo or a Dodge Aries and you can see why somebody might visit their local AMC dealer; it was a trim 183.2-inches in length, just a little longer than a contemporary Mustang, and its styling was well-proportioned, evidence of its Giugiaro roots.
The Medallion Wagon had the bones to be an even bigger hit than the sedan, with an optional third-row seat and wider rear doors. Because of those doors, the proportions weren’t quite so graceful; the wagon was 6.5-inches longer than the sedan, and its wheelbase stretched from 102.3 to 108.2.
The sedan that William Oliver shot at a Toronto salvage yard came with the disclaimer that the yard was aware of how rare the Medallion was these days, and they were in the process of selling it to an undoubtedly happy buyer who is certainly a fan of the offbeat things in life. It is a local car that has been off the road for 15 years, so its new owner will get some practice finding parts for a 40-year-old French car. But that kind of thing is fun to a lot of us.
I have a few feelings of nostalgia for the Medallion, not because of what it is but when it was. I was just about to turn ten when AMC announced they were selling out to Chrysler, and I was already a voracious reader of automotive news who loved visiting car dealers, collecting brochures, and correcting salespeople. The local pharmacy magazine rack sold preview magazines with sketches of the potential new models, and I pored over them voraciously, sometimes without buying them (no wonder I occasionally got yelled at by the pharmacist). Although few families in my Michigan home would have been Medallion buyers, I like to think that I looked one over at the local AMC/Jeep/Buick dealership in town, and if I could go back to being that kid for a day or two, I certainly would take a closer look.
With that being said, I wish this Medallion many happy miles in the future.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1987 Renault Medallion Wagon – To Live Like “un Réfugié” (by Brendan Saur)
Curbside Classic: 1988 Renault 21 Nevada Turbo-D – The Other Side Of The Medallion (by Tatra87)
Wow, I keep forgetting that these ever existed. I remember at the time thinking that this could have been a purely generic European sedan, if someone had taken all of the badging off. I have never been a fan of Giugiaro’s look from this era, being all angles and no distinction.
I remember accompanying the future Mrs. JPC to a dealer when she thought she wanted a car. She was briefly smitten with a Premier (which I did my best to talk her out of). In a lot with many examples of Alliances and Premieres, these Medallions sat there, giving me no reason for me to walk over and look at one. I am happy it found a home, but even now I would have trouble finding the enthusiasm to walk across the street to look at one.
As a great fan of French automobiles and previous Peugeot 504 wagon owner, I find it regrettable that these didn’t find more owners at the time. Certainly they were far ahead in many ways than most similar size US cars of the time and an excellent value. I feel that Chrysler should have given them a better chance than they did, but perhaps it would have turned out to be fruitless in any event.
My wife had a co-worker/boss who purchased a new Medallion from our friendly small town AMC/Renault dealer. She had gone through a miserable divorce and needed to buy an affordable, decent sized, economical car; and the Medallion met all her needs — on paper, that is.
The problem was that the small town AMC/Renault dealer was ill-equipped to handle anything but the most routine maintenance on a car designed in France. They were great at fixing Jeeps and Concords, but dealing with the Medallion was another story. My wife’s boss had a series of electrical issues with the Medallion that the local dealer simply couldn’t figure out, resulting in her repeatedly getting stranded and requiring a tow (followed by a week in the shop) before the problem was temporarily fixed. I believe that she finally gave up on the Medallion after a couple of years, took a huge loss in value compared to what she initially paid, and moved over to a used older GM vehicle.
The experience you related was not uncommon, and is a perfect example of why Renault died in the US. Similar gremlins also were not uncommon in later Peugeots. The US versions deviated substantially from the European versions in terms of emission controls, the common addition of ac and other power accessories, and these changes were not well engineered and implemented. The basic mechanical bones of these cars were generally solid, but the US versions suffered from added complexity. And dealers who couldn’t (or didn’t want) to deal with them.
Mechanics are among the most conservative people in the world. In the case of my family business, getting them to go back to school was almost impossible. This was in the era when cars were getting more complex due to the addition of electronic controls, and learning how the systems worked was essential to make the cars run right.
We had twelve technicians at one point. One could do anything, including brakes front end and transmissions. The rest tried to make a living on brakes and coolant flushes.
If CC had instituted an annual “Unicorn Award”, Aaron, you would certainly be in the top-3 running with this. Incredible find, and like you I wish the new owner much success.
I agree that these never really had a chance after the Chrysler acquisition of AMC. I liked the styling and from what I recall having read about the Medallion, they had a lot of good qualities, the ones you mentioned. As a de facto replacement for the Alliance / Encore (also well-engineered cars, even if many didn’t last too long under normal U.S. owner practices), I saw these as a solid step forward.
This is a remarkable find; I was pretty amazed to find the one I did almost 15 years ago.
Here’s a curious fact about the R21: it was perhaps the only mass production car that came with both transverse and inline engines. The US Medallion had the larger 2 L four, which was mounted inline (N-S) in front of the transaxle, like in an Audi. This was also the case with the larger R25 and Premier. The R21 with the smaller 1.4 L engine used the drivetrain shared with the R11 (Alliance), a transverse unit. There was a small difference in the wheelbase between these two versions and of course different fenders and certain other front end elements.
The history of Renault exports to the US is wild. At first, they were second only to VW in US import sales. But unlike VW, the dealer network was sparse and parts availability was slow and poor. By the time of the AMC deal, Renault sales were a trickle, and they were very close to abandoning the US market entirely. They got a burst of energy from the Alliance, but the rest of sales of Renault-branded cars never got above that trickle.
Wow – this is incredible! I’m really curious who bought it.
Here’s how the salvage yard advertised it. I guess in this case, maybe the the car IS worth more than the sum of the parts – since there’s probably not too many people out there looking for random Medallion parts who wouldn’t want an actual whole car instead. Hope it found a good home!
Being that it sat for a long time, it’s going to need the basics, but I wonder what else is wrong with it. I can’t imagine that someone’s going to restore it in the traditional sense, but restoring it to the road would be the most likely option.
I wonder what it went for.
P.S. Eric, you’re certainly resourceful. You can always be counted on to find a backstory, picture, or meaningful addition to almost anything on here.
I am not sure anyone will restore this one in the strictest sense of that word. A proper restoration would not be economically viable. Maybe a revival and preservation would be the best route. Someone could have an interesting and unique classic driver for a modest investment as the overall cosmetic condition and completeness seems very good.
Thanks! I was really intrigued by this one – just the thought that a salvage yard would sell a car intact just because it was an oddball. That’s something that can’t happen too often.
As I’ve mentioned regarding my 1984 Renault Fuego, the Bosch injected 2165 cc engine performed well. Rated at 110 hp, it ran very smoothly with good torque. It got better fuel economy than my 1991 BMW 318iS, probably due to the Fuego’s slippery shape. Losing 7 hp in the 1988 Medallion would not have changed much if anything. If I had a pole barn next door, I would have kept both cars. I’d really like the long Medallion wagon !
I hope the buyer of the Medallion restores and enjoys it.
Being a long roof aficionado, I honed in on the ‘88 Renault badged 3 row automatic wagon example that was taken in on trade at the Dodge dealer where I worked in the early ‘90s.
What a lovely car! Excellent fuel mileage, cloud-like ride, and a build quality above what I had come to expect from the Alliance & various Encores in my past.
I spent many happy miles behind the wheel, a fair number with the three rows of seats occupied and pulling a small StarCraft pop-up trailer. The only thing that pulled me away was the seductive siren song of a tidy ‘90 turbo Caravan.
But, that’s a story for another time…
Ah yes, the Renault 21. Once everywhere, especially the 21 Nevada wagon, and now you can only see them at shows for classic Renaults. Or on the road when they’re heading for or coming from said shows…
In September 2024, I caught two of them, parked side by side. Both came from Germany.
Below an R21 sedan, powered by a 2.0 liter turbo engine:
And here’s an R21 Nevada TXE:
The European front was better looking, to my eyes anyway. I fancied one of the estate cars.
(quote)…Once everywhere, especially the 21 Nevada wagon, and now you can only see them at shows…(on quote)
I don’t yet know how it was in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe. But here in Germany, we had two assaults on what they call “Youngtimers”.
The first one began, when the government came up with the idea to reduce scrapyards to only a handfull for “envoronmental” reasons, during the mid-90s. Some of the remaining ones started behaving like monopolies, up to this present day, even. The days were then gone, when you could go to a local scrapyard and pick your replacement distributor or master cylinder for 5€. Nowadays, you’d be lucky, if Their Highnesses even let you into the yard. Simultaneous to this legislation, a second mandate requiring filling out an “envoronmental” certification form with exhorbitant fee to be paid, after a certain set deadline for vehicle scrapping. Many rather eccentrically-inclined owners of, like say, Austin Maestros or some oddball larger FIAT would get scared of paying well over 1,000€ demolition fee, if an engine of theirs would blow up, costing at least circa that amount to repair or maybe getting into a wreck with that said vehicle. The only way out then was to pay 36€ scrapping fee, before this deadline, even if there was little to nothing wrong with the vehicle. Later on, they reduced that exhorbitant fee back down to an amount more reflecting the real world. By then, it was too late for too many.
The second assault happened, when the government decided to pay vehicle owners, also with tax money paid by those who had nothing to do with vehicle ownership, for participating in a German version of “Cash for Clunkers” of which many of these vehicles were anything but clunkers. Ten years ago, when I needed a car, my ex wanted to get rid of an Audi A6 Turbo Diesel which she got from a college friend who gave it to her, in exchange for a wiper motor replacement billing. During her ownership, she herself had a couple expensive repairs done. The last one was both a new battery and alternator simultaneous swap. Whether the problem was genuinely only a fried regulator or not, will never be known. Anyway, I paid her the 700 or so €s and drove it home. When it came time for its bi-yearly inspection, they noticed that the left plastic headlamp had developed cataracts. So, one of the few remaining humble scrapyards was some 50 or so kilometers away. Over the phone, they said they had Audis. They didn’t bother, however, keeping a list handy defining which model year Audis were in there or maybe the person on the other end was too lazy to go check. So, I drove out there and was surprised at how every other Audi in there was newer than mine. Some so pristine that I was wondering why these are even in there and why aren’t they commanding good prices on the used car market. There was even a later model Saab wagon in there that looked well taken care of. I didn’t notice even a dent or scratch on it. Of course, Audi had to restyle their plastic headlamps every model year. So, I ended up empty handed, eventually purchasing an aftermarket Made in Taiwan copy for about 150€, instead of a 400€ original Hella replacement.
I found out the reason as to why these mint uppity vehicles were getting scrapped, when I visited a local VW/Porsche/Audi, asking what they would give me for mine. I only got an indirect answer from them, telling me I would get 6,500€ rebate on a new Audi trade-in and, if I remember right, 2000 less on a VW. I don’t look or dress the Porsche part. So, they didn’t even bother with any rebate on one of those.
Dealerships would take advantage of this scheme, collecting the “Clunker” cash from the government on trade-ins. For them, it’s more profitable to simply dispose of traded-ins, instead of spending time working out all the bugs for resale, risking honoring the mandated by law minimum 1-year guarantee.
Adding this all up, it seems to me that this is simply a scheme to satisfy automobile industry lobbyists who are only interested in selling new vehicles. The lobbied government, of course, needs tax money to shovel into their treasury’s black hole.
Had the government acted with at least a minimum of human dignity, I’m dead certain that there would still be plenty more of these classics like that Medallion on the road
We had a sort of special fiscal status for ‘youngtimers’, owned by self employed professionals, in which case the car had to be at least 15 years old. But that has come to an end.
Once upon a time, a car had to be at least 25 years old for an official ‘oldtimer’ status: no road tax at all. Realistically, the Benzes 201 and 124-series -especially the ones with a diesel engine- ended that age limit. They were imported on a large scale to become tax-free daily drivers. Then the limit went to 40 years. That’s not all, my 1989 MB 300 CE will never become an ‘oldtimer’, because it was registered after January 1, 1988. But frankly, I don’t give a damn, I simply enjoy it (€ 80 road tax per month or not).
Smaller countries usually function better, I used to think. But sometimes in the wrong way, exemplified by the frequency of how often your taxation goal post keeps moving in guaranteed one direction. I thought, I was paying too much for my 2.5 liter Audi Diesel, taxed at 368€ yearly, just for being a Diesel and to compensate for reduced for Diesels fuel tax, until I just read what they demand for your Benz. But 80€ per month seems outright extortionate.
My 847 cc Daihatsu costs 66€ yearly and my 999 cc Suzuki an even 70€. Of course, neither run on Diesel.
For comparitively that much less, however, we don’t get the quality of road maintenance near as good as the Netherlands gets.
In neighboring Switzerland, a higher percentage of fuel tax goes for road maintenance than fuel taxes here in Germany does and it shows.
And yes, the Blur is a favorite band of mine for only one proverbial hit. But their music isn’t yet classified as rock
I always thought these were designed to complete against the Honda Accord which was THE car in its class at the time. The size, styling, features etc. And they didn’t have that funny French character. All the reviews in to auto press were very positive – handling, quality, seating etc. And I thought had AMC/Renault survived it would have done a much better job selling these than Chrysler. It was clear Chrysler wasn’t that interested in Eagle and people worried about being stuck with an orphan car. But ultimately what killed Renault in US was the horrible reliability of ALL their cars. Like Stellantis today. The Alliance started off well but fell off a cliff after a year when news of car being a lemon got out. Had Renault products been even at least average in reliability it might still be around in US today.
They were designed to compete against the cars in its class in Europe, such as the VW Passat, Ford Mondeo, Opel, Fiat, Peugeot, etc.. The US market was an afterthought.
Exactly, there were at least 15 brands of ‘D-segment’ sedans/wagons on our car market back then. The Renault 21 was one of them.
A generic 1980’s looking car, too bad no one wanted them .
-Nate
I rented this car in France. A lot of space for four adults and luggage. Very nice to ride on highways and on mountain roads. But no question to buy this Renault here because at this time future looked very bad for Renault in America . I owned a Renault 12 and a Renault 5 a few years before here in Quebec. Then I bought a Chevrolet Citation because Renault often needed repairs. What a mistake!!! My Citation was always required repairs.
They certainly had a lot of charm. The styling reminds me of a squared-off early ’80s Audi 5000/100/200 or an ’80s Mercury Sable. The station wagon had a lot of appeal and, while they weren’t common in my neck of the woods, it seems like the wagon was more popular than the sedan. I also recall seeing a few of the early 18i station wagons around back in the day.
A friend’s girlfriend had a 1985 Alliance as her high school and first year college car. We spent more time having to go bail her out on that broken down thing around town and tow it to the AMC dealer in just the two years she had it than I can remember. At least half a dozen times.
Her father finally had enough of it and risking his daughter’s safety and money for out-of-warranty repairs on that piece of junk (long before cell phones). He bought her a new 1988 VW Jetta sedan (he refused to buy Japanese that she wanted, and she didn’t want a Ford Tempo or Chevrolet Cavalier he offered LOL).
Did not realise they sold the 21 in the usa, knew about the other Renault/Alliance products though.
A childhood friends family had a white one that i remember riding in to scout camps in the 90s a few times. it had replaced a pale green Austin montego countryman wagon, with the venerable perkins 2.0d in it, the Renualt seemed so much more modern than that, despite not being a whole lot newer.
the 21 was interesting in that most versions ran a transverse engine.. but the 2.0l version had it mounted longitudinally with a longer front end to accommodate it. like most renaults of the 80s and 90s they built a turbo version,.. and a 4×4 turbo version both were rather uncommon in the uk at the time, and now pretty sought after