Sometimes it seems as if I’ve mined all the automotive finds around where I live. So on a recent family trip to southern Arkansas, I was pretty pumped about what might be lurking and awaiting my camera.
Of all things, I never would have expected an alliance of Alliances; these were pretty much my only find other than encountering a Subaru powered VW van that was moving too fast for pictures. Let’s get a closer look at each of these Renaults…
This one has white running down the sidewalls from the stripe.
The middle one appears like the lovechild of the other two.
Red was the best looking of the bunch.
Just when you think something is all but gone, a small brigade appears. Even better, they are all for sale on a used car lot.
Found in Harrison, Arkansas, October 2016
More In-Depth Reading:
My Holy Alliance With The Franco-American Motors Renault Alliance
Wow; nice find, and glad to see a few Alliances still exist. Wonder what kind of package deal you could get to take all three at once?
All three seem to be at the same level of wear. Makes me think they were owned by the same owner, maybe a fleet setup? I don’t think anyone ever used Alliances for rentals or taxis.
Au contraire. I have a very distinct memory of my Dad having an Alliance once as a rental in the mid 80’s. Only time I ever rode in one, and even as a kid of age 6 or 7, I remember thinking the back seat was quite small. Not sure who he rented it from, could have been a smaller or local outfit, but I’m quite sure it happened.
When I worked at Hertz BDL a longtime employee had pictures of the location taken in early 1987, and basically the only two types of cars on the lot were Alliances and Volvo 740s. Amazing to see an aerial shot of about 300 of them lined up bumper-to-bumper!
Well, the French version was used as a taxi in Paris, customized by a certain MI6 agent.
Those were neat cars in their day, the GTA was one of the first FWD cars to ride on (for the era) extremely low-profile tires.
Nice to see someone trying to keep some of them running (No doubt a difficult struggle given the age and French origins).
Hi Jason,
Could you give me the name of the dealership that had them for sale ?
Thanks!
Look at the license plate in the picture of the red one. They are on the Business 65 (I think) in Harrison, Arkansas, about an hour south of Branson.
Thanks Jason!! I’m going to Google their number . hopefully if the price is right I could get the three of them for a package deal. Thanks again!
You will then be the owner of three unicorns, I have not seen one of those for years, and I’m in Europe.
You can still these in France, but numbers are definitively dropping fast.
If you get these (which I hope you do) you really, really need to let us all know about it. Anyone who buys these three is a super-adventurous person and there will undoubtedly be a really good story to go along with it.
Please give us an update if you snag them as a group. Worthy of a CC is you can get one or more running;-}
Jason,
I found the number to the dealership I called and I spoke to the owner they’re not for sale individually but he was considering selling all three. Hopefully I can work out a good deal.
Good luck! Hope you can make a successful deal.
Best of luck! If you do go through with it and a deal can be negotiated, we’d love to hear more!
Hector, if you grab these cars, try and see if they have had the heater core recall done. Seems the heater core tended to fail and dump boiling hot water on the driver’s feet.
The story is that AMC even sent people to junk yards looking for Alliances and Encores and if they found one that stood any chance of seeing the road again, they would leave a new heater core in the car with instructions for installation.
Hector, I hope you get them and I look forward to hearing about it!
How many of them will you make into drivers, and how many into parts cars? I suppose you’ll have to get them before you can answer that. 🙂
They are all running, They are driven once a week. Let’s see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
Please do. I’m quite optimistic about this.
I would love to bring those 3 back to Kenosha.
These really were a nice alliance. With the French soft suspension and tiny but simple engine and the American long options list you could really build something unique. I would have specified the 2 door 1.4 with the 5 speed and tall axle ratio to maximize economy and then get the high line trim with the houndstooth seats and quiet sound group and cruise control and power windows and locks. French road manners, seats, and economy with American construction, creature comforts, rebates, and dealer network. A Civic LX was a few years off and a high line J car can just not match the efficiency.
These were turds, which is why they were very popular when introduced, then became sales poison.
The Alliance/Encore sold over 140k units per year for it’s first three years. 1983 was the lowest of the three. That it is a lot of sales by AMC standards.
But they sure didn’t last long, and most were off the streets by 1995. I agree they were “turds” and their “American construction” was poor and rebates hurt profits. Why even build them if they cant make cash?
Lee Iacocca killed them off when he got the keys to AMC.
Orphan branded cars never last long. No parts or resale value. AMC made a rare profit in 1984, the highest sales year for the Alliance/Encore sales, 232k sold.
A colleague had a Renault 9 (Alliance) with the 1.4 gasoline engine in the early ninities. It had well over 400,000 km on the clock when he sold it and bought his first brand new car, a Renault 19 (5-door hatchback) with a 2.0 liter gasoline engine.
Most French car owners stick to their brand when they buy a new one. My late aunt had a neigbor like that. The man must have been driving Renaults for at least 40 years in a row.
The 1.4 was rated for over 50mpg highway with the 5sp and the tall gearing. Our EPA numbers were somewhat exaggerated then but a real world 40 + mpg on the highway was doable. Hard to match with a gas engine in the USA in 1983. Combined with a level of comfort and convienence features not available on the imports or the domestic competition, it was a unique package.
My parents had a red sedan like the one in the pictures when I was growing up. They liked the car… when it ran. It had a bunch of issues, mostly electrical. They eventually got rid of it after the timing belt went and took out the engine. Yeah interference engines!
The one on the left is an ’87, final model year and it seems like those were always rare.
As soon as I saw the photo I was thinking that I’d never seen a sedan, or anything other than a GTA, with those composite lamps. That one is new to me, but if they were as rare as you say, it’s not surprising.
I hope the same dealership is featured tomorrow in an Encore performance!
+ 1 It could put them in line to win a Medallion.
They’d be a Premier dealership, that’s for sure.
OMG, I’m having a Vision that a pun thread is going to take off like a Concorde.
That said, the buyer of these must be a pretty Intrepid person…
You win!
Too bad the Plymouth Accolade was not to be…
I think the owner may be a golfer as there was an Eagle parked out front. And it looked pristine.
I admire his Spirit in keeping these rare machines alive!
The comments section is en Fuego today!
He is clearly a Master.
Hope he doesn’t suffer electrical Gremlins though
And an Ambassador among distinguished people everywhere.
A great Captur – what a Scénic view!
That dealership must be looking forward to increased Trafic after being featured here.
…so that people take more cars and free up some Espace in the lot. Otherwise the business would end up at the bottom of a Laguna…
a very Kangoo attitude
Ahh, the Tripartite Alliance. Unless the parts are loose.
Poor AMC had been in a downward spiral for years, and poor Renault had been on one even longer (at least in the US). It was cruel to make them think that by joining forces, anything good could happen. Although I actually kind of like these, for some perverse reason.
Well uh, the Cherokee kind of happened through the alliance.
Agree. If anything, I’d argue that the Renault years represented a peak for Jeep.
The legendary XJ. The underrated YJ. The SJ was transformed into the first (hugely profitable) luxury SUV. And the ZJ design was largely completed under Renault.
On the powertrain side, the 2.5 L I4 was developed and the 4.0L got a decent (for the time) EFI system.
Renault certainly left Jeep in much better shape than Mercedes (Ahem – Compass, Commander).
Even the Premier/Monaco wasn’t a bad car for the time.
Sorry, I cannot share your enthusiasm for the Eagle Premier. Although it had some good ideas, it was too brittle for the American market.
The characterization of ‘brittle’ can be looked at two ways.
In isolation, it was a somewhat finicky vehicle with less than stellar reliability.
However, after Renault left, Chrysler Co replaced it with the LH which (for the first few years at least) had an abysmal reputation for long term durability.
And I had a friend with a Premier, the thing was one of the most comfortable cars I ever rode in. Like a smoking lounge on wheels.
I test drove a Premier once. It was about five years old at the time. It was comfortable, handled well, and very fast. I was impressed at the relatively sporty handling for a large car. I really liked it but it overheated on the test drive.
Paul, I guess my main problem with the car was that PRV V6. It is my understanding that these go into the category populated by the Chrysler 2.7 and the Vega. In other words, someone who maintained them meticulously and didn’t drive them hard might make one last. But that is not the American market.
I agree that the LH also developed a bad reputation, but the Chrysler 3.5 was not one of its problems. If only we could have gotten a Premier/Monaco with the ChryCo 3.5, then we might have had something.
The later PRVs are really not as bad as their reputation. The early ones, yes. Rough running, oil starvation and lots of other bad things. But the engine was thoroughly re-engineered in ’85 (I think) and came out a much improved powerplant. It did still have a few maintenance quirks (like requiring valve adjustments every 30k) but it was nowhere near the time bomb the earlier odd-fire versions were.
Then again I’m basing this on what I know–perhaps they did something funny with this particular variant.
You and Paul F raise a good point about Jeep, and I must agree. But with the cars, not so much.
When we get into these AMC discussions, I tend to forget about Jeep and focus on the cars. AMC was a good steward of Jeep, leaving it better than it found it.
The OMG, WTF moment of the day.
If the cars were shinier, this photo would take me back to the days of looking at the brand-new Alliances for sale at McKnight Motors in Chambersburg.
Do these three cars represent about 70 percent of the Alliances still in existence?
In the year 2016, this is probably the only place in the entire country where 3 of these cars are parked in the same place. I didn’t even know that there were 3 of them still in existence. Hopefully Hector Lopez can save them.
Nice spot! This Encore LS 1.7L cousin says hello from across the pond. I was surprised to spot this American-made French car in Neuilly, just outside Paris, last month. It was in great shape with a very American-looking red interior.
Just did a Google search and noticed that the Harrison, AK isn’t too far from Quapaw, OK, the world’s unofficial Alliance warehouse. Wonder if there might be a connection.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/where-old-renault-alliances-go-to-die/
I’ve always wanted to get in touch with the owner and make a road trip up there. I’ll keep CC posted if I do.
Amazing to see any Kenosha built Renault Alliance still existing at all!!
When they first came out, I had high hopes for the Alliance. A competitive American-built efficient FWD car, with a simple pushrod engine promising less maintenance than all the timing-belt designs that were running around by then. But the cars had multiple electrical and cooling system problems. Then getting parts became a problem. Eventually, my boss at the shop where I worked refused to take in any Renault customers.
As for Jeep’s ‘Renault period’, The ’88 to ’90 4.0s were afflicted with a French Renix electronic engine control/ignition system. Good luck finding comprehensive diagnostic information or parts today!
Happy Motoring, Mark
The Alliance was designed for 1979-82 recession and predictions of $5 a gallon for 1985. Sold well its first year, with oil shock weary buyers. But, then reality hit.
If I squint a little, I can pretend I’m looking at an AMC dealership from 30 years ago. Great find!
Not quite a scene I’d have expected in northern Arkansas, but then again when I was there last year, my main find was a BMW, so NW Arkansas has some nice surprises.
But the cars had multiple electrical and cooling system problems.
Electrical gremlins seem to afflict all European cars at that time. Every time I hear someone sniveling about Lucas or Marelli electrics, I ask them if they ever had the pleasure of Ducellier or Paris Rhone or Marchal electrics. The frightening thing about 70s and 80s VWs is that, as fragile as they were, they were the best Europe provided in the price class.
I was hopeful about the AMC Renault tieup. Realistically, after sinking so much money into the Pacer and Matador coupe, AMC was running out of options and would have probably sunk by 80 if Renault had not shoveled hundreds of millions into the company.
I tried an Alliance on for size when they were new, but my 6′ self was a no go, lacking both headroom and legroom. For that matter, I didn’t fit in an R5 unless it had the sunroof, which added an inch of headroom, and an aftermarket steering wheel to clear more legroom.
Why is it, no-one else seems to be able to design seats and suspensions as well as the French? If only they could have gotten their arms around the reliability and rust issues.
Peugeots and Citroens from France are fully galvanized at least in this market they are a huge rock dent on the bonnet of my Xsara is yet to show any sign of corrosion and its been there three years out in the weather, the car has been anvil like in its reliability only needing wear items replaced.
I bought an ’86 for a commuter car from the Wi line to my ofc in Chicago with a 5 spd-I’m 6′ tall-had no problem getting in and out-it rode comfortably-used to get 40mpg thru commuter hour traffic-drove it 186,000 miles when the transaxle went out-however whenever the gas mileage dropped to 32 mpg, I used to change the plugs and the mileage went back up to 40mpg- I sold it to a guy who did house painting for me- and he drove it for another 1 & 1/2 yrs-he weighed about 300 lbs-and he eventually broke the driver’s seat off its’ rails -then took the passenger seat off and mounted that as the driver’s seat b4 he traded it- I would have bought another but they were no longer offered at the time….
I guess when you’ve seen three Alliances together in Arkansas, they’re just aint much else left to see!
The Alliance lasted in production in Turkey until 2000, only receiving fuel injection on the 1.4 in 1997. It lasted in Columbia until 1999 and was the most produced car there up to that time.
There were two of these on blocks in Newton, MA that I last saw around 2011. Strange that:
1. someone would make a “project” out of an Alliance (and I don’t think either was a GTA)
2. that someone would use their driveway for such in a wealthy neighborhood.
Ashamed the picture had no two door or convertible Alliances. They were USA only and were a collaboration between Robert Opron and Dick Teague.
Had a red GTA convertible while at Amtek in base engine design. Fun car until I encountered a battery in the middle of a dark country road.
I often see 1980’s Japanese and European cars (as well as 1960’s domestic pickups) profiled on CC with comments from East Coast and Midwest readers about their rarity, when they are daily sights in my coastal California town. But while Alliances were certainly popular here in their day, along with the LeCar (R5) and Encore, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen one on the road or even beside the road. In fact the only Renault I’ve seen in the past 12 months was a Dauphine.