OK. This has to be rare.

Between age, poor build quality, rust issues, and poor parts availability, a Renault Alliance GTA convertible like the one I saw smoking down Broadway today has got to be lonely.

Its gotta be a decade since I last saw one.

Back when they were new, I had a Renault Alliance rental car on a business trip. Every day, some new part of the car would stop working; the final thing was when I pulled back into the rental lot, pushed the OFF button on the radio, and the button sproinged out of the dash and flew into the back seat. :)

I had a friend with a GTA in about 1992 or so. He had "upgraded" from a Plymouth Horizon, IIRC. Needless to say, I frequently had to give him a lift to school.

Always thought it was a pretty sharp-looking car though.

stuart in mn wrote: Back when they were new, I had a Renault Alliance rental car on a business trip. Every day, some new part of the car would stop working; the final thing was when I pulled back into the rental lot, pushed the OFF button on the radio, and the button sproinged out of the dash and flew into the back seat. :)

I saw one of those in decent shape at Cars and Coffee last month. I was amazed to see it move under its own power. Sagged like a dog dragging its ass across the carpet under load, but it was running and driving.

The scary part is I actually wanted one of those when I was 15. I'm glad I couldn't afford it.

Rare doesn't mean worth anything.

Sometimes things are rare because all the others simply fell apart.

The national club is based in Missouri if i remember right, so there must be at least one around here. Hemmings sports and exotic did a feature on the model last year. I would love to find one, but I want the coupe in black with the red stripe.

I had a white 1.4 (pushrod) Alliance (not GTA) and it was absolutely bullet-proof.My first new car (an '87...it cost $4999). 4 speed with no radio (and certainly no A/C or power steering). A very light, simple, roomy car that was comfortable and easy to drive right up to the limit. All my kids (and several of my neighbours kids) learned to drive on it. Poor maintenance and red-line shifting its entire life. After 10 years (the clutch and suspension were very tired and it had some rust creeping in), I gave it to the local vocational school. They reported the engine still measured up to spec internally. One of my friends raced one in SSC back then and did quite well with it. They don't make light, simple cars like this anymore. Too bad.

There once was a racing series with those.

A friend raced one untill he wrecked it.

My old boss had an Red Alliance GTA as a beater for a looooong time, he got tired of it and sold it this last year (was actually in good condition).

I remember when those came out one of the car mags took one, did some suspension work and I think it pulled over 1g on a skidpad. I would drive a coupe if I could find a nice one.

My cousin's husband actually had several of these when they were relatively new. He stated with one of the first ones (1.4 with 4 doors?) and as the company "expanded" their model offerings, he moved up in the tiny range to better and better models. He had a longish commute to work and wanted a cheap to buy and fuel car. He never owned a GTA or a 'vert, always the "regular" models in pastel colors. His F-I-L was a HUGE NASCAR fan, as were all the members of his wife's family. I'm guessing they thought that when it came to cars this guy was a complete maroon.

stuart in mn wrote: Back when they were new, I had a Renault Alliance rental car on a business trip. Every day, some new part of the car would stop working; the final thing was when I pulled back into the rental lot, pushed the OFF button on the radio, and the button sproinged out of the dash and flew into the back seat. :)

Thank you for pressing the self destruct button, this car will self destruct in 5, 4 ..................

here's one:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/3048186971.html

mattmacklind wrote: The national club is based in Missouri if i remember right, so there must be at least one around here. Hemmings sports and exotic did a feature on the model last year. I would love to find one, but I want the coupe in black with the red stripe.

I dunno, it could be like the Lotus club I used to hang with in the pre-Elise days. The president of the club hadn't had her Lotus on the road in 5 years. Everyone had at least one long-term project in the garage. You couldn't necessarily tell from the parking lot of a club meeting what kind of car club it was.

But the flip side was - when the car was running, they had a Lotus. Not an Alliance

That reminds me of one of the Mazda Rotary Club meetings I went to in the UK (admittedly in winter) - about half of us, me included, turned up in a non-rotary because the cars were in bits all over the garage.

Parts of the picture of that car are falling off. A headlight surround just hit my keyboard. Stay far away.

East coast Alliance:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/cto/2999727800.html

carguy123 wrote: Sometimes things are rare because all the others simply fell apart.

quote of the year!

I had an Encore (hatchback Alliance, basically) with the 1.4L as my BABE Rally car in 2007 and it was absolutely unkillable. Loved the thing.

I've always wanted a GTA really, really badly. The stock engine is nothing special, but they are LIGHT (~1900lbs) and handle really well - I think it was C&D that pulled some amazing 1g+ numbers on the skidpad back in the way. With a Honda drivetrain, it would be friggin' awesome.

I will say, for the number of Omni/Yugo/etc fans on this board, these sure do get bashed kind of unfairly a lot of the time.

I went out with a girl who drove one of those. She had really big boobs.

That's all I remember about Renault Alliance GTAs.

theres a town in KS I wanna say baxter springs, where someone has collected nearly 50 renault alliances for some reason. its on the main road through town. Maybe they are parts cars for the one they have in the garage at home? I mean thats gotta be at least $100 worth of renaults there

carguy123 wrote: Rare doesn't mean worth anything. Sometimes things are rare because all the others simply fell apart.

Don't care. Do want.

gunner wrote: theres a town in KS I wanna say baxter springs, where someone has collected nearly 50 renault alliances for some reason. its on the main road through town. Maybe they are parts cars for the one they have in the garage at home? I mean thats gotta be at least $100 worth of renaults there

I've seen that place. It's just North of Baxter Springs. I can't recall that town's name though. I used drive down US 69 from Pittsburg, KS to get to Tulsa, OK quite a bit several years ago.

SCCA (I think) used to have a series that was just Renault Encores, which was the Alliance hatchback. They must have had a deal with Renault because they were also running Sports Renault at the same time, which evolved into SRF.