Good morning! We’re kicking the week off with a couple of not-so-hot little red numbers. They’re both as rare as rocking-horse poop these days, both manual, and for some reason, both equipped for towing.
I have to congratulate you all for a job spectacularly well done with Friday’s silly scenario. The Olds took home the winning vote count, but at least one person made a compelling case for each car, and some of your ideas were practically fully formed treatments. And I’d watch the hell out of those shows.
I had a TV show kinda half-formed in my mind, with the Olds as the hero car, but honestly, it wasn’t as good as the ones you all came up with, so never mind. But hey, if one of your shows gets picked up by Netflix, just keep in mind where it all started, and who gave you the idea.
Now then: The goal of today’s cars is mainly to make you have the same reaction I had when I saw them: “Holy crap, I haven’t seen one of those in a while!” One of these came from the Underappreciated Survivors group on Facebook; the other is a spot from my buddy Sam Blockhan over at Opposite Lock. Let’s check them out.
1985 Renault Encore – $4,600 Canadian (about $3,300 US)
Engine/drivetrain: 1.7 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Odometer reading: 154,000 kilometers
Oeprational status: Runs and drives well
Quick – What do Wisconsin and France have in common? They’re both justifiably proud of their cheese, and they have both been home to Renault factories. As part of Renault’s partnership with AMC in the 1980s, the Alliance and Encore, known as the Renault 9 and 11 in Europe, were produced in AMC’s famous plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Alliance and Encore were powered by one of two four-cylinder engines: the old 1.4 liter pushrod engine dating back to the ’50s, or a new 1.7 liter overhead cam four, both with fuel injection. This car has the 1.7, along with a five-speed manual. It’s a one-owner car, with only 154,000 kilometers (about 96,000 miles) to its name. It has British Columbia collector’s plates on it, so it sounds like it has been retired from daily driver status.
Ace AMC designer Dick Teague and Renault’s Robert Opron teamed up on the Alliance and Encore design, and if you are familiar with AMC cars, you’ll immediately see Teague’s influence on the interior of this car, particularly in the seats and door panels. The Encore was a little bit fancier than the Alliance, and this interior looks mighty inviting. There’s a cover on the driver’s seat, but since it’s pulled down in the photos, I have to believe its purpose is to protect the upholstery, not hide it.
Outside, it’s very clean as well, with two-tone paint and vinyl graphics that have held up well over the years. Personally, I’ve always preferred the hatchback Encore to the Alliance sedan. It’s sportier, and of course, more practical.
1988 Buick Skyhawk – $6,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter overhead cam inline 4, four-speed manual, FWD
Location: East Longmeadow, MA
Odometer reading: 52,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, just taken out of storage
When General Motors introduced the J-body compacts in 1982, every major division got their own version except of course GMC. The Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac J2000/Sunbird are the best-known, and the Cadillac Cimarron is probably the most infamous. Oldsmobile’s Firenza and Buick’s Skyhawk are barely remembered.
The Skyhawk and Firenza both ping-ponged back and forth between the “Chevy-style” overhead valve engine and the “Pontiac-style” overhead cam; as far as I can tell, in 1988 the Skyhawk was only available with the overhead cam engine, displacing 2 liters. The Skyhawk also has the distinction of being the last Buick available with a manual transmission until the 2011 Regal Turbo. The seller describes this one as being a “4 speed with overdrive,” which could mean a Getrag five-speed, but it could also mean the older Muncie four-speed, in which fourth gear was an overdrive. Since the rest of the car looks pretty basic, I’m assuming it’s the four-speed.
This car has only 52,000 miles on it, and has just been awakened from a fifteen-year slumber. It seems like it’s in running condition, but we all know that a car is going to need a lot of attention after being parked for that long. The tires will need replacing, for one thing, as will every fluid and every part that holds said fluids in place. Low-mileage long-term-storage cars can be cool “time capsules,” but they can also be a Pandora’s box of pains in the ass.
It’s in really nice condition inside, but the outside has some blemishes, and at least one piece of missing trim. It’s not a big deal, I suppose, but for the kind of money they’re asking for this car, it can’t be just a rare car. It has to be a really clean rare car. Hopefully, there’s some wiggle room in the price to account for the condition.
Cars like these are neat to see, but when it comes down to it, would you really want to see one of them in your driveway every day? That’s a question only you can answer, but for our purposes, you must choose one of them. I’m not letting you off the hook with a “neither” option. So which will it be – the Franco-American tin can, or the Cavalier’s less popular cousin?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Nothing weird about the tow hitches attached to the small cars. They are quite common in Europe: I have seen Smart car with one as well as Bentley Bentayga, towing the trailer of supplies from OBI or Hornbach (German equivalent of Home Depot and Lowes).
Come the school holiday in the summer, you’d see lot of woebegone Dutch holidaymakers towing their caravans with their compact-sized vehicles. The Germans hated them so much because they clogged up the Autobahnen by driving at 100 km/h on the right lane, forcing lot of traffic to move into the left lanes to overtake them.
Looking at the condition of that Encore and the price and it got my vote. That old Skyhawk is WAAAAY overpriced.
Both of these littered my HS parking lot in the mid-late 90s. I had an Alliance and it was sweet, drove it like the SCCA guys did. Encore for the win!
Of course, $6500 is nuts, but I went with the Buick. Years ago, I bought a beat up Pontiac Sunbird to drive for a work car. It ended up being a great car and I am pretty sure the Buick is the same car with different headlights.
$6500 gets you, say, a nice looking, much newer, running Lexus… with a spare, nice looking, running BMW to go with it. Or a running Acura and an Audi spare for $6K.
So many reasonable cars one could get, but asking $6500 for a Skyhawk? Is there some untapped Skyhawk Fan Club market?
I dig that Renault though and that price seems fair.
Either a Skyhawk Fan club, a J-body club or some customer that would only buy American.
But still, if it needs to be from team USA you can do much better with $6500
Oh wow, I was not expecting the Encore to be leading 75-25 when I cast my vote for it. Always thought these were absolutely despised that side of the pond. What a nice surprise 🙂
I’ll take the Encore as a nod to AMC…it’s looks nice and fun! That Buick is alright, just not as exciting
I’d take the Encore all day…but I would pay nothing for it. I once had a small fleet of Encore/Alliances…people used to give away for the price of dragging them out of yards. Such fine wrenching memories….
If the Skyhawk was the same price, sure. But at that insane price, there is only one choice here.
This was some serious deja vu. When I was in college, my first internship was at the same company as a classmate’s, so we shared an apartment and commuted back and forth to work alternating our cars.
Mine was a hand me down Renault Alliance, and Chris’ was a Buick Skylark—both older than the ones for sale here.
Encore!
Those seats are dope!
At 1st I thought I would rather have nothing to do with these, but oh look at those seats in the (not a Buick) Encore! They look rad and so well preserved they would lead you to believe they were re-upholstered or aftermarket. But then I also noticed the crack-free dash, the well preserved graphics and the fact this car wears classic car plates made me believe this car has been cared for and driven with pride through many years.
The Skyhawk does nothing for me and the overly optimistic price made my decision much easier.
I like both of these because I’m weird that way. I have to go Renault, though, because AMC and French cars are my jam and this is both. Plus, asking that kind of scratch for the Buick is cuckoo. Even if you’ll never find another one.
Assuming you could talk them down from the ridiculous $6,500 the generic GM turd is the way to go here. What’s the saying about GM cars running like crap far longer than other crap runs at all?
That said, the fact is either of these things being equipped for towing screams stay away – very far away. Today’s vote should be Neither.
My Parents had a 4dr Renault Encore, It was red on red like pictured. I remember my mom getting rid of it when my sister opened her door while the car was going around a corner. I had to grab her shirt to keep her from falling out. Gotta love the 80s!
The Encore still wins if that Buick has the ole’ 4-tech in it. That is the worst engine to work on America ever produced. You need SAE and metric tools to swap the alternator.
Jeez, mid-’80’s French car vs. mid-’80’s Buick? Giant douche vs. turd sandwich? I’m voting Renault because I could never, in good conscience, own a Skyhawk. A quick trip to the local thrift store will allow me to rebuild my cassette tape collection with plenty of car-appropriate mid-’80’s music so that I can cruise in true mid-80’s splendor (for the week or two it takes for the thing to break down, anyway).
I don’t know how difficult it might be to source parts for, but the Renault has a more appropriate price for this competition. The Buick is a nice enough design, and it’s pretty clean, but it’s not really a “collector car”.
Going with the Encore, only becuase it seems like it might be sorted enough to sell, and get some of my money back. The Buick will have “issues”, aabout as soon as you get it up to operating temperature. At $6,500, youre already in so deep, it would make no sense to fix them, and keep throwing good money after bad.
Now if I could pick it up the Skylark for about $900, it might make some sense….
I am pleased to see that most everyone, including the Cousins, appears to prefer the weird old French car to paying THAT much money for a superannuated GM shitbox.
I’d rather have the Skyhawk, but that price is batshitcrazypants. Renault it is!
My mom had an ’82 or ’83 Skyhawk – black, automatic, no passenger-side outside mirror – that I learned to drive on and used to take my driver’s test. The only memorable things I recall are:
In retrospect, I consider it a total piece of junk, though back then it was glorious because it offered the freedom to go where I wanted for the first time.
Always bet on Kenosha.
I’m driving there on Thursday!