1984 Renault Fuego turbo.

While working on the restoration of my Manic GT after the holidays, my mechanic and I discussed the need for a pair of front shock absorbers. None of Charlie Appleman’s usual parts suppliers had anything that would fit the Renault R10 suspension system used by Manic before the Quebec automaker closed the doors of its Granby factory in 1971 after building just 160 cars. (My Manic technically isn’t one of them, being a car that was unfinished at the time and purchased at the bankruptcy sale.)
However, Charlie remembered receiving a tip that several old Renaults might be found in a nearby wrecking yard.
Now any chance to visit a wrecking yard is a no-brainer for most old car nuts, so Charlie and I trooped off through the snow to see for ourselves.
We were directed to one of the yard’s far corners where, sure enough, there sat four Renaults – none of them, unfortunately, old enough for our needs. Three of them were Fuego coupes from the early 1980s, piled upon each other in a jumble of broken glass, crushed sheet metal and twisted trim.
It had been so long since I’d seen one of these hatchbacks that I’d forgotten all about them. And at one time, back in 1985, the Fuego was a car I considered buying. I liked its swoopy three-door styling and had enjoyed good luck with a Renault 12 I’d owned about a decade earlier. I didn’t, however, take the plunge but somewhere I still have a 1985 Fuego sales brochure.
The Fuego, which was based on the front-drive Renault 18, was introduced in Europe in 1980 and manufactured in France until 1985. After that, assembly carried on at Renault’s plant in South America, but the Fuego disappeared from North American showrooms after the 1985 model year.
Renault had formed a working relationship with American Motors Corporation in 1979, which included the loan of some badly needed cash. To protect that investment, the French automaker assumed control of the near-bankrupt AMC in early 1980. A product of that takeover was the Alliance, an Americanized version of the Renault 19, made in AMC’s Kenosha, Wisconsin factory. But the Fuego was pure Renault and was imported from France from 1982-85 and sold in AMC dealerships.
Although it was the top-selling European coupe from 1980-82, it never caught on here despite is fashionable interior and aerodynamic styling.
In 1982 and ’83 North American Fuego buyers got a fuel-injected 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine, either turbocharged or normally aspirated. For 1984 and 1985 engine size was upped to 2.2-litres. Available transmissions were a 3-speed automatic or 5-speed manual.
In 1987 Renault sold American Motors to Chrysler, which created the Jeep-Eagle division out of AMC’s ashes. Renault 21 sedans and wagons, rebadged as Medallions, were sold from 1987-89 at Jeep-Eagle dealerships. But the buying public wasn’t interested and the Renault nameplate disappeared entirely from North America after 1989.
All Renaults are now scarce in Canada and the U.S., but if you’ve got a Fuego you’ve been hoping to restore one day, drop me a line. I know a wrecking yard that just may have some of the parts you need.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com