Rusty But Trusty

Have you ever wanted to come into the turbo zone? There aren’t many 1980s sports coupes left that would take you there – VW’s Scirocco, Toyota’s Celica and Nissan’s 200SX didn’t offer turbo power, and few of those survive. The only car in the Fuego’s class to offer a turbo was the Subaru (Leone) coupe, and not many of those have survived. And even with a turbo, performance went from slow with the stock naturally aspirated four to decent – comparable to many other naturally aspirated cars – with the turbo. That said, it was remarkable for several other things, like fuel injection, a low-for-the-time coefficient of drag, and in the European market, the first remote door locking system and audio controls on the steering wheel. Check out this 1983 Renault Fuego Turbo for sale for $1000 in Beverly, MA.

The year after this car was built, Renault followed the BMW 2002 formula to release the Fuego with a larger naturally aspirated 2.2-liter four-cylinder giving 110hp, more than the turbo offered. This particular example is said to have been parked in a barn for the last 25 years – since the car was 8 years old – which hopefully helps its condition, given its location in the salt belt.

Surprisingly, the seller is willing to trade for a Porsche 928 of equivalent value, so he’s obviously a fan of cars with that general shape – maybe he’d take a Fox-body Mercury Capri or a Porsche 944 as well. As usual, the French were not afraid of being adventurous when it came to design, though at the same time they were offering the boxy Alliance. Designed by Michel Jardin under Robert Opron, who was also responsible for the Citroen SM, it has that interesting ribbed beltline separating the glasshouse from the rest of the body.

The condition of the interior is pretty good, both in the passenger compartment and the trunk, substantiating the claim that the car’s been stored since 1991. Remarkably, it’s said to show 130,000 miles, which translates to just over 16,000 miles a year. You can probably count on an expired turbo, given the age and mileage of the car, and given the barn storage, you’ll probably want to carefully go through the electrical connections.

Or perhaps the reason for the car being parked was this – a minor dent someone seems to have tried to fix with a dent puller. It’s rusted, of course, but you can just go down to your friendly Renault dealer and pick up an NOS rear fender, right? Kidding aside, this car seems to have some definite possibilities, even if the best one is as an interior donor for the Fuego you already have. If you’re still not convinced, check out this period commercial:

Tags: coupe, Feature, french, fuego, renault, under $2

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