The AMC-Renault partnership gave us, among other things, this performance soft-top from Kenosha.
We are now far enough away in time from the production of the Renault GTA for the whole project to seem like a fever dream, but there was indeed a time when sporty French convertibles rolled out of Kenosha, Wisconsin—a place known to be frozen for a substantial percentage of the year. And the GTA wasn’t even the only model, as there was a whole lineup of cars, with the GTA sitting at the top of the Alliance range. The reason it seems like a fever dream today (unless you lived in Wisconsin in the 1980s and 1990s) is that the entire Alliance lineup seemed to disappear seemingly overnight in the early 1990s.
Let’s back up a bit to the genesis of this model. The Alliance itself was named for AMC-Renault’s partnership that was inaugurated in 1979, in the darkest days of the malaise era—20 years before the Renault-Nissan Alliance would take shape. AMC found itself in a precarious position in the 1970s despite a lineup consisting of smallish cars, and engineered a bailout of sorts with the help of Renault, which took a controlling stake in AMC. The partnership brought along with it the sharing of technology, most of it going one way: from France to the US.
While the Renault 18 and Sportwagon kicked things off stateside, one of the partnership’s goals was to repackage new Renault platforms for production and sales in the US. The French-market Renault 9 and Renault 11 served as the basis for the Alliance lineup, which was offered as two- and four-door sedans in addition to a two-door convertible. Yet another version was the Encore hatchback, sold in three- and five-door forms.
With a crisp exterior styled by Robert Opron, the Alliance had quite a lot going for it, including an MSRP just below $6000. More importantly, it gave AMC a credible import fighter at a time when Detroit was rapidly losing market share to small Japanese cars, thanks to the ongoing gas crises of the early 1980s.
But while the Alliance sedan may have offered inexpensive motoring at a time when it was badly needed, it didn’t offer a lot of power, with the 1.4-liter unit serving up 64 hp while the 1.7-liter unit dialed that up to 77 hp.
The GTA that arrived in 1987 sought to change that.
“GTA takes its styling cues from the aerodynamic school of automotive design,” ad copy of the time whispered. “Its subtle yet purposeful lines result from the tastefully restrained use of monochromatic paint treatments applied to grounds-effects componentry.”
The GTA offered a slightly sportier interior, but the main draw was the bump in power along with a stylish body kit. And the fact that it was an affordable convertible.
Autoweek
The main event was a 2.0-liter four-cylinder under the hood, good for 95 hp, while also offering 15-inch wheels and a distinctive body kit along with a modest spoiler. Sportier seats and a revamped suspension were also part of the GTA recipe, with the two-door sedan and convertible offered in a choice of four colors: Sebring Red, Classic Black, Olympic White, and Sterling Metallic.
Period brochures made an emphasis on the car’s sporty bodywork.
“GTA slices through the wind with the help of integrated side skirts, plus an integrated front air dam and rear deck spoiler, all helping to reduce side-to-side turbulence, lift, and drag,” ad copy promised. “What this means to you and your passengers is that GTA’s aerodynamic nature allows it to cut through air more easily, increasing efficiency and stability. It also helps quiet wind noise inside the car, for added comfort and reduced fatigue over the long run.”
Just how aerodynamic was the GTA with bodywork this square? Let’s just say the slim build of the car probably helped quite a bit—this is not a large car in person.
Despite the sporty mood of the GTA, the convertibles and two-doors made up just a small fraction of all Alliance variant production, which climbed to a respectable 623,000 units over the five-year production run. After all, most buyers were after the inexpensive motoring that the lineup offered, and the GTA was the pricey model in the range.
But in the present day, the GTA appears to account for a majority of all surviving Renault Alliances, with convertibles being more readily found than two-doors.
This is perhaps unsurprising in the classic car world: The desirable variants of a given model tend to be the ones that are preserved, with owners saving the drop-tops and range-toppers. Add to that the fact that convertibles were probably spared the worst of upper midwest winters, so encountering GTA convertibles with relatively modest mileage is almost the rule rather than the exception. Of course, there are plenty of high-mileage Renaults out there as well, looked after by enthusiasts such as this crisp red example we saw.
Jay Ramey Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum.
Keyword: Street-Spotted: Renault GTA Convertible