I don’t know about any of you, but I am getting really sick of winter. I’m sure part of it is just the hassle of moving in the middle of it, but this winter feels colder and drearier than normal, and I can’t wait for warmer weather to finally get here. So in that spirit, today we’re going to look at two convertibles.
Yesterday, we were seeing what it would take to get by without gas. We looked at a Chevette with a diesel engine and a Nissan Leaf with a better-than-average battery pack. It was a really close vote, but the Leaf is ahead by a nose as of this writing, so I’ll declare it the winner.
I guess I wouldn’t mind the Leaf, but I have a strange attraction to that Chevette. Yes, I know it’s terrible. Yes, I know it’s outpaced by everything on the road except maybe Jason’s 2CV. I don’t care. I have fond memories of driving a Chevette on a frozen lake years ago; those things can do donuts (or “whip shitties” in Midwesternese) like nobody’s business. The Leaf is just an appliance.
In the very fun Richard Linklater movie Hit Man, the lead character uses a code phrase when meeting with his potential clients. He meets them at a diner and orders a slice of pie. They ask him, “How’s the pie?”, and he responds with “All pie is good pie.” And you know what? He’s right. Even lousy pie is still good pie. Because it’s pie. (Except pumpkin. Ew.)
I thought about that when I saw these two cars. They are not, by objective standards, great cars. But they are both convertibles, and that covers a lot of sins. Dropping the top on a nice day and cruising around is a joy, and when you’re doing it, you can overlook a lot of a car’s shortcomings. I guess you could say “All convertibles are good convertibles.” Don’t agree? Let’s check them out and see if I can convince you.
1983 Ford Mustang GLX – $3,689
Engine/drivetrain: 3.8-liter OHV V6, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Louisville, KY
Odometer reading: 125,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Fox-body Ford Mustang is generally seen as the light at the end of the malaise-era tunnel, but it didn’t get off to an auspicious start. Ford threw basically whatever engines they had lying around in the first Fox Mustangs. It didn’t matter much because horsepower wasn’t in anyone’s vocabulary in the early 1980s. And aside from the GT model, you couldn’t really call the first few years of Fox Mustangs “sporty.”
I mean, look at this dashboard. It looks like it belongs in Grandpa’s LTD, not a Mustang. It looks like the dashboard of a car powered by a 112-horsepower V6 and a squishy automatic transmission, and guess what? It is. The 3.8-liter Essex V6 was one of Ford’s go-to workhorses for years, but it started out as this two-barrel carbureted lump. It runs well enough, from the sounds of it, but it’s going to be a leisurely ride.
The interior is in OK shape, but not great. The vinyl seats look a little grubby, and it’s missing the armrest on the passenger’s side. Actually, it’s missing all the trim on that door panel, as if someone took it apart to replace the window regulator or something and misplaced the trim. Maybe you’ll get lucky, and all the missing pieces are in the trunk.
It looks a bit better outside, but the dealership selling it has photographed it wet, which hides dull spots in the paint and makes the black trim look nice and black. It might be a bit more faded-looking when it’s dry. But there’s no rust on it, and the top looks like it’s in good condition.
1985 Renault Alliance L – $6,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.4-liter OHV inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Port Washington, OH
Odometer reading: 49,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Renault Alliance is almost forgotten now, but AMC’s last gasp at the small car market was the butt of a lot of jokes for a lot of years; “Renault Appliance” being the most common one. It’s a shame, because it tested well, and it was actually a pretty nice little car. It’s certainly better to drive than a lot of its contemporaries. It has a decent ride and a nice, comfortable interior. But not even the dulcet tones and calm demeanor of George C. Scott could convince enough Americans to take a chance on the French car from Wisconsin, and it didn’t live through the Chrysler buyout.
In 1985, the Alliance was available with either Renault’s venerable 1.4-liter pushrod engine or a new 1.7-liter overhead cam unit. Since this is the basic L model, I’m assuming it’s the 1.4, and if I’m wrong, it will just be a pleasant surprise. It has a five-speed manual transmission, and the seller says it gets “awesome gas mileage.” All Alliances had fuel injection, which is a nice upgrade over the feedback carburetors used by many small cars at the time.
The interior of the Alliance is more AMC than Renault; ace designer Richard Teague’s fingerprints are all over it. (Not literally; don’t worry.) These seats are as comfortable as they look, by the way. It’s in great condition, as you would hope with so few miles on it, and the seller says everything works.
This car spent the majority of its life in Arizona, and the seller says it has never seen snow. The paint is shiny except for the trunk lid, and the top is in good shape except for a cloudy rear window. It does have a couple of little dings and dents, but it’s still one of the nicest Alliances I’ve seen in years.
If you were shopping for a convertible, these two would probably be pretty far down your list of candidates. Well, a Mustang might be near the top, but not this Mustang. And how many of you even remembered there was a Renault Alliance convertible? But whether or not these came to mind right away, they’ll get the job done – the job being putting wind in your hair and sunshine on your shoulders. (Yes, I just made a John Denver reference. Deal with it.) Which one of these unlikely candidates wins for you?
Viva le Alliance!
I grew up in Wisco when the Alliance came about. Technically considered part of the Midwest, we never called them “whip shitties”, but I was never one of the cool kids so what do I know. I DO know that 50k is a lot for an Alliance…I didn’t intend to vote for it, but after seeing the sad interior of that Mustang…
No question, the French weirdo all the way. Especially since it has the right transmission! That interior looks like a great place to be too.
Those seats were first class comfort wise.
And the interiors felt really nice back when they were new.
I chose the Mustang purely based on price. I don’t want either of them, to be fair.
I am a Fox body fan, but not the biggest convertible fan. Today I will sample the overpriced, in my opinion, Renault. I have never driven a French car before, and I don’t think this is the best example, but I am here for a little variety and that thing is pretty darn cute.
Was going to vote for the Stang as a former Fox body owner and my stepmother had a white one just like this except it had maroon cloth interior and the smoked plastic headlight covers. Every once in a while, she’d get someone acting like they wanted to race at stop lights, ‘cuz it’s a Mustang, so she would do the inch forward like she was game and then light would turn green, other car take off like bat out of hell, and she would drive off normal. She had a string of pony cars since 60s.
Voted for the Renault. It’s different and excellent condition vs the Mustang appears to be not well kept. Cute friend in HS had also one of these. Her’s was red, like most of the other Alliances of the time.
Got my drivers license back in 1995. 1st car was a 5speed Alliance sedan. Slow as all get up, but it handled great and took a lot of abuse… Based on the memories, I’ll go with the Renault.
Also, you never see these on the road so it would confuse a lot of people as to what it is
I’ll take the Mustang and call it Clinton. IYKYK
50/50! I want to like the fox, but its too grubby, the AMC is cute, and I have an irrational love for them after watching “The last Independant Automaker”
The Mustang is priced reasonably and can be made good. Not great, but legit good. I want to vote Alliance, and have a soft spot for these oddities. The mileage and condition is good, with the right transmission, but for that price (still high) it needs to be a fully optioned ’87 in GTA trim.
I was all in on the Mustang, but a carbureted Essex engine is not attractive to me, and I already feel uncomfortable just looking at those vinyl seats, not to mention the incomplete passenger door.
The Renault will be as slow as….well, an Alliance, but it is a fuel injected 5-speed manual…..
Why in the world would anyone buy a Renault Alliance regardless of its state? Does no one have any memories of what this car was actually like even when it was new? This is the car that caused Car and Driver to issue the following apology:
From: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15147668/dishonorable-mention-the-10-most-embarrassing-award-winners-in-automotive-history/
I remember my Dad’s ’84. Transmission didn’t last two years, brakes would maybe last a year. He traded on a Plymouth in ’86 because that was the only dealership that would take it.
A really clean, survivor Renault Alliance convertible is still a Renault Alliance. Conversely, a slightly shabby and considerably sluggish Mustang is still a Mustang. Slow fox all the way, because I can tastefully (and inexpensively) make it my own.
I’m torn here (look at my user name!). I looked at Early Fox-body convertibles before I bought my 2001 Mustang. But I’m going to have to pass on this one. If it was bordello red inside, I’d be all-in, though! But I’d go with an SVO-ish swap rather than the 5.0. The Alliance, while a chunk of money is quirky enough to be a fun ride, even if boring. You won’t see another one while out cruising!
WTF is it about people who put the top and door windows down but leave those little rear windows up?
It’s a blight on the roadway, like spinach on a supermodels teeth, or toilet paper stuck to the president’s shoe.
If those windows are problematic, just leave them down all the time.
Eww.
The motors or mechanisms might be bad. There may even be stationary ones. It might help against buffeting, though.
They’re not stationary on a convertible, assuming it’s bad regulators. I owned two foxes along the way, but never a convertible. My guess is that these things were never really designed to be accessible by mere mortals. Beyond the plastic panels that weren’t designed to be removed, you’re also dealing with all the stuff that the convertible top brings – thus the shark fins.
Had an 89 Convertible. Mine would be intermittent…think the water gets down in there and gets a bit of rust on things, so unless you cycle them regularly, they freeze up.
I noticed this on Chrysler LeBarons back when you used to see them on the road all of the time. They were “speed fins” to me and my friends.
It happened to me eventually too, since I had a ‘92 in high school. There was a little plastic piece in the quarter window regulator that would fail, preventing the window from moving at all. I was able to fix it with a piece of sheet metal I had lying around pretty easily.
Leaving it down all of the time probably isn’t an option most places if you don’t want to grow mold in the back seat, and don’t have a way to cover it.
Laziness on the part of the dealer? I agree that is it stupid to display a car with them up.
I was wondering if those went down. First thing I’d fix, even before the door trim.
I for one appreciate the John Denver reference.
Can’t say no to a four-eyed Fox! Even if it does have the wrong powertrain. But that’s just a good reason to upgrade it to a stealthy LX 5.0 spec. A Fox Mustang may be way more common, but it’ll also be way easier to keep on the road.
The Mustang?
Aw, it’s not for me. It’s more of a Shelbyville idea.
I hear that Shelbyville is going to get a monorail soon! Springfield had better get on the ball and beat them to it!
This is difficult, but Mustang, please.
I’d much rather go to Ogdenville or North Haverbrook to buy a car, but will go to Shelbyville if necessary.
To be clear: I don’t actually want the Ford, but my family had a 1986 Renault Alliance when I was a kid.
Yes and no. It started easily in cold weather, which was nice, but it was impossible to drive at small throttle openings. (I’ve complained about this before.) If you tried to drive at fast idle, e.g. if you were in a parking lot, the FI would simply flap on/off/on/off/on/off until you decided to push in the clutch and proceed on impulse power.
It was a 1.4, which came with the 4MT rather than the 5MT mentioned in the listing. Someone else commented that the ‘verts were all 1.7s, so the 5MT makes a little more sense.
“Monorail!” “Monorail!” “Monorail!”
“Mono means one, and rail means rail”
“Donuts, is there anything they can’t do?”
[ everyone else finishes the song ]
“Mono – D’OH!!”
I have a very specific fondness for the Renault Alliance. The oldest guy in my high school friend group, inherited a beige automatic Alliance from his grandma. Since he was the only one of us with a car, we drove that thing all over hell and back. It couldn’t hit 85 downhill with a tailwind, but it was a tough little car.
I was still going to pick the Mustang, but then I thought better of it. At every stop light and gas station, people are going to be asking if it’s a 5.0, wanting you to throw some revs, etc. But you can’t, because it’s a V6 auto.
So I picked the Alliance, because it doesn’t write any checks that it cannot cash. And those seats are indeed extremely comfortable.
For the price difference, on the Mustang you could readily swap in a fuel injected 5.0 and AOD. Depending where the 5.0 is sourced from it may not have much more HP than the V6, but it will have all the torques and will sound the part. Since a convertible is just a cruiser, that is really all you need. And the great part is if you have a couple extra moldy clams in the wallet that 5.0 has lots of cheap power mods you could add to it!
Mustangs are a dime a dozen. I’ll take a chance on Le Car’s bigger brother.
The fact that the interior of the ‘stang is not great and the Le Car seems to be significantly better cared for, I really think its worth the plunge. The only negative is that I don’t think its a $6500 car. If I could bargain them down to say $4500, its a deal!
With you on the winter – it feels like so much has happened since even mid-autumn, it’s hard to believe we’re still in it even with some springlike days having popped up.
Gonna be an interesting one, a 50/50 split so far. I went Renault but it did feel like a coin toss.
Easy choice, Mustang all day and twice on SUNday. You can get the needed interior parts easy enough. Dropping in a 5.0 would be easy, but I think it would be cool to find a Super Coupe 3.8 or even a Windstar’s split port 3.8 and give it some more power w/o resorting to a V-8.
Fun idea on the Winnie’s 3.8 – they were the only minivan of the era that could smoke the tires. Problem would be finding one – head gasket issues killed most of them off (don’t ask me how I know this).
I rented one when they first came out and being a rental it didn’t have traction control. I was quite shocked when I mashed the throttle to pull out into traffic and I smoked the right front tire half way down the block. When it came time for us to buy a minivan we came home with a split port Windstar. No head gasket issues for us but I did have to replace the transmission at ~60k. We drove it for a couple of more years w/o any other issues. Ours was a loaded model so it did have traction control.
Friend of mine’s sister had a Fox body Mustang with a manual trans in the mid 90’s. One night the starter solenoid randomly decided to close and it slowly crept ahead in first gear under starter power until it hit an obstruction. The starter then overheated and it burst into flames.
Same friend bought an old Renault Alliance for $100 about a year later. He was going to drive it, but it was winter and we discovered the PO had left straight water in the cooling system resulting in a cracked block. So we took it out into an apple orchard and rammed it into stuff for a while, then took sledge hammers, splitting mauls, and firearms to it; ending the event with the throttle pinned in neutral.
Good times…