Rare Rides: 1987 Renault Alliance GTA, the Sporty Franco-American Hybrid

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Today we bring you a very special, semi-complicated Rare Rides. It’s an unusual little sports coupe bearing a French diamond on the front, a Wisconsin-made sticker inside the door, and red GTA badging on the sills.

Come check out the Renault Alliance GTA.

Let’s step back in time for a moment. In 1985, while you were listening to Sting or A-ha, AMC was under majority ownership by Renault. As domestic offerings from AMC winded down in popularity, Renault found itself with excess production capacity in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Chrysler signed on to make use of the excess production capacity in a 1985 deal with AMC/Renault for the assembly of M-body vehicles.

So in ’87, while your cassette tape played Huey Lewis and the News, the all-American Chrysler Fifth Avenue and extra-French Renault Alliance were built in the same factory, by the same people. Of course, that wouldn’t be the only thing AMC and Chrysler shared, but we won’t get too far off the trail today. Onward, to Alliance.

On sale between 1983 and 1987, all Alliance models were assembled in Wisconsin. The Alliance offered three different body styles for the Francophile American — a sedan, coupe, and cabriolet was available. Specific to the sporting GTA variant, you could have either the coupe or the cabriolet.

Under the hood, a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine was the only available power plant. Owners who opted for premium grade fuel could expect a full 90 horsepower. Zero to 60 came up in 10.2 seconds, which is slightly slower than a current Subaru Outback with a 2.5-liter and CVT. Computers are getting faster, and so are cars!

Just four colors were available for this sporty Alliance; white, red, silver, and black. The GTA variant received suspension upgrades, as well as better brakes, larger exhaust, spoiler, and special cladding surrounding the exterior. All GTA variants came with a manual transmission.

This Rare Ride is located in Oregon (as most have been lately), and is apparently owned by an individual who also has a sweet Astro RS. Well-traveled at 132,000 miles, the GTA’s eBay sale still has a few days left. The bid as of writing is $970, and it hasn’t met the reserve. Get to it.

[Images via seller]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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