https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1...0HdOmBYDUa3ucEsJ5GylAfEvDQpMY&mibextid=S66gvF https://bringatrailer.com/wp-conten...ult_fuego_bat-fuego-007-91155.jpg?fit=940,626
Interesting, I dated a Girl that owned a Turbo version with a manual transmission that was actually quite fun to drive. Luckly she dropped me before it started having issues! I don't think this N/A version with an 3-speed automatic would be s entertaining to drive. I can't believe such a low mileage example exists.
If it have had a turboharger, it definitely woud have been fun on kickdown. Fuegos started having issues, once owners neglected maintenance schedules or overheat them especially. Not only could the aluminum heads on these warp. I once had one of these in the shop I worked in. It was in, because of a wet liner leak. These seemed aimed at female buyers. The only males I've ever seen owning these were hairdressers or alternative music band member types. That's probably why they didn't sell as many as they could have. At that time, "Buy American" bumper stickers became trendy, possibly further upsetting sales. At least, in the Mid-West anyway. It might not have been that extreme on the coasts?
On the west coast, knowing folks who were buying cars when these were new, Renault had a reputation in the USA already as not great cars and a lack of parts support so that had likely more to do with the lack of seeing them around than any loyalties to American-named corporations. I've seen one of these running around a few years back and always wondered how easy it was to keep one running over on this side of the pond.
That was true, concerning early imports such as the Dauphine, R8 and R10. Dealer networks for these were also few and far between. However, once Renault joined-in with AMC, parts and service were no longer problematic. The West Coast was far away enough from all the McCarthyist-style militancey taking place where most of the lay-offs were happening. Back in the Rust Belt, one can never be certain that when returning to hers or his parked car, he or she would find it trashed. It didn't necessarilly even have to be Japanese. Like this one murder victim whose death was egged on by widespread brainwashing: https://thehistoryinsider.com/the-buy-american-campaign/ I just happened upon a video showing a Fuego for only a second or so. The rest features a family version of the fuego with four doors and with turbocharger. Unfortunately, there's no English language option available like there is with other videos. I forgot to mention that there were two engine versions. The older one based on the older Renault 16 and 17s of which the former appeared somewhere around 1965. The one shown in the first post's advertisement is an overhead-camshaft engine, unlike the latter's pushrod set-up, also with crosssflow heads, though:
