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Actuality the Renault’s were water cooled. As I said I had the pleasure to work on a few of them.
Back in 99 wile vacationing just south of San Fransisco I saw an “Appliance” with the hood up and 2 young ladies just staring. They had driven from somewhere in Canada. They asked me if I knew anything about cars and if I would take a look. I cannot remember what was wrong but it was “terminal”. They asked if I thought it would make it back and I told them to start thinking about a bus ticket.
AMC got into financial trouble, borrowed money from Renault, it wasn't too much later that the frogs gained controlling interest and ran AMC into the ground.
The frogs never understood the US market.
Bill, You are right about the French not understanding the U.S. car market. Their arrogance was their downfall. They actually bought AMC. We had a French president. The Alliance was a big hit at first. Renault made money by selling us parts at extremely overinflated prices. Meanwhile Jeep Engineering came out with the Cherokee which had very few French parts. As small car sales tanked the Cherokee sales kept setting new records. The French could not take the money out of AMC/Jeep fast enough. The French Government, who owned controlling interest in Renault, insisted that the money had to be taken out tax free else in effect the French Government would be paying taxes to the U.S. Government and that would never be acceptable. Eventually Renault entered into secret negotiations with Chrysler. George Besse (Renault’s President) and Lee Iacocca met for the first time at the 1986 Paris Auto Show. The militant French labor unions caught wind of the sale and Georg Besse was killed by a car bomb. Regardless the sale of AMC/Jeep to Chrysler went through and the rest is history.
Abe, interestingly years later Chrysler had to recall every Alliance due to a faulty French-made heater core. By that time (mid-90s) It was cheaper to scrap the cars than repair them, so all went to the crusher. It was a nice little car but it was too late to catch the peak of the small car market. It was built in AMC’s Kenosha, Wisconsin plant, the same plant that built Chrysler’s big M Body used mainly as police cars and taxis.
French = Frogs if you want to be rude to the Frenchman.
In that fire pic, the car at the lower left-- That looks more like a '50 Chevy.
It's not the fire pic, it's the 4th pic in post #6014, shows a forest of oil derricks in the background.
I've been in the old car hobby for a looong time, so I can tell a Chevy from a Renault!
And btw: I'm not a bigot, my dad called 'em frogs because he had to deal with them every day for over 20 years.
My dad was the west coast distributor for Citroen Cars Inc. When Citroen was purchased by Peugeot, he went to work for them.
He used to say, as dense as the Citroen people were, the Peugeot people were worse. Here's an example:
The Peugeot 505 had a defective computer, could short out at a moments notice and catch fire. The pigheaded dealers blamed the owners, refused to fix them.
My sister bought one of these cars, was headed up the Black Canyon Freeway towards Flagstaff, the computer shorted out, the dealer refused to fix it.
When my dad found out, he EXPLODED...called the dealer and said either fix it or your franchise will be cancelled.
They fixed it, my sister immediately got rid of it, traded it in on a new Suburban.
The frogs never understood the US market, after the 505 fiasco, they abandoned the US market, never returned. My dad retired after 40 years in the auto-biz, originally was an Olds dealer.
Oddly, the picture in 6014 has a '50ish Chev, and I think a '49 or '50 Ford as well..... And I do see the Renault. I remember radio ads for those circa 1959-60. Maybe.
Oddly, the picture in 6014 has a '50ish Chev, and I think a '49 or '50 Ford as well..... And I do see the Renault. I remember radio ads for those circa 1959-60. Maybe.
The Ford is a 1950 Club Coupe, the Chevy (partially hidden by the 1955 Ford truck) is either a 1951 or 1952.
This thread is so massive I can't remember if I've posted these family car/truck pics or not, but anyway, here goes....
First off, my Uncle Joe's 1930 Chevy three window hot rod. This is the car that got me into cars. He had it from 1968 to 1972. My Uncle got rid of it in a trade for a reel to reel stereo tape player. (!!!)
Joe Evans in his 1930 Chevy hot rod, San Jose, CA about 1970. Joe Evans in his 1930 Chevy hot rod, San Jose, CA about 1970.
Next up, my father in law's 1967 Corvette. 327 with a four speed, I believe. He bought it new the week he came home from Vietnam in 1967. It was stolen in the early '70's. They bought a Ford Torino to replace it. Oh well...he had a family by then!
Charlie Delahay bought this new '67 Corvette 327 upon returning home from his tour in Vietnam. My mother-in-law in her fiancee's '67 Corvette, taken about 1969 at Town & Country Village, San Jose, CA.
My great grandfather, Otto Petersen, always had a Ford work truck for his contracting/carpentry business, starting in the 1920's. I have his last one, the '56 F-250. Here are his trucks over the years.
1926, delivering milk, butter, and beer (!) for a creamery in Denmark. 1937, building a house for his daughter in Winnipeg, Canada, along with his 1927 Ford. 1954 with his '53 work truck, in front of his favorite bar, Berti's, in San Jose, CA. The same '53, but with my great grandmother, a good day's catch, and a bunch of cats. Working on a grocery store remodel in San Jose, CA about 1958. That's his '56 F-250 on the left that was later passed down to me.
Here's Cleve Evans, sitting on his Chevy in base housing at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, about 1952, and then in a group shot with his four brothers.
Cleve Evans with his '51 Chevy in base housing at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, 1952. The five Evans brothers in front of their cars, about 1953, at a reunion in Mississippi. All five fought in WWII. The brother on the far left (Bill Evans) was an Army Air Corps gunner who was shot down over France and parachuted to safety, escaping back to continue fighting. He won a Distinguished Flying Cross.
04-17-2020 | 08:04 PM
