1982 Renault Fuego

1982 Renault Other Description

For your consideration is a very clean, rust-free, well running 1982 Renault Fuego with 104,069 original miles.
This is not the turbo model.
There are more than 40 pictures posted to a shared Dropbox folder at the following link. Please take the time to look through them as I have had difficulty getting pictures to load to this listing, and I've tried to show the car in as much detail as possible.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/icq9u4iwc6acigi/AAAN1D2fnj1Tw97S88nHN_FWa?dl=0
Also, a video of the car driving at 70 mph on the highway earlier today (May 5) can be found at this link:
https://youtu.be/DHB7QGtAeCk
Mechanical:
The car starts, drives and stops as it should. I recently installed a new master cylinder, rear proportioning valve, rear brake calipers and battery. The brakes could be bled again, as the pedal is a bit soft still, but the car stops fine. The muffler is relatively new as well.
As the video shows, the car runs well at highway speeds. In fact, I personally think the car is a very comfortable grand touring car. I would not hesitate taking a road trip in it.
The car does not overheat, as Fuego's are prone to do.
Second gear does grind when downshifting.
Electrical:
All lights and signals work as they should. Most of gauges do as well. The gas and oil gauges do not work. The tachometer rests at 1000 rpm, so the car appears to be idling high, when in fact it does not.
The blower fan works at the higher settings, and the heat is just fine (it was cold today). The air conditioning is inoperable. I do not know if this is because it simply needs a charge, or whether the unit is bad.
This is a base model car, so there are no power windows, locks, or seats. The steering is strong and the seats/windows operate normally. The passenger side window is missing the knob on the window crank.
The radio is a period appropriate Blaupunkt cassette deck stereo. It works very well and all four speakers are clear. Actually, the radio sounds great to be honest.
The ceiling mounted light over the driver door works with some coaxing. The passenger side does not work.
The windscreen wipers work as they should at speed. When the car is at a standstill however, they are super slow. New wiper blades are needed. The rear window wiper works so long as you depress the dash toggle switch. It will stop in place once the switch is no longer depressed.
Body:
The body of the car is in very good shape. There are paint chips along the front of the hood above the grille. A few door dings are present, but nothing that is really noticeable. A "larger" depression can be found at the passenger rear safety lens, but even that is hard to discern.
The only spot of rust is along the rocker panel at the rear of the driver door plate. Even this is just surface rust.
The paint is severely faded and there is a slight separation of the molding strip at the rear passenger side wheel well.
There is a chip in the windshield about the size of half a pinky nail on a small hand. Of course, its on the driver's side at eye level. You get used to it, but I'm not going to lie, you will notice it when you first sit behind the wheel of the car. Think Fred Savages character in the second Austin Powers... MOLE!
Interior:
Aside from what I've mentioned above, there are few ugly areas with the interior. The ashtray is missing, and there is a space next to the key on the dashboard that has a missing piece. I have absolutely no idea what this is.
The driver seat is missing the adjustment knob. I adjust it using a socket wrench. The tilt lever also does not work. There is a burn hole in the rear driver side seat.
The rear seat side panel behind the driver's seat is detached, as the clips have broken off. The panel is there, however.
The headliner is the original plastic, but it is sagging a little. I am 6'2 and it rests on the top of my head.
Conclusion:
This is a great little car. It could be a daily driver if you wanted, or a great starting point for adrive-ablerestoration project. The miles are original.
I have tried to describe everything, as well as provide pictures of everything that I can think of that is important to see. Please let me know if you have questions.
Payment by cash or PayPal only. I expect a $200 deposit via PayPal within 48 hours, with the remainder within two weeks of auction's end. I will work with the buyer on shipping arrangements if needed, but that will be at your expense. I will not deliver.

On May-08-16 at 16:04:10 PDT, seller added the following information:

Update: Sunday, May 8
I've added a few more pictures to the Dropbox account. One in particular is of the oil gauge. It works after all. I saw some chatter on the Renault USA Facebook page that suggested the gauge worked, but that I didn't know how it did. Sure enough, I let the key on before starting the car and the oil gauge showed the pressure. Weird. I tried to capture it on video as well.
I have two new videos too. One is a walk around and the other is of the car starting. They can be found at the following links"
https://youtu.be/zSAE4_11jRQ
https://youtu.be/QOIzBuADtPI
Finally, and most importantly, I took the car out today. It would seem that it needs a service. The car is now stalling at a stop and won't hold an idle when starting. Sounds and feels like a distributor to me. So the car will need serviced. I don't recommend driving it home before this is done, even though it has been driving well up until today.
Because of this, I have reduced the reserve to account for the need for a service. A recent experience with this service on another one of my cars suggests that its about $750, so I've dropped my reserve by a this and more.
Happy Mother's Day!