Honda Accord, Renault Encore

When my wife got her driver's license in the summer of 1991, she was blessed with this early 80s Honda Accord hatchback, a true subclassic. I on the other hand drove my mother's old 1982 Pontiac Bonneville.

But notice in the back there, not the Bronco, but the little hatchback in danger of sliding down into the cistern. My first subclassic car: a Renault Encore. I traded the Pontiac for it in the summer of 1994. Interestingly, I got the Pontiac back 5 years later and drove it again for about a year. I had forgotten how smooth of a ride a car like that is. The Bonneville, not the Renault.

Here's another picture of it peeking around the corner of my Brother's Dodge Ram which he was trying to buff into a BMW.


The Renault got 40 miles to the gallon. Period. City, highway, mountains, even with the AC spitting ice chips out. It was my first traveling car. I drove it for about a year and gave it to my little sister when I bought a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit for $250 from a dealer's back lot in Grayslake, Illinois. She drove it until the wheels fell off, well, until they broke free from the steering rack. My dad and I replaced the entire front end with one from a junkyard and then she drove it some more. Before when it was mine, I broke a torsion bar ramping railroad tracks with a full load of cargo and 2 passengers. I replaced the entire rear end which consisted of 4 bolts and ... Well, that was it. Four bolts.