It is not every day that a sports car enthusiast gets giddy over a French automobile. During our visit to the Danville Concours we came upon this automotive unicorn, Chris Provo’s red 1985 Renault R5 Turbo 2.
Designed as a rallye/road race car, Renault made limited quantities for homologation. The original chassis is Renault 5 (Le Car in North America) FWD economy car. Renault engineers radically modified the base car to create a mid -engine RWD variant that was way ahead of its time in the 80s. Weighing in at 2,100 pounds and featuring a 1400cc inline 4-cylinder turbocharged motor mounted behind the driver, the R5 achieves 158 horsepower and 163 lb.-ft of torque mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The finished product is a formidable yet balanced package. 0-60 in 6.5 seconds, which makes it quicker than a BMW E30 M3! The competition track ready versions have 180+ horsepower.
This limited edition car has an aluminum roof, boxed fender flares to accommodate the massive Gotti 3 piece gold wheels with Yokohama AVS rubber, Cibie amber fog lights and Italian Vitaloni Tornado mirrors. It is always great to see a clean period faithful car of this vintage.
This red beauty went on to win the Judge’s choice award – the car that they would most like to drive home.
On eBay, you are more likely to see scale models and diecast replicas of the R5 Turbo for sale, but every once and awhile a seller is willing to part with their beloved R5 Turbo.
We hope you enjoyed our look back to this special moment in history.
What other unsung cars do we need to have on our radar? Let us know.
See Xenon Light Bulbs for Renault R5 for sale on eBay.
