At a time when the Renault 8 is experiencing the end of its career in many European countries, FASA-Renault in Spain gives it another party lift. With a fresh look and rear end, the model will last through 1976.
Photos: At the front and rear, the 1972 FASA-Renault 8 TS received new bumpers, different indicators and rear lights as well as new strips on the flanks, which are missing on this car.
For many in the 1960s, the Renault 8 Gordini is a dream, but far from attainable. Renault does well to bring sportiness closer to a wider audience and so the 8 S is born. The car is added to the French delivery programme in 1968.
In the Spanish market, the Gordini is not offered. But there is an ambition at FASA-Renault to build a sporty model in Valladolid. Thus, in Spain, two months after the launch of the French Renault 8 S, the 8 TS enters the market. With this car, FASA can offer competition to the Fiat 850 Coupé, also a sporty model, but not a four-door.
Photos: The interior of a Renault 8 TS is very similar to that of the French 8 S, but completely different in a lot of details. The furniture also makes a completely different impression.
Whereas the French Renault 8 has four disc brakes, FASA-Renault offers only discs at the front and drums at the rear. The front is characterised by four round headlights. The French 8 S has larger outer lamps and the normal size on the inside. At FASA, they install four times the same size, only the outer lamps get a thicker chrome frame.
In Spain, Gordini blue is used as the promotional colour for the 8 TS, while the French 8 S is presented in bright yellow. Both cars, the S and TS, carry the same number R1136 and on the normal oval plate, French and Spanish variants count up fraternally. In the boot of the FASA-Renault is an oval plate in black that mentions R8TS followed by the serial number of those built in Spain.
The Renault 8 TS forms an ideal product to set up its own cup race in the country. It starts in mid-1969. The championship continues until 1976 when production ceases in March of that year.
Although the S and TS are very similar, the detail differences are huge. And not just because most parts were manufactured under licence in Spain. Once door panels, seats and also the layout of the dashboard are compared, for instance, it becomes really clear how different the two types are.
In this case, we are dealing with the 8 TS of José Luis Cortés Heredia living in Cartagena. It is a phase II that was registered in the name of its first owner on 24 January 1974. José bought the car in Murcia in 2013. Unfortunately, he knows little about the history of his car. However, he does have fond memories of the make and especially the model. His example has 87,339 kilometres on the odometer. He has driven the last 3,000 since its restoration mainly to go to events with it. He has had the paintwork restored.
When in many European countries the Renault 8 was dropped from the range in 1972 or 1973, it remained available in Spain for years to come. Indeed, a facelift is even carried out on the model. This is especially noticeable in bumpers and lighting. Both sides of the front bumper are placed at the same level as the centre section. The entire bumper is shaped differently, and to balance things out, FASA adds different rosettes. Because until then the indicators were under the outer headlights, and that spot is taken by the raised bumper sections in the facelift, another place is found for them. Direction indicators and city lights move to narrow units under the bumper. The curves where the indicators used to be are imaginatively filled with a kind of grille.
On the sides, the change is characterised by a double strip at the bottom along the doors and a new type of bumper strip on the flanks. José dropped those details during the restoration. The same goes for the original steel wheels with hubcaps also used on the first-generation Renault 7.
The rear is different because of the larger light units with the type plate underneath on the left. Finally, in its final years, the Renault 8 also goes adorned with a rear bumper of the same type as the front, including modified rosettes.
Technically, nothing changes and the same goes broadly for the interior. The clocks on the dashboard are by Veglia Bressel and are all placed slightly differently from the French 8 S. There are armrests on the door panels and the stitching applied to the upholstery is completely specific.
FASA also modifies the gear lever that juts out to the right just above the car floor, this no doubt to provide more space for the driver's right leg. The gear knob has also been modified and, finally, the Vasarely logo adorns the steering wheel.