Here’s Why Carlisle Is the Woodstock of Imports

The Renault 4 may have been a hit just about everywhere, with the notable exceptions of Antarctica, Canada, the USSR, China, and the US, which is why you just don't see these in places where other foreign cars of its era can still easily be found. The four-door model was Renault's upmarket answer to the Citroën 2CV, but in spirit it was the same recipe, with a no-frills interior and a funky exterior. This example appears restored to a higher than usual standard, and is one of just a handful of examples in the US at all. It's also one of just two "Quatrelles" we've seen at Carlisle in recent years.

Carlisle usually has a pretty modest turnout of Italian cars—Saabs alone number in the hundreds—but the couple of dozen Italian cars that appear every year are often quite rare. This 1973 Fiat 124 Special is one such example, being a luxury version of the 124 model that itself debuted in 1966. The 124 range featured quite a few variants when it came to front fascias, though relatively few sedans that were sold stateside seem to have made it into the 21st century. The cabriolets and coupes, on the other hand, are a little easier to find. We've seen this 124 Special at Carlisle a number of times in the past decade, as it resides in one of the neighboring states.

If you ever vacationed in Europe in the 1970s or the 1980s, odds are you've seen plenty of Renault 12s. But you probably haven't seen its Romanian sibling. The 1300 entered production in 1969 and... didn't exit production until just a few yeas ago, in 2004, after a few facelifts. One of the most common cars in Romania, Poland, East Germany, and a number of other countries, the 1300 and its variants offered inline-four engines and a choice of body styles, along with ease of maintenance. The Renault model on which it was based was offered stateside as well but remains a footnote, even though one or two have appeared in Carlisle in recent years, including the same year we saw this Dacia.

The Peugeot 505 was still a common sight on the two coasts as late as two decades ago, but it takes a little more effort to spot one on the street these days. And if you do see one, odds are it won't be the early version with four round sealed-beam headlights, but rather one of the later versions, which makes this visitor to Carlisle a rarity as very few examples of early 505s have survived on the east coast compared to California. Speaking of Peugeots, 505 sedans and station wagons make regular appearances at Carlisle, in addition to later models like the 405.

Years before Renault started churning out cars in Kenosha, Wisconsin, it was still importing cars from the Old Country, albeit modified a bit for discerning US aficionados of sealed-beam headlights and 5-mph bumpers. The Renault 18 estate—or the Sportwagon as it was badged stateside—was offered in sedan and wagon flavors here in the US, as was the Peugeot 504 at the time. But Renault had a slightly smaller dealership network, which is why it was already tough to spot one by the early 1990s. In fact, one had to live pretty close to a Renault dealer to see one at all. Believe it or not, this was not the last Renault wagon offered stateside, as that honor goes to the Renault Medallion, which finished its run as the Eagle Medallion.

Opels were sold in the US through the late 1970s... but this one certainly wasn't. The Series E2 Rekord was produced from 1982 through 1986, playing the role of the midsize car in Opel's European lineup, with inline-four gas and diesel engines on the menu. These were wildly popular in Europe at the time, though by no means considered to be upscale models. The tidy styling was a bonus, and was ahead of its time, as this could easily be a design from the early 1990s. Needless to say, this could well be the only example of this model in its time zone if not the US as a whole, as it appears to have been imported relatively recently.

Odds are you still see plenty of Fiat 500s each week on your commute, but you probably haven't seen one of its most recent predecessors. The Fiat Cinquecento was Fiat's smallest car in the 1990s, with equally tiny inline-two and inline-four engines on the menu, offering no-frills motoring for the masses. Produced in Poland starting in 1991, the Cinquecento replaced the aging 126 on the assembly line in the country, and was itself replaced by the Seicento, which we've also seen stateside. You've probably noticed that this is a right-hand drive example. Indeed, this car was imported from the UK just a few weeks prior to its appearance at Carlisle, and has stayed in the US.

The AMC-Renault Alliance resulted in, among other things, the Renault Alliance that was built in Kenosha, with this "merger of equals" producing a whole lineup of small cars that were stylish and frugal for their time. While Carlisle regularly sees upwards of three dozen Renault Alliances every year, the Encore hatchback is a much rarer sight, as unlike the Renault GTA coupes and convertibles, the hatchbacks were not usually preserved. Seeing this minty example, one of just a handful still in use in the US, was one of the highlights of our visit in 2019.

After a short-lived experiment with the Rover SD1 stateside in 1980, Rover only returned to our shores in 1987, with Honda's help. Designed as the Rover 800, and sharing some parts with the Acura Legend, Rover's next attempt to take over America arrived here under the Sterling brand, with the Sterling 825 offering a 2.5-liter V6 engine with a choice of a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. A couple years after the sedan arrived, Sterling expanded its offerings with a five-door fastback, along with a 2.7-liter engine from Honda, badged as the Sterling 827. Let's just say that the Rover ended up being more popular on its home soil than in the US, and was effectively upstaged by the Acura Legend. It struggled along for a few years on the east coast. We spotted the last examples in daily use just over a decade ago, but in British car enthusiast circles, the Sterling is seen with some frequency, if not quite the same frequency as an MGB.

The Citroen GS arrived on the scene just as the marque was leaving the US, with the SM coupe being its last model officially sold here, but a few dozen examples of this small five-door have made their way stateside. Powered by small flat-four engines, the GS offered a sleek and modern exterior with plenty of whimsical design details, per Citroën custom. With a suspension that was ahead of its time, the GS was also one of the smoothest-riding small cars in Europe, rivaled in that category only by the larger DS and CX models. In fact, the GS is perhaps best looked upon as a four-fifths scale CX, and enjoyed quite a long production run, only leaving the stage in 1986.