Eighties revival? Renault could do worse than this concept

Back dans le 1983 it was a different, more innocent time. The first attempt at sticking a Hollywood-style celeb in the White House was more successful, less apocalyptic. Michael Jackson invented the moonwalk a mere 14 years after Neil Armstrong invented the moon walk. Richard Noble set a new land speed record in the delightfully orange Thrust 2, and Renault revealed its Gabbiano concept at the Geneva motor show.

The Gabbiano name comes from the Italian word for seagull, which is gabbiano. The full-length ‘seagull’ doors (aren’t you glad that we’ve since settled on gullwing as a description?) give full-length access to the cabin without having to do anything so louche as tip the fronts forward. The name was given to the car by its designers, who were not French as you might have deduced. 

The Gabbiano concept was penned by the gifted fellows over at Italdesign in Turin, led by the redoutable Giorgietto Giugaro. Now, we’re not saying that the chaps at Italdesign were slacking by this point, but it must be remembered that during the Seventies they had designed the Volkswagens Golf, Passat and Scirocco, Audi 80, Alfa Romeo Alfasud, Lancia Delta and Hyundai Pony. They’d be forgiven for telexing it in. 

Well sort of, from the back, if you squint un peu. The rear end was a hint at the upcoming second-generation 5 in 1984, but controversially those production cars were styled by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, arch-nemesis of Giugiaro at Italdesign. Probably. The look of the supermini remained très French despite the Italian input. The 5 was Gandini’s last gig for the French firm, Giugiaro got to knock out the 19 and 21 before styling was brought back in-house.

The seagull doors open up to a business class intérieur featuring four delightfully sculpted leather pews in a come hither shade of brown, and the copious wraparound windows must make for a delightfully airy experience inside. Up front there are the classic Eighties tropes of graphic equaliser by the cassette tape deck and a digital dashboard that would no doubt have failed spectacularly about 18,000 miles into ownership had the car gone into production.

The pop-up headlight was a gloriously Eighties confection, and the point is proven perfectly on the Gabbiano concept that any voiture bearing them is immediately about 163 per cent cooler. Ironically, it was US headlight height requirements that made pop-ups fashionable in the first place, with sleek low cars flipping their bulbs up to the minimum required height while in use. While not technically illegal, European pedestrian impact regulations have made them very difficult to engineer safely. Sad times.

It’s an interesting notion – there’s a definite production-ready ambience about the car (the 1.4-litre 72bhp/78lb ft engine and five-speed manual gearbox were nicked out of the 11 hatch), although no indication that Renault ever took the prospect seriously. Perhaps Renault and Italdesign saw the car as an audition of sorts, even if the cars that Giugiaro and colleagues did end up designing were a little on the dull side.

Well yes it would, what a great point, fictitious questioner. Couldn’t have brought us round to the topic better myself. While Renault is furiously going at the old Supercinq with the tracing paper or taking rubbings with crayons to make its new EV, its designers could do worse than digging out the Gabbiano for a few ideas. Especially if the plans for an Alpine-based sporty version of the car are underway. Come on Renault – vous savez that you want to.