Alpine A110: one of the best French cars (8 photos + 1 video)

In 1963, eight years after Jean Redel founded Alpine as a car manufacturer, introduced the Alpine A110, light sports car based on the Renault R8, in which used engines from 1.1 to 1.8 liters for 15 years, while it was on sale.





Alpine A110 is the absolute pride of the French car industry. On the car has a lot of sporting achievements - Monte Carlo and Le Mans, the World Rally Championship and the Tour de France National Championship… Not it would be an exaggeration to say that the A110 is one of the best French cars. It is all the more surprising that this beautiful machine appeared into the world thanks to the determination of one person.

Jean Redel and Alpine 110



The name of this enthusiast was Jean Redel. In the late 1940s he inherited a small Renault car dealership in the city Dieppe, in the north of Normandy. Twenty-four-year-old Redel became the most young dealer in France. He was smart, well educated, and his soul yearned for adventure.

Meanwhile, the nationalized Renault plant began to production of the famous "French Beetle". The car it was quite simple and not pretentious, but compared to the Citroën 2CV, had a full-fledged 4-seater closed body and more advanced design with a 17 hp air-cooled motor. However less at the wheel of this modest car, Redel successfully performed in car racing: luck accompanied him in the Monte Carlo Rally, and in Italian races Mille Miglia, and in other competitions that gradually revived in post-war Europe.

Renault 4CV





The standard Renault 4CV was a good car, but still not sports. Therefore, in 1952, Jean Redel turned to the famous Italian bodybuilder Giovanni Michelotti, with a request to create a suitable body for Renault 4CV chassis. Car dubbed Le Marquis came out extremely successful and performed well in the races. Soon stylish two-door car has become popular and recognizable, and not only in Europe, but also overseas - where she was taken to participate in the 54th New York Auto Show. Small, nimble and relatively inexpensive Many people liked the car, and orders began to come in for the Marquise.

Alpine A106



The car went into production in January 1955 under designation Alpine A106. In serial form, he became a little smaller, the design is noticeably rounded, and in addition to the basic version, the power 21 HP began to produce a forced modification for 38 forces. Despite the A-106 rode with modest power very worthily, and all thanks to light weight (550 kg) and perfectly tuned chassis.

Things were going uphill, but the technical limitations of the base 4CV, not made it possible to build faster cars. Soon the designers of the young Alpine, have developed a new original machine Alpine A108 - with frame body sheathed with fiberglass panels. Pendants and power unit with a capacity of 40 hp borrowed from Renault Dauphine.

Alpine A110



The development of the 108th model was the Alpine A110, released in 1963. The new Alpin also professed a frame-fiberglass concept body, but has become noticeably wider and longer. Knots and assemblies this time borrowed from the most modern and powerful Renault of that time - rear-engined Renault R8. As a result, Alpine A110 weighing 630 kg accelerated to 170 km/ h, and this is with a power of only 55 hp.

For the early 1960s, the A110 became the benchmark for a sports car. Machine built in a private workshop in the suburbs of Dieppe, on an equal footing competed with Porsche and Ferrari. Moreover, the Alpine brand has become one of the few, successful both on the "ring", and in the rally, and on marathons such as Le Mans. Competitors were more powerful than the 110th, but thanks to the verified handling and high reliability, the French car performed very stable.



However, work was also carried out to increase power. Under A110 hood in 1966, a Gordini racing engine with a power of 120 hp (version 1300S), two years later - 1.6-liter 140-horsepower engine from Renault 16 (version 1600S), and in 1972 the riders finally got a decent 1.8-liter unit with 180 hp. (modification 1800S).



Nevertheless, despiteI'm on a successful racing career, early In the 1970s, things went downhill for Jean Redel. Alpine A310 successor is out quite expensive, and in small-scale production has become unprofitable. To expand the business, large financial injections were required, for which Redel did not dare. In 1977, he sold his firm to the company Renault, which turned Alpine into a dedicated racing subdivision. In the future, the team from Dieppe, successfully worked on engines for Formula 1 and built "hot" hatchbacks Renault Sport. After the purchase, Renault curtailed the production of Alpine A110, there were only Approximately 8,000 copies have been produced.

Alpine A310