1969 Alpine Renault A110 1300 'Group 4 Tribute' Coupe (LHD)

Description

When successful Renault-sponsored rally driver Jean Rédélé launched his own company in 1954, his own recent victory in the Coupe des Alpes was foremost in his consciousness:

I chose the name Alpine for my company because it epitomises the pleasure of driving on mountain roads. The most fun I ever had behind the wheel was driving through the Alps in my 4CV, and it was essential for me that my customers should experience this same level of enjoyment in the car I wanted to build. In this respect, the name Alpine is symbolic and entirely appropriate.

Jean Rédélé was unaware that the Rootes Group had launched a sports car bearing the Alpine moniker just the previous year, an historic fact that has caused some confusion over the decades. In 1955 he launched his Alpine A106 based on a 4CV chassis and running gear. The A108 followed in 1960 and the exciting new A110 with running gear from Renault’s R8 including four-wheel disc brakes and five-bearing engine with crossflow cylinder head in 1962. The A110’s fibreglass body sat on a central steel tube with front and rear sub-frames; the use of fibreglass facilitated the production of ultra-lightweight cars with stronger shells and panels for events like San Remo and Acropolis. The all-independent suspension featured double dampers at the rear and the suspension worked as well when raised for rough roads as when set low for tarmac. In 1968, Renault allocated its entire competition budget to Alpine and the team was renamed Alpine Renault. Gerard Larrouse was heading for victory in the 1968 Monte Carlo Rally in his A110 1300 until snow shovelled by someone onto the road caused him to crash. In 1973 the (now 1.8-litre) A110 won the inaugural World Rally Championship. This was the year when Renault bought the remainder of Alpine and retained Jean Rédélé as president. While rallying had always been Alpine’s major focus with this car, it was successful in every other type of motorsport in which it competed, including circuit racing and even ice racing. When invited by Reinhard Klein to nominate his favourite rally car, Ove Andersson chose the A110. So, too, did Audi works driver Michèle Mouton, who said, ‘Although I had my best results driving Audis, the car with the most emotion for me has to be the Alpine A110.’ The twenty-first century A110 constitutes a re-imagining of the original and surely no 1970s sports car was as worthy of being re-imagined as the fabulous Alpine A110!