Featured Auction - Alpine A310 V6 Coupé 1979

With the recent return of Alpine as a brand, this is a rare opportunity to acquire a unique classic example with a growing appeal.

Gauk Motors posted in Nostalgic Car Life

4y ago

Estimate(€): 30,000 - 40,000.

•Iconic French GT

•Fleischmann 'Group 4' body kit

•Gotti wheels

•EU registered

One of the great names in post-war French motor sport, Alpine was the brainchild of Dieppe garagiste's son, Jean Rédélé, who began in the early 1950s by developing a competition version of the popular little Renault 4CV. From this he developed the first Alpine: the A106 with Renault 4CV running gear and streamlined coupé bodywork. Presented to Régie Renault in July 1955, the A106 set the trend for a range of sports cars culminating in the A610 of the mid-1990s. Glassfibre bodies and rear-mounted production engines remained a common theme for 40 years.

By 1958 Rédélé was using a tubular-steel backbone chassis, and in 1961 he introduced the A108 Berlinette Tour de France, which was developed into a potent - often unbeatable - rally car. For 1963 Alpine launched the A110 Berlinette, which became the mainspring of production. Produced from 1962 through to 1977, this charismatic sports two-seater rivalled the Porsche 911 for performance while being even more exclusive: the hand-built Alpines left the factory at the rate of only 10 per week. Its rearward weight bias gave the A110 outstanding cornering characteristics for rallying, in which Alpine's achievements included two Monte Carlo Rally victories and the first World Rally Championship for Makes.

Alpine's next development was the larger, 2+2-seater A310. First seen at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show, the A310 was initially powered by the four-cylinder 1.6-litre Renault 17 TS engine, tuned by Gordini, and followed the established formula of a tubular-steel backbone chassis clothed in a one-piece glassfibre bodyshell. Restyled in 1976 by Robert Opron, it was fitted with the new 'PRV' 2.7-litre V6 engine developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo. With around 150bhp on tap, the A310 was Renault's performance flagship, racing to 100km/h (62mph) in 7.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 220km/h (137mph). In Group 4 specification the A310 enjoyed considerable success in rallying at national level, works driver Guy Frèquelin winning the French Rally Championship in 1977. A little over 9,000 V6-engined A310s had been made when production ceased in 1984.

Find out more about the car offered here: gaukmotors.co.uk/post/featured-auction---alpine-a310-v6-coup-1979