Renault Alpine A110

Jean Rédélé loved cars! His father was dealer. In 1946 he took over from his father and became the youngest Renault dealer in France. Rédélé was also a racer. Winning his class in the Mille Miglia and the coupe des Alpesin a 4CV, he knew what to do to make a small car fast. 

For his first production machine in 1955, he ransacked the Renault parts bin and sheathed his creation in a lightweight Michelotti-designed fiberglass body. This was the A106.

Renault was dazzled by Jean’s creation, selling the cars through their dealerships and supplying him with all the parts he would need to build more. 1960 heralded the Roger Preiur penned A108; a new body and use of the Gordini engine were new improvements. The A108 carried on till 1965 with very few cars being built, but this paved the way for the A110.

Again helping himself to parts from the Renault 8, Jean hid them underneath his new Marcel Hubert refined body work. Using a chassis similar to Lotus’ backbone style, the A110 started winning rallies, taking the top 3 places in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1971 and 1973 and winning the International Championship for manufacturers from 1970 to 1972.

The car became so popular it was being produced not only in Alpine’s Dieppe facility, but also in Mexico, with the name Dinalpin, and in Brazil with the name Interlagos ( Emerson Fittipaldi was know to have raced them.) Bulgaria  even produced one with the name Bulgaralpine.

Total number built around the world is around 10,000. The one to have is from the French factory.

In 1974, with the appearance of Lancia’s purpose-built rally car, the Stratos, the handwriting was on the wall.The A 110 and other cars were no longer going to be able to battle it out at the front of the pack. The A110 would continue in production until 1977.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t terrorize the countryside now.

The A110 might not be considered pretty. More purposeful, or just frickin cool, it’s sort of a cross between a Greyhound and a Pit Bull. It’s sleek… it’s fast… and it just might take a bite out of you.

Speaking of dogs. You might want to practice your downward facing Dog, or maybe even your  garbha pindasana. Because you don’t so much get in this car. It’s more like you put it on.

There is no graceful way to get in or out of an A110. 

But. 

Once you are in, you have arrived. One of the prettier gage clusters is in front of you behind a leather wrapped wheel. It’s very cross cultural; Italian instruments in a French car. Two large Veglia Borletti dials give you the lowdown on RPMs, water temp, speed and fuel. The two secondary ones keep you aware of oil pressure and your charging system. Anchoring these two is a proper French Jaeger clock. You are held comfortably in place by a form-fitting bucket seat that will keep you from flying around while running a stage of the Acropolis rally or fast run up your local back road.

The driving position and lowness of the car make you feel more like you are in a single-seater race car than a road-going machine.

Reach under the steering wheel, grab the key, and give it a turn—the 1289 cc OHV 4 jumps to life with an engaging little growl. All 81 BHP of it. Not to worry, this little power plant does not muck about. And only having to shift 1378 lbs., it does OK. Sort of think of it as French 912 that went on a 700 lbs + diet.

So the Alpine feels wonderfully light and agile without as much tail happiness as a 912; you feel well planted without feeling weighed down. It’s hard to believe that under this racy body is the heart of a family sedan. Running through the gears takes a bit of convincing, but keeping it in the sweet spot on the tach keeps you moving along at a fun clip. Reverse might be a bit of a project, but when rallying you only want to be going forward. Your feet might be a little claustrophobic—still, peddle position doesn’t seem to be a problem. The brakes take a heavy foot to slow you down—but again, the idea is to move forward.

The A110 is a wonderfully analog car. Free from all of the modern mother’s little helpers like traction control and ABS. No power steering or electronic gearboxes. Just  a seat of the pants  driving experience. You might reach 110 -120mph with a good wind behind you, but you don’t need to. When your posterior is that close to the ground everything seems fast! 75-80 on great road, and you’re styling! 

When the drive is over and you pull up somewhere and have to crawl out on your hands and knees, it doesn’t matter… You have arrived!—in one seriously cool car.  Thanks to Bob Torre for letting me squeeze into his pocket rocket.
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