RE: Alpine A610: Spotted

[angelicupstarts]

GrizzlyBear said:

jazzyjeff said:

As opposed to the 993, I would've thought the 964 was a more natural competitor for the A610?

I would have thought the 968 would have been the natural competitor to the A610, front engine, approx. 240 to 250 hp, RWD, exactly the same era and all the magazines at the time seemed to be doing group tests with Porsche 968, A610, MVS Venturi, Nissan 300ZX… but not a 993 or 964.

Doesn't look quite so good value then does it, nice car though.

Edited by GrizzlyBear on Tuesday 6th May 14:32

I thought everyone knew these were rear engined !
And as a matter of fact was always considered a 911 rival right from get go with gorgeous a310 at start of 1970's

As for value , we'll there are three on ebay ...the first once again gorgeous a310 very rare and special at
£25,000 ...these are so special they hardly come up for sale anymore ..and a cool race history .
The one in this feature ...great condition and turbo ....as honest john says a real 911 rival !
And a normal aspirated one that has been restored at £6,000 seems to be good value ?
As opposed to the 968 ....selling around £6000 to £15000 depending on model ...maybe even more for good clubsports?
I can't see problem with values ?
I think you have got caught talking about things one does not know?

Anyway alpine have sole !
A 968 we'll balanced e.t.c ...but honestly does anyone get excited by them ?

[renaultgeek]

clonmult said:

mike-r said:

That's awesome.

Reminded me of a thought today seeing an MR2. Cars with pop-up headlights, how do they flash people? I assume the lights can't really pop up and down that quickly.

I had a Volvo 480ES years back, you'd think I could remember how it handled that. Likely just use the bumper lights instead?

mx5 here, I either don't or quick flick of the wrist and pull back. You can flash the lights under the bonnet though!

[yearoneracing]

Who is the UK specialist for these things?

[DaveL485]

yearoneracing said:

Who is the UK specialist for these things?

We have a chap called Lee on www.TurboRenault.co.uk, he does em for a living. Mentalist. Look for login ratmangta on the Classic section.

[Frimley111R]

clonmult said:

mike-r said:

That's awesome.

Reminded me of a thought today seeing an MR2. Cars with pop-up headlights, how do they flash people? I assume the lights can't really pop up and down that quickly.

I had a Volvo 480ES years back, you'd think I could remember how it handled that. Likely just use the bumper lights instead?

They can't pop up as quickly as you can flash your lights but they pop up quick enough most times (I had a Nissan 200SX).

[GrizzlyBear]

angelicupstarts said:

GrizzlyBear said:

jazzyjeff said:

As opposed to the 993, I would've thought the 964 was a more natural competitor for the A610?

I would have thought the 968 would have been the natural competitor to the A610, front engine, approx. 240 to 250 hp, RWD, exactly the same era and all the magazines at the time seemed to be doing group tests with Porsche 968, A610, MVS Venturi, Nissan 300ZX… but not a 993 or 964.

Doesn't look quite so good value then does it, nice car though.

Edited by GrizzlyBear on Tuesday 6th May 14:32

I thought everyone knew these were rear engined !
And as a matter of fact was always considered a 911 rival right from get go with gorgeous a310 at start of 1970's

As for value , we'll there are three on ebay ...the first once again gorgeous a310 very rare and special at
£25,000 ...these are so special they hardly come up for sale anymore ..and a cool race history .
The one in this feature ...great condition and turbo ....as honest john says a real 911 rival !
And a normal aspirated one that has been restored at £6,000 seems to be good value ?
As opposed to the 968 ....selling around £6000 to £15000 depending on model ...maybe even more for good clubsports?
I can't see problem with values ?
I think you have got caught talking about things one does not know?

Anyway alpine have sole !
A 968 we'll balanced e.t.c ...but honestly does anyone get excited by them ?

Oh good a bit of mild abuse...

You can ask whatever you want on ebay, it doesn’t mean it will sell, don’t get me wrong if the seller thinks it is worth 20K it is obviously their privilege to ask that amount, and if it sells great for them, wonder how much they paid for it?

Got to be honest, completely forgot they were rear engined, always liked the look of them, but that was it, in those group tests it would always have been the MVS Venturi for me.

I think one of these was featured in Practical Classics a few months ago, looking at their price guide an Alpine GTA turbo (the age range in the guide includes the A610 production run) a concours car is about £9,000, down to about £2.5K for something in need of some work. Still a nice car though, just not for me.

Interestingly Wikipedia compares it favourably to it's Porsche 944 rival due to its light weight.

By the way, you seem to have missed a bit from the end of your Honest John quote:
"the Alpine A610 was a pukka Porsche 911 rival - in all except build quality, servicing and image."

He also mentions "Flaky build quality, trips to France to get specialist attention!"

But as I said, I love the way they look.

Edited by GrizzlyBear on Tuesday 6th May 16:07

[blueg33]

My GTA turbo, sadly soon to be sold. I have wanted one since I was a student back in the 1980's

Edited by blueg33 on Tuesday 6th May 16:23

[angelicupstarts]

GrizzlyBear said:

angelicupstarts said:

GrizzlyBear said:

jazzyjeff said:

As opposed to the 993, I would've thought the 964 was a more natural competitor for the A610?

I would have thought the 968 would have been the natural competitor to the A610, front engine, approx. 240 to 250 hp, RWD, exactly the same era and all the magazines at the time seemed to be doing group tests with Porsche 968, A610, MVS Venturi, Nissan 300ZX… but not a 993 or 964.

Doesn't look quite so good value then does it, nice car though.

Edited by GrizzlyBear on Tuesday 6th May 14:32

I thought everyone knew these were rear engined !
And as a matter of fact was always considered a 911 rival right from get go with gorgeous a310 at start of 1970's

As for value , we'll there are three on ebay ...the first once again gorgeous a310 very rare and special at
£25,000 ...these are so special they hardly come up for sale anymore ..and a cool race history .
The one in this feature ...great condition and turbo ....as honest john says a real 911 rival !
And a normal aspirated one that has been restored at £6,000 seems to be good value ?
As opposed to the 968 ....selling around £6000 to £15000 depending on model ...maybe even more for good clubsports?
I can't see problem with values ?
I think you have got caught talking about things one does not know?

Anyway alpine have sole !
A 968 we'll balanced e.t.c ...but honestly does anyone get excited by them ?

Oh good a bit of mild abuse...

You can ask whatever you want on ebay, it doesn’t mean it will sell, don’t get me wrong if the seller thinks it is worth 20K it is obviously their privilege to ask that amount, and if it sells great for them, wonder how much they paid for it?

Got to be honest, completely forgot they were rear engined, always liked the look of them, but that was it, in those group tests it would always have been the MVS Venturi for me.

I think one of these was featured in Practical Classics a few months ago, looking at their price guide an Alpine GTA turbo (the age range in the guide includes the A610 production run) a concours car is about £9,000, down to about £2.5K for something in need of some work. Still a nice car though, just not for me.

Interestingly Wikipedia compares it favourably to it's Porsche 944 rival due to its light weight.

By the way, you seem to have missed a bit from the end of your Honest John quote:
"the Alpine A610 was a pukka Porsche 911 rival - in all except build quality, servicing and image."

He also mentions "Flaky build quality, trips to France to get specialist attention!"

But as I said, I love the way they look.

Edited by GrizzlyBear on Tuesday 6th May 16:07

Yes agree with you on build quality , but only with cabin and bodywork the engine chassis e.t.c was rather good ...was in one non turbo about a year ago ......some bits of the cabin dash e.t.c can actually flex when pushed .
Fine line between trying to be lightweight and flexing !

Apologies for mild abuse !

[melvster]

Huge soft spot for these, achingly cool cars. Spotted one yesterday, dark red, heading towards Chester B16 ***

[angelicupstarts]

Heard a rumor that the alpine a110 was also made in Mexico ? Do any piston heads know if this was true ?

[clee]

Seriously underated cars but then I would say that .
I had the Practical Classics car in for attention last year ,watch out for a further installment soon .Personally I much prefer the GTA to A610 .They are 'quirky' to say the least and some design features are just pure French on a Friday after a 2 hour lunch .
They have all now reached a certain age though and I see the same issues to a greater or lesser extent on most .Non galvanised metalwork bonded to fibreglass outer skin ........

https://www.facebook.com/RenaultAlpineTuningServic...

[blade7]

angelicupstarts said:

Anyway alpine have sole !
A 968 we'll balanced e.t.c ...but honestly does anyone get excited by them ?

968S or RS yep I'd get a little excited .

[blueg33]

CLee above restored my GTA. It seems most issues are fixable although some parts are quite rare.

I am no mechanic but I successfully replaced a door lock and release with its two solenoids and upteen metal bars and wires in under 2 hrs yesterday including removing interior trim to do so.

The GTA drives really well, great traction and good grip in the dry. Feels a little slow compared with my Evora but it is 23 years older.

Might do a back to back comparison in a week or so and do a write up for readers cars....

[jerrytlr]

blueg33 said:

Might do a back to back comparison in a week or so and do a write up for readers cars....

Yes please! Love the A610 and the Evora......

[vrooom]

I love those type of car....

[6cyl]

I still remember when Clarkson destroyed one of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWGchdsJaA0

Not his finest moment. Such a waste. I've always had a soft spot for the Alpines, even their "swansong" looks good to my eyes

[menoy]

urquattroGus said:

Nice, but I lust after a Venturi from the same era much more, nice looking, and on the face of it, better built.

There just never seem to be any for sale...

There, no excuses now, hm? I'm with you in the Venturi camp though, would love an Atlantique or 400.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/list/748/




PS Needs the turbine wheels IMO.

[paulmaurice99]

TWPC said:

Wonderful French weirdness! Nice follow-up to the Pantera...

I preferred the look of the GTA (see below), effectively the A610 mark 1, but all the magazine reviews at the time said the A610 was an improvement in all the ways that mattered (i.e. not looks).

My bucket list is lengthening fast at the moment.

Me too! I remember CAR magazine wrote about this yonks ago (1986?) and as a daydreaming teen I spent ages staring at those pages - seemed incredibly exotic with 4 high backed seats, and a GRAPHIC EQUALIZER on the dash... how jolly 80s. Lovely lovely car though, and a fair bit cooler than a 911 now it seems.

[hondansx]

Was alongside just a few days ago; now i feel privileged seeing how many are over here!

[sparkey]

I bought this one last week:



And I rather like it.

It's very "odd" with a strangely quiet V6 turbo hanging out the back which has a good dollop of 1980's turbo lag, but it has lots of rear grip and feels fast. Build quality is a bit French and the electrics seem rubbish, but it has lots of quirky bits that will probably make it fun to own as a weekend toy. It also looks great and smaller in the flesh (for some reason it always looks big in photos?) and it generates a lot of interest as most people don't know what it is.

"vive la difference"

S..