1978 Renault

Trinity Car Solutions unveils yet another rare gem, our Renault Alpine A310 V6 Wide body finished in unmarked white paint with full black leather sports equipped interior.

The Alpine Renault A310 when introduced in the late 1980's looked chunkier and more aggressive than the earlier A108/A110 and was the first Alpine Renault with +2 seating. Our model is the even more aggressively stanced wide body, equipped as an out and out hill climb or fast road car with plumbed engine fire extinguishers, stop watches and timing equipment.

The Alpine Renault A310 wasn’t the first of the "private enterprise" Alpine Renaults. Its predecessors, designed and manufactured by Jean Redele’s company in Dieppe, France, appeared in the early Fifties. By the Sixties, Alpine was much closer to the Renault factory technically and commercially. Its mainstays in these years were the A108 and A110 series, fast but fragile rear engine coupes with Renault running gear and fiberglass bodies. But these were cramped little two-seaters more suited to racing or European rallying than normal road work.

A new model was long overdue by 1971, and Alpine Renault surprised everyone that year with the new Alpine Renault A310, a much larger, more spacious, and altogether more practical machine. It was so different from the 1957 vintage A108/A110 that both the old and new models continued in production for a number of years. The former were high strung two seaters for young bloods (rather the “Corvette types” of France), the latter more sophisticated long distance GTs.

Even so, the Alpine Renault A310 followed the established and famous Alpine Renault formula in many ways: rear mounted engine, steel backbone chassis with all independent suspension, many standard components from the Renault parts bin, separate fibreglass body. Compared with the A110, it was longer, wider, and far roomier, with genuine 2 + 2 seating and graceful, modern styling (some compared its front end to that of the Ferrari Daytona).

The original Alpine Renault A310 used the most powerful Renault production engine then available, the overhead valve 1600 from the R16, matched to a five speed all synchromesh transaxle. Automatic wasn’t available, and never would be. This chassis was capable of handling a lot more power. Even so, the four’s 127 bhp gave the French coupe a 131-mph top speed.

The Alpine Renault A310's appearance was relatively unchanged during the 14 years of its production.

Autumn 1976 brought the definitive Alpine Renault A310, powered by a new ninty degree V6. This engine, jointly developed by Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo and used in so many other cars in the late Seventies/early Eighties (including the DeLorean), suited the Alpine Renault A310’s character very well indeed. It offered an easy 150 bhp, pushing top speed up to about 137 mph and making this the world’s quickest rear engine production car apart from the Porsche 911.

Exactly 2334 four cylinder Alpine-Renault A310s had been built in five years, but the new V6 sold even better, helped by further improvements: standard 5-speed gearbox in 1979, upgraded interior appointments from late 1982. Production continued at Dieppe until 1985, when the Alpine Renault A310 gave way to the new GTA. Sales were confined largely to Europe (mainly France and Germany), but a few Alpine Renault A310s made it to the U.S. via the infamous “gray market” of the late Seventies/early Eighties.

Whether four cylinder or V6, the Alpine Renault A310 was essentially a car for experienced, more tolerant drivers. No matter how hard Renault tried to disguise the rear-engine location, it couldn’t banish the layout’s characteristic tail out handling behaviour, which could feel quite spooky in some circumstances.

Nevertheless, the Alpine Renault A310 always sold well by Alpine Renault standards, and the small purpose built factory was kept busy to the very end. Clearly, Renault judged the Alpine Renault A310 a success, for its successor was very much the same type of car.

This car will come with full service, MOT and registration ready for use by his new fortunate owner. An out and out joy to drive, own and look at this is a special car that needs an enthusiast home.

Any inspection welcome as this amazing car has undergone a complete pre sale inspection schedule by the team at Trinity Car Solutions.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any further questions or to arrange a viewing. Here at Trinity our mission is to supply top quality specialist marques to our valued customers.

For your added peace of mind Trinity Car Solutions are accredited members of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF) providing high quality, value for money services to the motoring public.