Renault Alpine A110 1600S | Spotted
The A110's future is electric, but its past looks more appealing than ever
Alpine is slowly re-establishing itself as Renault’s posh performance brand. Just recently it announced a modern incarnation of the Alpine Renault 5 Turbo with its new A290 EV, and there’s an electric SUV in the works based on the underpinnings of the Megane E-Tech. That should give the company the financial breathing space to bring an A110 successor to market, which is shaping up to make the switch from piston to battery power. For the first time in decades, Alpine’s future is looking rather bright - if a little quiet.
Unless, however, it’s able to get a grasp on hydrogen combustion. The technology has its fair share of sceptics and even Alpine admits it doesn’t know whether it’s possible to overcome the engineering challenges the fuel implies, but a demo run of its stunning Hy4 (aka Alpenglow) concept at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans shows it hasn’t given up on combustion power just yet. And if it’s able to crack it, you’d hope that its first port of call would be to give the A110 its pistons back. Of course, for now, there’s still time to get your hands on a combustion-powered A110 - or, better yet, you could bag this original 1600S for just a smidgen more than the price of a stripped-out R.
To Alpine’s credit, it did a stellar job of instilling the original A110’s elegance into the 2017 reboot, but modern safety requirements were always going to prohibit it from out-prettying the '60s Berlinette. It’s a tiny thing in the metal, with its arched roofline resulting in a beautifully distinct shape and side profile. Partly that's down to the placement of the engine, which is slung out back - past the rear axle, in fact - as opposed to the more conventional mid-mounted layout of the reboot. Its ability to pendulum its way through hairpins made the A110 unstoppable in rallying, with the Alpine team dominating the inaugural World Rally Championship season in 1973.
The championship-winning A110 featured a competition-grade 1.8-litre motor, though the faster of the road-going cars came with 1.6-litre four-bangers. Power outputs varied by the year, but the 1972 1600S you see here developed around 125hp and was paired with a four-speed manual gearbox, so expect it to feel suitably rapid (and likely tail-happy) with only 700kg to push along. A couple more horsepowers were unlocked with later revisions, but the only way to get your hands on a quicker A110 of this era is to splash out on one of the Group 4 rally cars.
Not that you won’t be splashing out to get your mitts on this 1600S, however. The seller’s asking price of £125,000 is a fair bit more than what you’ll pay for 1600S, especially one that’s covered an impressive 85,200. However, the ad suggests it has been well looked after by specialists since its arrival in the UK in 2017, with the previous owner apparently spending £13k on preparing it for road rally use. Given its age, it’ll naturally need to be handled with a degree of care, but the fact it can handle the punishment of a rally stage (albeit a tarmac one) does suggest it won’t lose its head after a quick B-road blast.
Rally mods aside, the rest of the car is as original as it looks: right down to the stunning Veglia Borletti instruments and the beautifully preserved build plaques in the engine bay. It really is a wonderful thing, and though Alpine built thousands of them, they’re now an incredibly rare sight on the used market. Alternatively, new-shape A110s can now be had for under £40k, with this 2019 Pure looking very tempting indeed. Who knows whether they’ll reach the heady heights of the originals in decades to come, but if this really is it for the combustion A110 it’s hard to see why they wouldn't.
SPECIFICATION | RENAULT ALPINE A110 1600S
Engine: 1,565cc four-cylinder
Transmission: four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 125@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 106@5,000rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Year registered: 1972
Recorded mileage: 85,200
Price new: N/A
Yours for: £125,000
Chapeau.
It's one of those that looks far lovelier in the plastic than it photographs.
That said, I'm 2 years older than this car and it has certainly aged better than me
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