Classic Cars August 2009 had an article about the A110.
The general structure of the article was pretty good and the shots of Liane and Jeff's car were pretty nice but there were several errors of detail about Alpine and the A110 and the advice that had been given to Classic Cars about owning an A110 was rather slanted towards high spend rather than reality.
I wrote to the magazine to try to get a bit of balance but so far nothing has been published and this is what I wrote:
Dear Editor
Thanks for a good article about the Alpine A110 in your issue of August 2009. You really got across the wide range of variants and the essence of the A110 Berlinette and I would offer a few additional pieces of information about these fabulous cars.
The Certificat de Dépôt d’Acte was issued by the Tribunal de Commerce de la Seine on 6 July 1955 that recognised the official foundation of Société des Automobiles Alpine on 22 June of that year. The first road test of an Alpine A106, by Andre Costa, appeared in the 15 November 1955 edition of l’Auto Journal and it was in 1956 that series production began at Dieppe rather than 1958 as stated in the article.
The 956cc A110 Berlinette Tour de France was actually launched at the Paris Salon in October 1962 not in 1963. It was listed with a 5-speed gearbox as standard and was priced at 16,650 F. but production cars had a 4-speed gearbox.
The quality of the original build fibreglass is actually very good as compared with other cars of a similar era and compares favourably with some more modern cars. Panel fit is also extremely good if you look at the shut lines on cars that have not been modified or repaired.
All the nominal 1600cc cars had a 5-speed gearbox as standard.
The gearchange is sometimes criticised but the connection from the lever to the gearbox is actually a direct line and replacing the two rubber items that are used to connect the long shaft from the base of the lever to the selector shaft of the gearbox, 3 Euros each, makes a big difference. As does simply lubricating the gearlever pivot ball and making sure that the bushes at the bottom of the lever are in good condition and that the bolt at the bottom of the lever is clamping the stirrup properly. You really don't need to spend £180 on a rose-joint pivot for the gear lever to improve gear selection.
Mr Rabbets suggests a budget of up to £2,000 per year to keep an A110 up to scratch but also says that a service is £230. If you have someone reputable doing the servicing and unless you are doing very large mileages or subjecting the car to a lot of very hard work it is difficult to see why the additional £1,700 + per annum would be needed. I would doubt if the average owner would get anywhere near such a high annual outlay even including insurance.
The competition brakes for the 1600cc cars were not solely from the Renault 16 but were actually a mix of Renault 16 at the front and Matra Bagheera/Murena at the rear and the handbrake, when in good condition, is self adjusting and so does not need a specialist to set it up. The competition braking system also used a master cylinder of larger diameter than had been fitted for the original brakes.
The listing of the different models has omitted the 1500 that was produced between 1966 and late 1968. It had the 82 hp 1470cc engine from the Renault R16 which was physically larger than the 1300cc engines and required the radiator to be moved to the front of the car; this was the case for all 1600cc cars. It was not a success and only 44 were produced of which 3 were supplied to the Gendarmerie Nationale.
The 1605cc engine from the A310 was fitted to the swing-axle 1600 S from mid-1972 and it wasn’t until 1974 that the A310’s double wishbone rear suspension was fitted and the 1600 SC and 1600 SI variants were introduced. The power output quoted by Alpine for the "1600 SC" was 140 bhp SAE and for the "1600 SI" was 145 bhp SAE. The 1565cc cars were homologated at 650 kg and the 1605cc cars are listed at 710 kg.
You give the weight range as being from 545 kg to 650 kg but the homologated weights actually range from 540 kg for the competition variant of the 1963 "A110-950 Mignotet" up to the 790 kg of the 1600 SX.
Another favourite modification for the 1300cc cars, particularly the Version 85, is to fit an engine based on the components of the Renault 5 or Renault 5 Turbo that can provide around 110 hp, or more, quite reliably when fitted with a pair of twin-choke carburettors and a good exhaust system.
Production of the A110 Berlinette came to an end at Dieppe in July 1977 but production of the A110-1400 continued in Spain until May 1978.
Pity that Classic Cars didn't get the article proofed to confirm the Alpine information.
Tim Moores
