Alpine A110

Start with what the Alpine A110 is: a 2-door Berlinette with 1.0–1.3&nbsp, built from 1963 to 1977, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Giovanni Michelotti.

The background

The Alpine A110 is a sports car produced by French automobile manufacturer Alpine from 1963 to 1977. The car was styled as a "berlinetta", which in the post-WWII era refers to a small enclosed two-door berline, better-known as a coupé. The Alpine A110 succeeded the earlier A108. The car was powered by a succession of Renault engines. A car also named Alpine A110 was introduced in 2017. The Alpine A110 experienced a remarkable evolution in terms of power output throughout its production years. Initially, the A110 had an output of just 51 horsepower, which was adequate for a car weighing only 620 kilograms.

However, by the end of the A110's production run, its power output had increased to 180 horsepower. This impressive increase in power contributed to the car's success on the rally stages of Europe. The A110's crowning achievements included 1-2-3 finishes at both the 1971 and 1973 Monte Carlo rallies, and it used Renault 16 engines at the time. In 1973, Alpine won the inaugural manufacturer's World Rally Championship, defeating competitors such as Lancia, Porsche, and Ford. However, by 1974, advances in rally competition led to a significant shift in the landscape of the sport, and the Alpine A110, which had become outdated, struggled to keep up with its rivals. As a result, sales of the A110 declined, prompting Renault to step in and purchase the company outright in an effort to save it. Despite being surpassed by newer rally cars, the A110's legacy as a successful and iconic rally car remains, and its victories in the early 1970s solidified its place in motorsport history

The engineering

The engine is 1.0–1.3  other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 706 kg. Drive goes through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine hangs behind the rear axle, a layout that gives ferocious traction out of a corner and a reputation to match on the way in. The wheelbase is 2099–2180 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Where it sits

In the Alpine line-up the Alpine A110 has a clear place: it replaced the Alpine A108; it handed the line to the Alpine A310 / Alpine A110 (2017) (spiritual); the factory was Dieppe, France. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Maserati Quattroporte, the Pontiac GTO, the Buick Riviera. Its Alpine stablemates include the Alpine A110 (2017) and the Alpine A210.

Owning one today

There is no federal ownership record for the Alpine A110 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.