Renault Alpine A110: The French Masterpiece That Rewrote the Rulebook
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There are sports cars, and then there are sports cars that make you question everything you thought you knew about what a driver's car should be. The Renault Alpine A110 is firmly in the second category. Small, light, mid-engined, and utterly addictive, this diminutive French coupe stands as one of the most accomplished sports cars ever built on either side of the Channel.
The A110 did not win by brute force. It won by being cleverer than everything else on the road, and on the stage. That philosophy still resonates today.
Origins and History
Alpine was founded in 1955 by Jean Redele, a Renault dealer and racing driver from Dieppe with a gift for making small cars go very fast indeed. His early cars used Renault 4CV mechanicals wrapped in lightweight fibreglass bodies, and they were startlingly effective in competition.
The A110 arrived in 1961 as a proper evolution of that thinking. Built on a backbone chassis with a fibreglass body, it was designed from the outset to be light above all else. By the late 1960s, the A110 was equipped with a rear-mounted Renault engine producing enough power to make the car genuinely formidable in rallying.
Production continued until 1977, by which point Alpine had become part of the Renault family. The A110 was replaced by the A310, but nothing quite captured the same magic. The Dieppe factory understood that, and the name has never been forgotten.
The Design
The A110 is a car that looks fast standing still. The long bonnet, sweeping roofline, and neatly tapered tail give it a purposeful elegance that owes nothing to excess. This is not a car trying to look aggressive. It is a car that knows exactly what it is.
The fibreglass body is part of what makes the A110 so special visually. The panels have a slightly organic quality, a subtle roundness that distinguishes them from pressed steel contemporaries. The overall proportions are compact and cohesive in a way that many larger cars from the same era simply never achieved.
Period racing cars wore distinctive colourways, typically the vivid blue that became synonymous with Alpine and French motorsport. That shade, set against the clean lines of the body, remains one of the most striking sights in all of automotive art.
Performance and Driving
Do not be fooled by the numbers. The A110 made between 95 and 138 horsepower depending on specification, figures that sound modest by modern standards. But the car weighed just 620 kilograms in its lightest forms. The performance-to-weight ratio put it level with machinery costing several times the price.
The rear-engined layout gives the A110 a handling character unlike anything else. Turn-in is sharp and immediate. The car rotates willingly, rewarding drivers who trust it and punishing those who do not. The steering communicates everything through your hands. There is a directness and intimacy to the experience that modern driver aids have largely filtered out of contemporary sports cars.
In period testing, the A110 1600S reached 60mph in around 6.3 seconds, with a top speed close to 130mph. On a twisting mountain stage, those numbers mattered far less than the balance and precision the chassis delivered.
Racing Pedigree
The A110's greatest hour came at the 1973 World Rally Championship. Alpine swept the inaugural manufacturers' title, with drivers Jean-Claude Andruet, Ove Andersson, and others demonstrating the car's formidable pace across every surface and condition.
The Monte Carlo Rally was a happy hunting ground in particular. The A110's combination of low weight, neutral handling, and mechanical reliability made it devastatingly effective on the demanding mixed-surface stages that defined the event in that era.
Renault revived the Alpine name in 2017 with a modern A110 that paid clear homage to the original. That car also won critical acclaim, and more recently the Alpine A110 R has taken the concept further still, stripping weight and sharpening focus in a way that would have made Jean Redele smile.
Buying a Renault Alpine A110 Today
Original A110s have appreciated significantly over the past decade, and prices reflect both their rarity and their competition history. A well-preserved road car in good condition will command somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 euros, with documented rally cars reaching considerably more at specialist auctions.
The fibreglass body is resistant to rust but can crack and craze over time. Structural integrity around the backbone chassis is critical, so always commission an inspection from a specialist before purchase. Renault mechanical components are generally well supported, and the Alpine community in France is active and knowledgeable.
Look for matching numbers where possible. Engine and gearbox codes matter to serious collectors. Provenance documentation, particularly for cars with any competition history, can make a substantial difference to value. Join the Club Alpine Renault before you buy, the community knowledge is invaluable.
Shop Renault Alpine A110 Art at KK Automotive Art
KK Automotive Art does not yet have a Renault Alpine A110 design in our collection. We are working on bringing this iconic car to our range, watch this space. In the meantime, explore our classic car phone cases, classic car mugs and limited edition prints.
Explore more French classics in our classic cars blog.