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Retro Alpine Exhibition by Roy P. Smith

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One photo captures the excitement of the Alpine Display. Photo by Jonathan Sharp.

Roy Smith on Retro’s fabulous Alpine Renault exhibition
Photos by Roy P. Smith and Jonathan Sharp

One of the best qualified persons to write about this year’s Alpine Renault Exhibition at Retro is Roy P. Smith, author of four books on the complete history of the Alpine saga, from the 4CV to the F1 Turbo cars. We asked Roy to do a bit about this remarkable display while he was at the show and from Retro, Smith turned in this equally remarkable story.

How great to see part of the private collection of rare Alpine Renaults of Jean-Charles Rédélé, son of Alpine’s founder Jean Rédélé, on display at this year’s Retro! Rarely seen in public all together, this was a show coup, ably organized by Hervé Charbonneaux under his Rally Story banner.

I had the pleasure to speak with Jean-Charles Rédélé for the first time face to face, although we had communicated many times before by the inevitable e-mail, particularly when, along with Hervé, we were helping to get the Marquis (Rédélé Spéciale No 2) back to the family home in France. “It was a very special car for my father, that one,” he said. “Actually, you know, when I was young and the cars were all around me, I paid little attention to the importance of Alpine. But when I was 18 I happened to open the rear door of the Dieppe garage to find a lot of competition cars that I didn’t know were there. I realized then that they needed to be seen and yet they needed restoration, but I had to convince my father. In the end we did it, and all these years later most of them are up and running again, many in competition. But I never thought that one day we could show my father’s cars all together at Rétromobile.”



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Hervé Charbonneaux told me, “We managed to offer Rétromobile and the show management a great display and with the help of Gérard Besson, a true enthusiast, we pulled it off. We drove that one and this one (Hervé points to two pure racers) to the show, through the streets! Imagine the noise!” And the Gendarmerie? Hervé smiled. “We were lucky,” he said. Only in France! Try that in the UK and you would soon be arrested! But it was certainly worth it – a great display: the M63, M64, A210, A220, several famous berlinettes, an A441 and for me the greatest pleasure was to see the A211 “Grand’Mère”, the one-off 3-liter V8 development car from 1967.

Ready to go to its first test at Montlhéry in 1967: the 3-litre Gordini-engined V8.

As Charbonneaux reminded me, it had taken 20 years to get the collection together at Jean-Charles’ private museum in the heart of Paris, on the very premises where the first Coach A106s were assembled.

Rallying is of course at the heart of Alpine, and on display were several examples of the fabulous berlinettes. In the Rédélé display were the 1965 A110 (first competition berlinette driven by Jean Rédélé); one of only six of the A310V6 GR4s built; Jean-Charles Rédélé’s GR4 1860cc berlinette that has just come 3rd in the Tour de Corse Historic Rally; the A310 GR4 1860cc that took part in the Tour de Corse and the Monte Carlo Rally and driven recently by Jean-Charles Rédélé in Historic rallies; Hervé Charbonneaux’s A110 1440cc which Vinatier/Jacob took to victory in the Tour de Corse and the Coupe des Alpes in 1968; and finally a newly-restored 1967 A110, one of only 5 cars to be fitted with a central wheel nut hub originating from the A210 prototypes.

Just to remind everyone: Alpine took a 1-2-3 with the A110 at Monte Carlo in 1971 and at the end of the year were winners of the International Rally Championship for Marques. Then in 1973 they won the first WRC (World Rally Championship) with another 1-2-3 at Monte Carlo, and six more victories in the 13 events.

The A110 gave way to the new A310, but it was slow to prove itself in competition, although in 1976 the A310 with the V6 engine, driven by Guy Fréquelin, won the Rallye du Var at the end of the season. (Read history) In 1977 Jean Ragnotti was crowned French Rallycross Champion, Herbert Grünsteidl European Rallycross Champion and Guy Fréquelin French Rally Champion, all three of them driving A310 V6s.

With Renault taking full control of Alpine in 1977 the attention switched to winning at Le Mans and Formula 1.

The outstanding display at Rétromobile is a great tribute to the man who started it all, Jean Rédélé, who passed away in 2007, and it was a proud son who said he was very happy and pleased to be able to bring all the cars to be seen together in public. Bravo, Jean-Charles! Bravo, Hervé and your Rally Story team!

A310 GR4 1860cc that took part in the Tour de Corse and the Monte Carlo Rally and driven recently by Jean-Charles Rédélé in Historic rallies.

Among the seven A210s built, this car of Gérard Besson clocked up four entries in the 24H In 1966 it won the 1300 class, in 1968 the 1600 class, and in 1969 the 1150.

The second version of the A220 restored by Gerard Besson is used today in Historic races.

Four M63 prototypes were built. The one shown here raced in the 1000km Charade in 1963 and the 12H Sebring (USA) in 1964.

This is A364 F3 1600cc, known as the Dinosaur, was driven by Alain Serpaggi in the 1973 French Championship.

The original, now restored A211 la Grandmere.

The newly restored A441 2L V6 won the 2L Sports Championship of Europe in the hands of Alain Serpaggi in 1974. It later shone in hill climb events with Jimmy Mieusset and Jean Ortelli,

Alpine Row by Jonathan Sharp.

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Comments

  1. What a lovely collection, some forgotten gems and no better man than Alpine Renault expert Roy Smith to comment.

  2. There is mention of M. Redele’s collection in Paris. Is it open to the public and ,if so,
    where is it located ? Thanks, PH

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