CarBrandLogos archive · Alpine · 1971

AlpineA310

Headlamps behind glass, a wedge profile, and Alpine's move upmarket.

Photo: Alex Collard, my brother. Uploaded with his permission under the GFDL. · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Alpine history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Alpine A310, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Replacing a rally winner with a comfortable coupe is a difficult sell, and that was the A310's assignment when it arrived in 1971. It kept the A110's architecture - backbone chassis, glassfibre body, engine behind the rear axle, five-speed gearbox - and wrapped it in a wedge with a full-width band of headlamps behind a glass cover, one of the more distinctive noses of the decade.

Alpine A310 · Thesupermat · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

Early cars used 1.6-litre Cleon-Alu fours, which were adequate rather than exciting in a heavier body. The car came right in 1976, when Renault, by then the owner of Alpine, fitted the 2.7-litre PRV V6 it had developed jointly with Peugeot and Volvo. The six gave the A310 the performance its shape promised, and a restyle involving Robert Opron cleaned up the front end.

Renault Alpine A310 four cylinder · jean-pierre 60;Cropped, plates blanked, and levels adjusted by uploader Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

International rallying moved on without it, though the car took French national honours, and its role shifted to being Renault's halo sports car, sold through Renault dealers and built at Dieppe until 1984. The GTA that followed used the same layout with far better aerodynamics.

Alpine Renault A310 V6 · SG2012 · CC BY 2.0

Legacy

It sits awkwardly in Alpine's history: too heavy to repeat what the A110 did, too odd to sell in the numbers Renault wanted, and now cheap enough relative to its predecessor to be the interesting thing to buy.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Engine

1605&nbsp

Designer

Michel Beligond

Body

2-door Coupé

Technical specification

The A310, in detail.

Production: 1971–1984
Class: Sports car
Body style: 2-door Coupé
Layout: RR layout
Engine: 1605 cc Renault Cléon-Alu engine#AxL; A2L/A3L Straight-four engine; I4 (1600 VE/VF) ; 1647 cc Renault Cléon-Alu engine#AxM; A6M I4 (1600 VG) ; 2664 cc V6 PRV engine; PRV V6 engine; V6
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Designer: Michel Beligond, Yves Legal, Trevor Fiore; Robert Opron, Peter Stevens (restyling)
Assembly: Dieppe, France
Manufacturer: Alpine