Alpine A106

The Alpine A106 was the first production model of Alpine, the sports car maker started by the Dieppe Renault dealer Jean Rédélé. It is a light two-door coupé with a glass-fibre body and the engine at the rear, built on mechanical parts from the Renault 4CV and inspired by earlier 4CV based coupé designs, the Marquis and the Allemano. The first three cars, painted red, white and blue, were presented to Renault chief executive Pierre Dreyfus in the summer of 1955, and early bodies were assembled by Chappe et Gessalin. It used a small 747 cc Renault engine in versions of roughly 21, 30 and 43 horsepower, and a five-speed gearbox was an expensive and rare option. The Mille Miles version took its name from the Mille Miglia, where an A106 won its class in 1956. Sources disagree on how many were built, from about 250 to about 650, before the A108 took over as the main model from 1960.