Alpine A108

The Alpine A108 replaced the A106 as the main Alpine model. It is a light glass-fibre bodied, rear-engined two-door coupé launched at the Paris Motor Show in autumn 1957 that swapped the Renault 4CV mechanicals of its predecessor for those of the Renault Dauphine, first with a Gordini version of the 845 cc engine and later with 845 cc and 904 cc units. Its number follows the A106 logic of borrowing Renault homologation digits: the Dauphine was registered as 1090, which would have suggested 109, but the car was called 108. From 1960 a cabriolet and a longer 2+2 coupé arrived on a new beams and backbone chassis, an architecture Alpine kept until the A110 ended in 1977, and the Berlinette Tour de France with its covered headlights became the version sold in showrooms. Willys-Overland built the car in Brazil as the Interlagos, 822 cars from 1962 to 1966. French production ended in 1965.