Renault A106
The Alpine A106 was constructed by Jean Rédélé as a rally car sports car, the Alpine built in the period 1954-1963. He was the first developed by Jean Rédélé vehicle, which went into production. The cars were built by hand-made and could you customized. The original version of the A106 (also Alpine A106 Alpine A106 Mille Miles or coach) was supplemented from 1957 by a convertible version.
The Alpine A106 was an evolution of the three prototypes that Jean Rédélé had developed between 1952 until 1954. The second prototype was shown at the 1954 New York Auto Show and was originally intended to be made in the USA as "The Marquis" and sold. The Marquis project was not realized, so the prototype No. 2 remained unique. After the setback in the U.S. Charles Escoffier, Jean Rédélés supported father, and his son, the idea to build his own sports car in series. Jean Rédélé turned to the brothers Chappe from Saint-Maur, who already had experience with plastic bodies and have worked with René Bonnet. Together they developed for that time extremely modern plastic body of the Alpine A106 coach, to save weight, which was important for racing use of the vehicle. The first Alpine A106 Coach originated in the Parisian workshop of Charles Escoffier. Jean Rédélé hand in developing this vehicle on parts from the Renault-large-scale back. Contacts with Renault passed through the Renault-representation, Jean Rédélé had inherited from his father. 1955, even before the founding of the Alpine sports car brand, he introduced the Renault main factory in Billancourt Renault Group and the public three production-ready Alpine A106 Coach ago. The vehicles were in the French national colors Blue, white and red painted. They were given the name "Alpine A106 Mille Miles". Jean Rédélé away the three vehicles at Renault.
In the same year (1955) Jean Rédélé founded the "Société des Automobiles Alpine" in Dieppe (France) – the birth of the sports car brand Alpine – and put then the A106 coach under its new brand name on the Motor Show in Paris. The marketing of the vehicles ran across the Rue de Forest (11, 13, 18) in Paris, that is, the Parisian workshop of his father, Charles Escoffier, who continued to support him at all. Until 1960, were 251 vehicles assembled by hand, 40 more turned Gillet d’Herstal near Liege, Belgium, as a licensed construction ago.
The Alpine A106 was a coupe on the platform of the 4CV. Engine, chassis and interior parts were taken. As a windshield, the rear window was used by the Renault Fregate until 1956. The construction of the body took over Chappe et Gessalin who have been involved in the development of the body. From 1957, the A106 was the engine of the Renault Dauphine.
The Alpine A106 Coach has been successfully used in motorsport. 1956 brought Maurice Michy a class victory in the Mille Miglia. Jean Rédélé itself also raced with the A106 coach. For that, he had developed his vehicle. He wanted to build a small, light, fast, agile sports car with rear engine, which drove away the competition. Finally he succeeded as a design engineer with the Alpine A110, which was almost unbeatable in rallying from 1970, and by European champion and world title and international recognition gained.
1956 was presented at the Motor Show in Paris, an Alpine A106 convertible with a plastic body of Chappe et Gessalin. The car had tail fins and a wide, narrow grille. This vehicle was unique.
A year later, in 1957, appeared again an Alpine A106 Cabriolet. The design of this vehicle was by Giovanni Michelotti. The car was produced in small series. The transition to the successor A108-convertible, which was available from 1958, are fluent in this model. A106 and A108 were built in parallel for some time on. The vehicles differed visually only in details and have been described depending on the version either A106 or A108 as. Since the Vehicles were manufactured according to customer specifications varied the equipment to the customer’s request, which complicates the assignment.
For the Alpine A106 two four-cylinder engines were proposed. The engine came from the 4 CV, had a displacement of 747cc and a power output of 15 kW (21hp) at 4100/min or optional 30 kW (42hp) at 6200 rpm.
The other engine was a processed by Marc Mignotet 4-CV engine with a displacement of 904cc and a power output of 43 kW (59hp) at 6250/min.
From 1957, the A106 was the engine of the Renault Dauphine.
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