Highlights

2.5-litre V6 turbo
Lovely refurbished interior
£4k engine frame rebuild in 2018
Wrapped in 'Alpine Blue'

The Appeal

The Alpine GTA (Grand Tourisme Alpine) was launched in 1985 and was the first Alpine produced entirely by Renault. Although the car (and its successor, the A610) was highly thought of at the time, Alpine was an obscure brand and when production of the A610 came to an end in 1995 the name quietly disappeared (although it was revived in 2017 for the A110, and is now the name of Renault’s rebranded F1 team).

Loved by enthusiasts, and tagged with the label ‘the French 911’, the Alpine GTA Turbo is a car that has somehow been under the radar; very few sound examples remain and values increasingly reflect that scarcity. This one has had an engine-frame rebuild in 2018, while the vendor has had the interior completely refurbished, and the car’s exterior ‘wrapped’. It looks great both inside and out, and drives well too.

The History and Paperwork

New Service just completed and a new clean MOT
Current V5
Original leather folder
Workshop manual
Owners’ manual
Radio manual
Thick folder of invoices
Lots of restoration photos
Dry-stored in winter

The car comes with two thick folders of paperwork, one of which contains a large number of glossy colour photos of restoration work, including a 2018 engine-frame rebuild. Although there isn’t an original service book, a previous owner has included a printed list of the car’s service history, which records the fact that the car was off the road from 2006 until 2015; it covered only around 600 miles in that nine-year period. It’s also recorded that the car had an engine change and the speedometer was reset to zero in 1990, when the car had covered 34, 729 miles.

The vendor knows very little of the car’s previous history, but there are a number of invoices and MoT certificates from through the car’s lifetime. Under his tenure, the car has been used in the summer months only and kept in a storage facility in winter.

The vendor is a car enthusiast, and owns a number of other cars, but has recently undergone a change in his personal circumstances and has decided to reduce the number of cars that he owns.

The Interior

Seats recently reupholstered in black leather
New carpets
Refurbished door cards
‘+2’ rear seats
Clean and tidy front bonnet compartment
Leather-trimmed steering wheel

The vendor reports that when he bought the car in 2019 it had its original lime-green velour upholstery and olive-green carpets. One of the first things he did was to have the seats reupholstered in black leather, the door cards retrimmed, and new carpets fitted. Consequently, the interior looks fantastic, and neither the seats, door cards or carpets have any signs of wear or marks.

The driving position is low but the visibility is good and the seats are firm and supportive. There are ‘+2’ seats in the rear, with the inevitable limited legroom, but these have been similarly reupholstered and look great, although there are some scratches on the centre armrest.

Meanwhile, the dashboard and instruments are all original and, apart from one of the air vents having a broken slat, everything looks good. The original leather-trimmed steering wheel and gearknob are in great condition. The Alpine CD/radio is a later addition, but provides good sound quality, and there is a photocopy of the manual for this in the folder of paperwork.

The pinstriped roof lining is in very good order, and although the interior light is currently missing its lens this item is in the centre-console storage box and should be relatively straightforward to refit.

Under the bonnet is a surprisingly spacious compartment for luggage, given the car’s sleek lines, and again everything here is clean and tidy.

The Exterior

Recently wrapped in 'Alpine' blue
Elegant and sporty profile
Excellent wheels and tyres
Clean badges and brightwork
Wheels and tyres in excellent condition

The GTA’s body is a combination of plastic and glassfibre panels, intended to help keep the car’s weight down to a measly 1140kg. Those sleek lines, as well as contributing to the car’s elegant looks, give it a very low drag coefficient, another performance benefit.

The vendor had the car ‘wrapped’ in a smart 'Alpine' blue wrap, in May 2022, and the car looked amazing in the winter sunshine on the day of our photo shoot. The wrapping has been done to a very high standard, although there is a slight wrinkle on the windscreen surround and some very minor bubbles evident along the top of the windscreen. Beneath the wrap, the car is silver, as seen in some of the restoration photos in the history file.

The windscreen and other windows are all in excellent order, and the ‘V6 Turbo’ decals are still in place.

The headlight glasses are clean and have no damage, although that on the car’s nearside had some condensation on the inside on the day of our photo shoot, probably due to the fact that it rained a short while before. The indicator lens on the nearside has a crack in it, while the rear lights have some scratches but no cracks or damage.

All four wheels look good, and the tyres have plenty of tread left.

The Mechanics

2458cc V6 turbo engine
Supercar performance
5-speed manual gearbox

The combination of light weight, an aerodynamic profile and that 2.5-litre turbocharged engine gave the GTA a (for the time) searing 0-62mph time of just 7.0 seconds. The vendor owns a number of other cars, and is keen to emphasise that he looks after his cars with great care and doesn’t put up with any mechanical issues – he reports that the car starts on the button every time and drives and handles beautifully. In his words, it ‘goes like stink’!

The car’s previous owner had the engine frame replaced in 2018; the invoice for almost £4000 is included in the paperwork. This was carried out by renowned Alpine specialists RATS (Renault Alpine Tuning Specialists) in Nottinghamshire, and was done to address a common issue with Alpines, so the new owner can be reassured that the work has been done to exacting standards and the car should offer many more years of reliable, exciting motoring.

Open the rear window and, beneath the engine cover, everything looks original and appears to be in first-class condition. This is clearly a car that has been carefully maintained and looked after. There’s a space-saver spare wheel and tyre in the engine bay, which also look to be in superb condition.

Underneath the car, there appear to be no issues and there’s no evidence of leaks or corrosion.

Summary

A rare sight on British roads (or even Continental ones) the Alpine GTA Turbo is a true modern classic. It’s a car whose lines have stood the test of time – it still looks contemporary – and it’s bound to turn heads.

With plenty of recent care and attention lavished on it, D 66 NGH presents in excellent order. If you want rear-engined motoring thrills without a supercar price tag, this car should be high on your shortlist.

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