He had some success and soon, there was a demand for the types of cars he was running. 1955 saw the launch of Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS, better known as Alpine (al-peen). Named after Coupe des Alpes (The Alpine Rally) Where Jean had his greatest success. The First car produced under the new marque, based on 4CV mechanicals, was called the Alpine A106.

Alpine went on to develop a number of vehicles but gained notoriety with the Alpine A110  - winning the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally and World Rally Championship.


The company had long been associated with Renault throughout its history and became part of it after Renault bought out the small manufacture.  Sales had plummeted as a result of international oil crisis which also coincided with the release of the A110 successor, the A310.

In 1976, a young Renault fan by the name of Colin Stark, stumped up a considerable amount of coin to purchase the only A110 in Australia at the time. The original owner had brought it in a few years prior and it was a little rough by the time it found its way to Colin.

"It was a lot of money in those days – more than an entire years wage for him. He was only a young bloke, but he put his nuts on the line and bought the thing."

Having an opportunity to see an A110 in the flesh, let along go for a ride in one, was every young Renault boys dream. Jeff and a mate made a beeline for Colin’s house.


He took us for a spin around the block and the car just blew my mind – it was just the best thing ever.” Colin still owns that same A110 to this day making him one of the longest continuous Alpine owners in the world.

"What an amazing thing to own one of these cars. I thought it would never happen to me… but it actually did."

An Australian, living and working in Kenya at the time, bought an A110 direct from the factory in France and imported it to Kenya. It was run as a privateer entry in a handful of East African safaris, piloted by the legendary by Shekhar Mehta.

He eventually moved back to Australia with the A110 in tow, but became homesick for Kenya. “I had only met him once, but he called out of the blue one day and asked if I would mind looking after the car for him.

Jeff stored it for two years until a letter arrived from Kenya. ‘I don’t see myself coming back and the car isn’t a part of my life anymore – do you want to buy it?’ “Are you shitting me?


Jeff had the A110 for about 10 years. He raced it and in doing so, resurrected the Marque Sports Car class which kicked off in 85. “It was a real mixed bag -  we had everything from MG, Bowell, Porsche, Datsun Z and my Alpine.

He raced it on track for about 6 years, until the value and replacement costs started to gnaw at him. “Everything for it was becoming really expensive – I’m crazy doing this – if someone runs in to me, that’s it.

Unable to drive a left hand car on the road at the time, the car sat in the garage with Jeff not knowing what to do with it.  He ran it in the ‘94 Targa Tasmania and then it sat again for a few more years. A divorce forced his hand and the car was sold to a collector in Japan.

"Would I still like to have the car now? Yeah for sure, but no regrets. It sort of set up my future in a way."

Jeff has a few contacts that have been keeping an eye out for it,  but no one has seen his old A110 since 2012. “It was a pretty well-known car at the time.” Known as the ‘Tassie Devil’ due to the Targa stickers still being on it when it was sold. 

"I sent an image of the car with the Japanese number plate on it to my contact and they said that plate indicated it may have been in the region of the 2012 Tsunami."

"So, it’s either sitting in a driveway somewhere radiating, or its on the bottom of the pacific ocean."

With the A110 gone and a Alpine hole in his heart, Jeff started looking for something to fill it.


The successor to the A110 – The Alpine A310 was released in ’71 and was longer by half a meter, wider by 70mm and weighed 200kg more. It was powered by a 17TS/Gordini 4cylinder engine mounted at the rear and was considered to be underpowered and produced underwhelming performance when compared to the A110.

The 4clynder was jettisoned In ‘76 and the A310 scored a restyle by Robert Opron (responsible for Citroën SM and Alfa Romeo SZ ). A  larger, newly developed 90-degree 2664 cc V6 PRV engine was fitted to the rear. The same engine would find its way into the ill-fated DeLorean DMC12. Performance was considerably improved with the update and they were nicked named the ‘French 911.

11,616 were produced, the majority being with the V6 PRV engine.

Production ceased when Alpine were looking into right hand drive markets and decided to retired the now 10 year old model instead of converting them to right hand drive. This made way for the first Alpine to be released under Renault ownership - the more refined Renault GTA/610.


Alpine Affair, a Renault and Alpine specialist started by Colin Stark and his wife Lyn, had started bringing in the Alpine A310 and converting them for sale in Australia in the early 90’s.

"They had brought three in and John Hardy purchased one and he stuck it into the wall at Calder Park. There was damage to the entire right hand side of the car. John had an opportunity to go into a GTA, so I brought the A310 in damaged form."

The A310 worked as a dust collector in Jeff’s shed for 5 years before he had the funds to haul it out and fix the damage. The fibreglass shell was repaired and he made some adjustments to the rear suspension.

“It does laps at Sandown every now and then, but I was really after more of a road car with this – something to take on drive and enjoy.”

“They were often compared to the 911 and in a lot of road test comparisons I’ve read, the A310 gets the nod for handling. I’ve driven enough Porsches to think the same thing – they don’t have the teeth a 911 can have if you get things wrong – a bit more forgiving.”


“It was a lot more modern and sophisticated than the A110.  The hard core enthusiast may say they lost their way with A310 and tried to make it too modern. It’s a funny situation – in reality it’s probably a better car,  but is it the collector car that everyone wants? No its not.

It’s been Renault since day dot for Jeff Bee. “A Renault 16 was my first car – back in those days, Renault still had a presence in Australia. Bob Watson won a couple of Australian Rally championships in a Renault 8 Gordini. There was a group of us that used to rally Renault 10’s. So, if you were a Renault person you were a bit of a rally person by default.” 

Alpine was the brainchild of Jean Rédélé, originally a Dieppe garage owner and also the youngest Renault dealer in France. He began his career in motorsport racing and modifying Renault 4CV’s.


Alpine A310

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