Paulo Sousa is the CAR Portugal president... Let us listen to him...
I will tell you the history of the dream of a 16 year old boy. This
dream was born at the time when Alpine took part in the TAP Rally at the
beginning of the Seventies. That was the thunderbolt with this car. It
was very beautiful, very beautiful on each point of vue. All my excuses
with Thérier, Darniche and Nicolas, but my image of Berlinette
was so strong that it made me forget these great drivers. But I was so
happy that they won the first places... My dream was then to have also
an Alpine A110, but it was too expensive.The dream never disappeared and
the price became increasingly prohibitory.
Thirty years after, in February 1999, a friend, Alpine fan owner of an
Alpine A110 1300 FASA which he has refused to sell to me, says me to have
read a class. adv.of sale of an Alpine A110 1300. The contact is made
at once... All is envisaged... After 1000km between Lisbon and Valence,
we find in fact only one wreck. Very hard to make 1000km to find only
one Berlinette in so bad condition...
Many parts miss, the rod, logos, the interior parts, the seats, the rubber
seals are to be found, the hull is to be repaired... The brakes are to
be renovated... The rear clamps are to be replaced, they are not originals.
The gearbox and the engine, to which it misses the original carburettor
and the collector, are in operating state.
And well, after two years, after many weekends and holidays, my Berlinette
reaches its beauty again. As the photographs speak more than the words,
you can see the various stages of the renovation of my Berlinette.
I found some differences with his French cousin: the interior with its
instruments which are written in its mother language. The clock is placed
on the dashboard oody panel. The three central indicators, oil temperature,
oil pressure and ammeter are under driving wheel. The rev counter is on
the left and includes also the water
temperature and a turning lights indicator; on the right is placed the
tachometer including total account km, a daily meter daily and also the
gasoline level. There are also two indicators bulbs near the clock: green
for the alternator indicator and a red for oil pressure fall. Another
difference also relates to the latteral rear windows and its rare rubber
joints !
The other differences are especially the electric components, exclusively
manufactured in Spain like the alternator, the starter, the wipper engine,
the dashboard electric switches camefrom FEMSA, the horns, etc...
The original wheel drive was a Nardi made of wood and alloy. I prefered
the Momo Prototipo like the French model (not on photos). My Berlinette
is in conformity with the origin, with the exception of the wheel drive
and the Gotti alloy wheels, to replace the horrible spanish wheel model.
We took part since last June, with several cars demonstrations and the
last was the Turn of Portugal, a traditional rally, 1500 km during 4 days.
The next stage will be to equip it with an engine 1300 G and a 5-speed
gearbox... A small distorsion at the origin for a more pleasant control...
I hope !
C.A.R.-Portugal
R.Dr.José Espírito Santo Lt.12-E
1900 Lisboa Portugal
e-mail: Paulo Gomes de Sousa carportugal@hotmail.com
Thank you José for this new page, created to share the passion
we have for Alpine.
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