Introduced in 1963, the Alpine A110 had a rear mounted Renault engine with swing axle rear suspension. The bodywork was glassfibre and was mounted on a tubular steel backbone chassis. The first A110's were basically rebodied Renault 8's, but over time they gained progressively larger engines and an Alpine developed 5 speed gearbox.
The car was light but strong, and proved to be a very successful rally car. It won the Monte Carlo rally several times, and won the World Rally Championship for Constructors in 1973, 10 years after the car was first introduced. This model represents the 1971 Monte Carlo rally winner as driven by Ove Andersson (who now manages the Toyota F1 team). In 1974 the A110 went out of production.
Maisto make this model, and it is a nice piece. As the real car is small, this model is too and it is accurate to 1:18th scale. Bburrago also make an A110, but it is in 1:16th scale, and hence looks far too big beside other 1:18ths. It was a slow seller for Maisto, which is a shame as it is always nice to see a mainstream manufacturer making a model of an unusual car. In fact, the poor sales of this Maisto version led to the cancellation of a planned 1:18th Alpine by Kyosho, which was a real shame as the quality would most likely have been superb.
It has an opening front compartment with a spare tire and an extra large fuel tank. The rear end opens to show a rear mounted engine. The interior looks good too, with competition seats and a roll cage. Underbody areas such as the underside of the bonnet are not painted fully, and the wheels and tires are not particularly well done. The decals are a bit crude too. Not one of Maistos best perhaps, but they get alot of credit in my book for tackling an unusual subject.
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