Alpine A610 (1990). A prototype of the French GT for sale

This Alpine A610 for sale is a pre-production example.

A pre-production Alpine A 610 is for sale near Lyon. This rarity has only had two owners. Its history in the hands of the first of them lacks documentation, but its price plays in its favor.

Close to Lyon, the company Vintage hoodsspecializing in the sale of second-hand prestige cars, currently offers an Alpine A610 from 1990. Yes, 1990, while the Dieppoise GT was only marketed in 1991 after its presentation at the Geneva Motor Show. This is indeed a pre-production example, a model used during the final development phase of the coupe to validate all of its components before going into production. About ten A610 of this type would exist, which remains to be confirmed. Alpine produced only 818 production A610s between 1991 and 1995.

Alpine A610 prototype garage — A new paint job has restored the original electric blue of this A610.

Only two owners

Alpine parted with this electric blue A610 in 1994. It was then that a passionate collector of the brand acquired it. The documents attesting to this transaction accompany the car. This person kept the GT until 2017; it is the second owner of the sports car who is now selling it. According to the ad, the car is in excellent mechanical condition, exterior and interior, and has a sound chassis. The interior is upholstered in ash gray leather. It is equipped with air conditioning and a CD player. Under the hood, it is the V6 3.0 turbo PRV of 250 hp that we find, associated with a five-speed manual gearbox. He expresses himself via a new stainless steel exhaust silencer.

Alpine A610 prototype headlights — The retractable headlights, a typical detail of the 1980s and 1990s.

Alpine A610 prototype exhaust — The stainless steel exhaust silencer is new.

TO READ. Alpine A610 (1991). The GT from Dieppe celebrates its 30th anniversary

For experienced amateurs

The counter of this Alpine A610 displays 72,640 km, but the history accessible via HistoVec would rather give around 200,000 km. I have to say that the documents relating to the maintenance of the car between 1994 and 2008 are missing. And the use of the car for development tests in 1990 encourages all the more circumspection concerning its real mileage. This probably explains its selling price set at €32,000, which is much cheaper than that of the A610s with low certified mileage, which trade for around €50,000. Something to seduce a new collector passionate about the history of Alpine…