1976 Chrysler Alpine TV road test yo. 1442 rattly tappets rust NOT ALPINE RAPIER

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Yay.

 

 

[Dick Longbridge]

For a 1976 design, I think they were great looking things. Not convinced about the 'rare design' steering wheel though, even if it does allow relentless perving over the instrumentationationation.

[Paul Dupart]

I had an '83 series 2 model 1.6, brilliant car, loved it.

 

Had it from 3 to 7 yrs old, no rust issues, surprisingly, and totally reliable..

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Is it me, or does this guy sound like Angus Deaton?

[oldcars]

I'm sure a chap at the NEC a couple of years back told me the white bumper once are now mega rare.

[barefoot]

I enjoyed that.

 

Ta

[r.welfare]

I reckon they did their road tests at the TRRL in Crowthorne. On a related note, the Thames ident tune makes me wonderfully nostalgic.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

For a 1976 design, I think they were great looking things. ....

 

The Soviets thought it worth trying to imitate

[artdjones]

It's a shame they rusted so badly.The Simca 1100 was the same,a really good car spoiled by dissolving too easily.I know the engines are a bit* rattly,but they usually keep rattling for a long time.The PSA suitcase engine was the same, although if you set the rockers by using the adjusters thread pitch( to take up the effects of the wear depressions in the rockers which feeler gauges would bridge)they could be made almost completely silent.I wonder if that applies to the Simca engine?

The modified version in my brother's Spanish built 205 didn't seem to rattle at all.

[CanaryinManc]

They certainly did rust. Brother bought one in a hurry the evening after totalling his Alfasud and only realised in daylight that he could see road where the rear of the boot floor was supposed to be. It was a 1442cc S version and could certainly move though. Great design poorly and cheaply executed.

[Dick Longbridge]

It's a shame they rusted so badly.The Simca 1100 was the same,a really good car spoiled by dissolving too easily.I know the engines are a bit* rattly,but they usually keep rattling for a long time.The PSA suitcase engine was the same, although if you set the rockers by using the adjusters thread pitch( to take up the effects of the wear depressions in the rockers which feeler gauges would bridge)they could be made almost completely silent.I wonder if that applies to the Simca engine?

The modified version in my brother's Spanish built 205 didn't seem to rattle at all.

I think the whole rot thing is overplayed. Most tin of mid to late 70’s vintage was little different. They were decent cars at the time. My father owned one in the early 1980’s and still has fond memories of it. He reckoned it was a capable commuter and was damn comfortable as well. In fact, he was that pleased with it, he then went on to own two Talbots in succession. They were Horizons this time - the second being the rare ‘Ultra’ Horizon. Lovely looking thing in gleaming black. He doesn’t get it at all when I suggest that some people on tinternet suggest they were all rubbish from the outset.

[CanaryinManc]

Don't think they were rubbish at all; just much more rot prone than many similar era cars. My 77 Renault 12 was much much better bodywise.

Also note Alpine tester is dressed in Autoshite shades of matching brown 

[Dirk Diggler]

Thanks for posting; I'd never seen In Drive before and have just watched all the clips; really love the 128 3P one, the X19 ones not too bad either

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7WD0g9dS3jltn3g_7SEukGCeDrTCwDWr&v=wvLyqB8MPrQ

[Dirk Diggler]

Sorry, these really are brilliant; Dolomite Sprint Vs BMW 2002

 

[Bren]

Those bumpers looked like they are fashioned from white dogshit.

[ProgRocker]

I think I watched this video not long after it was uploaded. And the 1977 Mazda 323 one as well.

 

I wish my parent bought one of these instead of the god awful Talbot Horizon 1.3 LS (JMD 918W).

[egg]

Thanks for posting; I'd never seen In Drive before and have just watched all the clips; really love the 128 3P one, the X19 ones not too bad either

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7WD0g9dS3jltn3g_7SEukGCeDrTCwDWr&v=wvLyqB8MPrQ

 

X1/9 with proper luggage bags...

[Bren]

My mate's neighbour had one in oxide brown which is probably the best colour.

However nothing from that period lasted well.

[Squire_Dawson]

The Solara 1.6 I had was a good car. A perfect blend of power and economy. Though it had been neglected it gave reliable service and I thought it had many progressive design features. The stuff about rattling engines is just nonsense; you heard some tappet noise at idle. The way some people go on about it you'd think the engine was about to explode.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I think the whole rot thing is overplayed. Most tin of mid to late 70’s vintage was little different. They were decent cars at the time. My father owned one in the early 1980’s and still has fond memories of it. He reckoned it was a capable commuter and was damn comfortable as well. In fact, he was that pleased with it, he then went on to own two Talbots in succession. They were Horizons this time - the second being the rare ‘Ultra’ Horizon. Lovely looking thing in gleaming black. He doesn’t get it at all when I suggest that some people on tinternet suggest they were all rubbish from the outset.

It was perceived rubbishness. When I was a kid these were everywhere. They looked and sounded awful. They can't have been very old ( I was born in '78). They were an ugly cheap looking design, rustier panels than a lot of other cars and dreadfully unfashionable. Not to mention the awful clatter.

 

In around 1986 I remember we were looking for a family car, I can remember the feeling of the cars we tried. The Peugeot 309 felt cheap and tinny, Vauxhall Belmont seemed well made but dark and depressing so we bought an Escort 1.6 GL. It felt like a quality car after the others. With hindsight the Talbot 309 would have been the better car....

[SierraMikeHotel]

It was perceived rubbishness. When I was a kid these were everywhere. They looked and sounded awful. They can't have been very old ( I was born in '78). They were an ugly cheap looking design, rustier panels than a lot of other cars and dreadfully unfashionable. Not to mention the awful clatter.

 

In around 1986 I remember we were looking for a family car, I can remember the feeling of the cars we tried. The Peugeot 309 felt cheap and tinny, Vauxhall Belmont seemed well made but dark and depressing so we bought an Escort 1.6 GL. It felt like a quality car after the others. With hindsight the Talbot 309 would have been the better car....

This is how I remember them, too ('79 vintage). We had a 309 which did sterling service, but the Alpine that lived opposite seemed much older even though the difference was only two or three years. It was very tatty and faded. I always liked the looks, but it looked very much like a car from the previous decade.

 

The 309 made the same noise but was very reliable and never looked old. It was scrapped age 18 when the list of MoT failures was uneconomic but it still looked fresh, not tatty and faded.

 

Having said all that, I still would. I like the looks and the engine noise gives me a nostalgia!

 

(Edit: Alpine lived opposite, not Horizon)

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Good to drive and comfy but they were wafer thin, tinny and rusted. A colleague had a 79 Horizon was rustier than the Titanic underneath in 1985. We we used to wind him up - ‘I can see rust on the horizon, Al’. Avengers were the same, that extra level in cheap tinniness not present in an Escort or Cortina.

[JeeExEll]

Cowley out of The Professionals drove one in one episode. Tried to sell it on to Bodie and Doyle in the 1978 episode "Second Hand Dealer" but they didn't want it.

Neither did some swarthy Russian-looking spies, or a tasty Euro-bird, or Susan George, or an American bloke with a gun (him who was in Fawlty Towers).

Eventually he ended up punting it to some bloke in a wig who was just walking along the road. Bloke's name was Elizabeth.

Just listen to that tappet-clatter in the pic below, it's drowning out the background music.

 

Cowley

- " . . . . haud oot yer haund, . . . . . and mind you look after mah wee Alpine, Elizabeth. Now just drop us off here and we'll get the bus".

 

Cue Professionals end theme music.

[Vin]

Great video, I remember seeing this when it was uploaded to the Youtube moments thread.

 

My Dad had an Alpine when I was a kid. It was a company car. It was the Alpine, a Cavalier or a Marina. He went for the Alpine as it was a hatchback and more practical with us kids...

 

He got it in April 1979. It was blue with white bumpers. RVH 249T. He brought it home at lunch time to show my Mum. I still remember the plastic covering the seats...

 

He eventually bought it from the company and it became my Mum's car. He went self employed and bought a Saab 99 EMS - BRH 579T.

 

The Alpine died on Mother's day 1985, when an old lady in a Datsun pulled out onto National Avenue in Hull, into the path of my Mum. Write off. :-(

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Who else remembers the early eighties Talbot Summertime Special TV ad, featuring some beige bloke saying 'it's got a lot of room'.

 

Even aged 14 or so I knew I didn't want to be the bloke buying a new Solara.

[Braddon81]

My family had quite a few Alpines in period. The first cars that came in to the UK were French built prior to the Ryton line being set up and the rust proofing was marginal to say the least. The P plate pictured here is a a car I picked up brand new with my grandfather back in 76 and was one of the first Alpines on the road. It became my father's when he bought another Alpine 2years later. The P plate was rusting at 3years old, the notable points were under the brightwork at the top of the doors and on the front wing tips as there were no plastic splash guards on the early cars. They drove very tidily though, the ride and handling for a car of its type for the day was very good. It wasn't a sports car and wasn't trying to pretend to be one but although a bit thrashy when pushed the 1442 engine in the S spec wasn't a slouch and gave good economy. Load space was great.. and the rear seat folding arrangement was a simple and clever affair which maximised the full length of the available space.

At the start of 1980 when the facelifted Alpine arrived my father got a great deal on one of the last of the old shape cars,a Peony red 1.3 Ls

The fit and the finish on this car was noticibly far better than that very early car. Over the period of the 3years ownership we had no issues with it what's so ever.. so it was traded for a other new Alpine Ls in Silver.

They were never a bad car, just a car built in a period of industrial and political uncertainty for its manufacturer. The loss of Identity from Hillman to Chrysler and then to Talbot from its UK parent certainly didn't help.. neither did Psa's half hearted attempts of developing the car after their take over.. though in Spain you could get an Xud engined car later on in its life.

Even though I did own a much later Rapier model myself my best memory especially of those early white bumpered Alpines were of having the most comfortable rear seats ever!!

[Paul Dupart]

I was born and grew up about 3 miles away from the Ryton factory.  Every second house had one as a company/employee scheme car, every third house  had a relative who worked there so could buy with a good discount so really common sight round here.  They used to road test them through our village.  And Avengers a few years before, remember the Tigers...

 

You could always get spares if you needed them, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean.

[Skut]

These did look really modern at a time when cars like the Marina though fairly young looked 10 years out of date.  I think the downside of this was they also pioneered the disposable car.   Automotive white goods you could just drive and forget when young and bin when old with no effort made to keep them running. 

 

Being a Chrysler can't have helped survival rates either.  I presume Chryslers finest brains thought those primitive Euros would welcome a shopping car which shared a name with such fine automobiles as the Cordoba.  In reality it was a cheap tacky meaningless name with a badge like a puckered sphincter.

[oldcars]

Was the badge not based on what your arse would be like come first mot time?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Jayzus, the panel gaps on that! 

 

These really fell out of bed on resale as well - they and the Horizon we're almost unsaleable secondhand in the mid eighties. I could have bought an R plate 1442 for £100 in 1985.

 

On the upside, my mate Phil bought a Y plate 1983 metallic blue Horizon in 1987 for about £1200, mint and from a dealer. It was half the price of an Escort or Golf and sorry, but they weren't that bad. A 1983 Escort CVH was no prize was it?