Never knew this!!

[g40steve]

Found this on the web.


There's another aspect of the Trophy that might help melt your heart, too. It's handbuilt to a remarkable degree, at Renault's Alpine factory in Dieppe that used to make rear-engined Alpine sports cars. The factory still has the Alpine logo outside and the line workers and master mechanics still wear Alpine tee-shirts. Might there one day be an Alpine sports car again, maybe called Alpine Renaultsport to keep a consistent marketing message? Don't rule it out.

 

[ken wilson]

Is that why it has a left hand drive shell? ie lock on passenger side and wipers that flick the wrong way?

 

[hoolio]

ie lock on passenger side and wipers that flick the wrong way?

Always wondered about that. :?

 

[Cue]

i dont understand? what didn't you know.... that the Trophy was built in Dieppe? or that they used to make Alpine's there?

My understanding is that Alpine used to be a french tuner that reno took over - in the early 90's it was renamed from Alpine to RenaultSport. Tupe transfer and usual french socialist attitude meant that the worker still think of themselves as Alpine employees not Reno....

Does this help or am I way off the point?

 

[bakedbeats]

I thought Renault bought out Alpine in the 70's?.... hence the "Renault-Alpine" cars that culminated in the A610 in the 90's. I think renault had always had a stake/interest of some sort in Alpine, providing engines etc.

 

[tholman]

From wikipedia:

Alpine was a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars which used rear mounted Renault engines. The company was founded by Jean Rédélé in 1952 in Dieppe. The first production model the Alpine A106 powered by a Renault 4CV engine appeared in 1956.

Alpine became a world rally champion in 1973 with its most famous model, the Alpine A110 (aka "Berlinette"). An Alpine A442 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978. This was probably the last appearance of a works Alpine car in racing, at that time the merging with Renault was complete and the car was entered as a Renault-Alpine.

Over time, the Alpine company was absorbed by Renault. The last production model was the A610, and this car was discontinued in 1995. From then the Dieppe factory has been known as the producer of a number of Renault Sport models and the brand may be reactivated by Renault for a new sports car to be made in either 2007 or 2008.

 

[felix]

yep. that's why the trophy has more reliability and build quality issues than other 182s.

 

[pacey]

yep. that's why the trophy has more reliability and build quality issues than other 182s.

Nothing wrong with mine .

 

[felix]

nor mine touch wood. but in general... also build quality not as good as my previous full fat nor my brother's full fat.

 

[Day]

From wikipedia:

the brand may be reactivated by Renault for a new sports car to be made in either 2007 or 2008.

I guess that is what's lurking under that Megane body shell in Dieppe...

 

[Steve]

nor mine touch wood. but in general... also build quality not as good as my previous full fat nor my brother's full fat.

I would rather have a hand assembled car than a machine assembled one, even if it is by the French. Makes it more special.

 

[OliS]

Is that why it has a left hand drive shell? ie lock on passenger side and wipers that flick the wrong way?

The wipers operating the way they do is just pure cost costing, same set up for LHD and RHD cars, they operated the same way on my 172.

There are some photos on this forum of Trophy's being hand assmebled at the factory, worth doing a search for.

 

[Audrey 286]

yep. that's why the trophy has more reliability and build quality issues than other 182s.

All Renault Sport are/were built in Dieppe.

For pics of the factory: http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreygb28 ... 205370095/

Unfortunately the Trophy and 182s were no longer built by the time I visited the factory. But I saw plenty of 197s!

 

[Audrey 286]

 

[Cue]

As Audrey said - all RenaultSport models , Clio & Meggy are/were build at the Alpine factory.

 

[Keith Waters]

I would rather have a hand assembled car than a machine assembled one, even if it is by the French. Makes it more special.

You are a romantic - and I'm a heartless cynic. If machine assembly makes it more reliable/better quality, as some have suggested, I'd go machine build everytime.

 

[felix]

yep. that's why the trophy has more reliability and build quality issues than other 182s.

All Renault Sport are/were built in Dieppe.

For pics of the factory: http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreygb28 ... 205370095/

Unfortunately the Trophy and 182s were no longer built by the time I visited the factory. But I saw plenty of 197s!

and the name of this topic is...



i'll engage brain first next time