Meet the Owner - Allan Symes and his Talbot Alpine by expert writer Andrew Roberts

Allan is the proud owner of a sorely over-looked classic car. The original Chrysler-badged Alpine was Car of the Year 1976, and yet it seems to pass by many enthusiasts. Today, a mere 17 examples of the later Talbot-badged version remain on the road.

To celebrate this still underrated machine, here are 25 Alpine facts:

1) The Alpine’s story begins in 1972 with Project C6, the replacement for the Simca 1301/15001.

2) The C6 employed long-established 1,294cc or 1,442cc engines.

3) Rox Axe was responsible for the rather neat bodywork.

4) According to the fascinating www.aronline.co.uk: Initially, the plan was for the French C6 to sit on a development of the Simca 1100 platform that was powered by the Chrysler 160/180/2-Litre engines mated with a new five-speed Simca gearbox. A separate UK C6 would be produced, based on the updated Avenger estate platform.

5) Chrysler also developed the C8, a rear-wheel-drive Alpine-based four-door replacement for the Hillman Hunter. It never entered production; one 1975 press quote referred to it being “a complete disaster”.

6) The ‘Chrysler-Simca 1307/1308’ debuted at the Paris Motor Show in October 1975 and at the London Motor Show as the Chrysler Alpine.

7) At that time, the Alpine’s sole domestic rival as a five-door FWD hatchback was the Austin Maxi, which dated back to 1969.

8) A further sales feature was the electronic ignition - “Even on the coldest, darkest, wettest morning the Chrysler Alpine starts like a Rolls-Royce. Because like the Rolls-Royce, the Alpine range has Electronic Ignition”.

9) The Alpine’s launch was mired in controversy. Chrysler’s USA head office, following heavy losses, threatened to close their UK division.

10) Following extensive negotiations, the Government loaned Chrysler £162 million, a condition of which was the Alpine should be made in Ryton.

11) The Evening Standard asked, “At last, a Chrysler winner?”.

12) UK production began on the 18th of August 1976. Early models were made from parts imported entirely from France.

13) According to Chrysler UK, the Alpine was “The World’s First Seven-Day-A-Week Car”.

14) Thames Television’s ‘Drive In’ regarded the Alpine as ‘the best Chrysler product yet’.

15) The Daily Telegraph was impressed by the Alpine’s “sure-footed handling and stability” and called it a “great all-rounder".

16) Autocar on the 14th of February 1976 wrote: “How heartening it must be to Chrysler, therefore, that the Alpine has won universal praise since its launch last July: praise that has culminated in the accolade of "Car of the Year".

17) As ‘three box’ rear-wheel-drive saloons – the Ford Cortina Mk. IV, the Morris Marina and the Vauxhall Cavalier – dominated the UK market in the late 1970s, Chrysler UK attempted to persuade buyers of a hatchback’s merits: ‘You don't need to take a long look at the Chrysler Alpine, to realise what a poor shape most other family cars are in. From back to front, and vice-versa, the Chrysler Alpine is sleek and stylish, and yet so capacious with it. Open up that wide windowed back, and you're into a possible 49 cubic feet for luggage,”

18) In 1978 Chrysler sold its European operations to Peugeot.

19) In the summer of the following year large newspaper advertisements told motorists: “Talbot is the new name chosen for Chrysler throughout Europe”.

20) “The name was chosen to reflect the new European role of Talbot as equal partners, with Peugeot and Citroën, in Europe's biggest car manufacturing group”.

21) The advertisement also said, with a certain lack of modesty, “As a name it is already a legend. Now it is the symbol of an even more exciting future”.

22) By 1979 Autocar seemed less impressed with the Alpine. “There is also a rumour that Alpine gearboxes are fitted with a self-destruct device which activates at around the 50,000-mile mark in order to help finance impoverished Talbot-nee-Chrysler dealers with wives and three offspring to support”.

23) The Alpine received a facelift in late 1979, with a new radiator grille.

24) In 1980, you enter the Talbot “Spot The Balloon” competition and win a new Alpine.

25) Production ended in 1986.

With thanks to Allan Symes for his time and permission to use the images in this blog.