1:24 Alpine A110 Bumpers Early Set

The first years of the berlinetta

The Alpine A110 was built from 1963 until the mid-1970s and over that time went through dozens of small changes. The earliest examples had weaker engines, narrower fenders and differently shaped bumpers at the front and the rear; only the later forms with larger capacities received a wider track, more substantial arches and, with them, different bright parts.

Kits as a rule render that later, more powerful form, because it is the best known and has the greatest successes behind it. Anyone who wants to build a car of the first years of production runs into exactly these differences, and the bumpers are among the most conspicuous of them.

What the accessory is for

The parts offered represent precisely that early form. It is a conversion, not a mere swap: the original strip from the kit is cut off, the area is leveled and only then is the new shape fitted. Count, therefore, on a little sanding work and on the possibility that marks will be left on the body which will have to be filled and repainted.

Check the real car

Before you start on the alteration, obtain photographs of the particular car together with its year of manufacture. Cars of this type were also assembled under license outside France, and those examples differed in detail, so a general rule does not apply here. The difference between the early and the later form moreover rests on a few millimeters, and the wrong choice shows on a finished model more than one would expect. It therefore pays to plan the whole alteration before painting the body; putting it right after the paint has been sprayed means sanding it back and spraying again.