Images via William i’Anson
This stunning ex-works 1968 Alpine A220 has significant history in sports car racing, including two trips to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and is in concours-winning condition. It’s up for sale at William i’Anson.
The car, chassis 1731, is the second of just nine A220s built. It was completed in mid-1968 and made its racing debut a few weeks later at Zeltweg airfield in Austria in the Zeltweg 500 Kilometres.
At Zeltweg it was driven by Mauro Bianchi, who qualified it fourth. Bianchi started well, but a mistake would leave him with damaged steering and a broken oil pipe, dropping him out of the race.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans was delayed until late September in 1968, and by that time Alpine had prepared four A220s for the race. 1731 was one of the four and would be driven by Jean Guichet and Jean-Pierre Jabouille.
Technical gremlins would interfere with the car’s performance in the endurance epic. Engine failure in qualifying necessitated an engine swap, but the team was able to qualify 18th. In the race, Jean Guichet took the car up to 5th overall before it started requiring trips home for repairs.
The team would repair the exhaust bracket, fit a new starter motor and wrangle many electrical problems as they fought through the night. The final straw came with the sun, and the alternator failed as the car traversed the Mulsanne straight in the morning, dropping them out of the race.
Next up, 1731 would head to Casablanca for the Grand Prix de la Corniche with André Guelfi on board as the driver. Again the car demonstrated pace, with Guelfi sitting as high as third, and again technical issues interfered, with a faulty gearbox relegating him to use of just two gears before blowing the motor.
Mauro Bianchi would pilot the car in testing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in march of 1969. There, newer A220s featured faired-over side intakes, but this car would run its original side radiators, intake and comb rear wing. It’s the only A220 that still runs the side radiators.
The Monza 1000 Kilometres would have been the car’s first outing at race pace in 1969, had it not suffered engine failure in practice after qualifying 17th. The story continued at Spa, with Henri Grandiser and Jean-Pierre Jabouille qualifying 14th but leaving the race with a broken damper.
July 1969 saw 1731 back at Circuit de la Sarthe. Jean Pierre Nicholas and Jean-Luc Thérier qualified 19th and fought their way up to 10th, but mechanical issues and an eventual head gasket failure brought their race to a premature end.
Sensing a trend, Alpine decided to commit the A220 to shorter, lower speed street circuit races, and updated 1731 to suit the task. The side radiators were retained, but its long tail bodywork was removed.
In its updated short tail form, the car ran in the Chamrousse Speed Hill Climb, where Jean Vinatier drove it to third overall. A second at Nogaro followed in August after Vinatier spent most of the race leading the field.
Following those events, 1731 was modified to suit specifications for the Citerium Des Cevennes, which was run on public roads. To suit the regs and handle the public roads, engineers raised the ground clearance, reduced the carburetor size and fitted cooling fans, a second alternator and co-drivers seat. The car was road registered on the 17th of August, 1969 and is the only A220 road registered by Alpine.
The Citerium Des Cevennes would be the final event in the car’s period racing career and, sadly, it went down in much the same way as so many of its earlier outings. Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Jean-Claude Guénard piloted the car, but were forced to retire when the alternator failed.
Following that event 1731 went to the Alpine factory and stayed there until Alpine chassis designer Jean-Pierre Buirette bought it late in 1978. Buirette would spend the next two decades restoring it, finally completing work in 2004. In 2012, 1731 won first prize in the Meguiar’s Concours d’Etat et d’Elegance and was displayed by Alpine at Retromobile the following year.
Its current owner purchased it in 2013, moving it to the United Kingdom and undertaking further work to bring it into good mechanical order. The car won another first prize in the Meguiar’s Concours d’Etat et d’Elegance in 2014 and was shown in Meguiar’s Car Club Showcase at the 2014 Classic Motor Show.
Featuring a very short list of owners and an interesting, extensive, history, this magnificent Alpine A220 would make a brilliant entry into historic racing, and we’d love to see it take to the track once more. It’s up for sale at William i’Anson, and you can find the full details on their website here.
Images via William i’Anson
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