Actually the Alpine GT and Alpine fastbacks were introduced in the USA in 1969
and were sold into 1970. While the basic Alpine stayed more or less the same
for both years, there is some variation between the '69 Alpine GT and the 1970
models. Most notable is the change in the dashboard. The '69s have a wood
verneer dash while the TRUE 1970 models (not '69 leftovers retitled) have a
wrap around dash made of plastic. In addition, the backup lights are in the
trunklid. There are a number of other subtle differences but those two allow
you to pick out the 1970's quickly. Roughly 3,500 '69s were sold and maybe
another 1,000 1970's. Total sales of Alpines, Alpine GT's and Arrows appears
to have been about 10,000 cars over 2 years in the USA. The Alpine GT's were
the biggest sellers with the Arrows and basic Alpines doing quite a bit less
well.
Roy Axe of Rootes, then Chrysler UK and then Chrysler USA did the styling of
the Alpine GT (called the Rapier in England). Design work started at just
about the time of Chrysler involvement so Chrysler input is possible. The
Arrow seems to have a great deal of 1964-66 Valiant styling cues. The oddity
is that the Rootes cars show styling influences of PAST and current Chrysler
USA products, NOT future Chrysler products. If Chrysler styling had any
notable input, the Rootes cars would have looked more like Chrysler products
of 1969 then 1965. "Style Auto" magazine had excellent articles on the
styling of the "Arrow" and "Alpine GT" cars. It went into details of the
background of the designs and showed the styling mockups from the beginning.
Jan Eyerman
1962 Hillman Minx Series IIIC convertible
1973 Plymouth Cricket
"lauri lehtinen" <lauri.lehtinen@pp.nic.fi> wrote:
After Chrysler bought Rootes people looked if there was influence in styling
(Like Opels had similiar characters as Chevrolets, "General Motors look").
And 1968-69 Sunbeam Alpine GT looked really like Barracuda that was washed
in too hot wather and it had shrunken.
Well, this is how I have understood it.
Larry
> Could someone please tell me what a baby Cuda is ?
> Fred Levit
> Wilmette, IL. USA
> fle426@northwestern.edu
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