Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Not seen this one before

Maybe old news .... sort of classic Alpine based on a Smart roadster .... I'm a bit undecided about kit cars but this looks decent enough from the pics ... would need to be seen in real life though.

https://smarlinette.fr/

K

Nice. I used Smart cars from Avis as a consultant in Belgium & really liked them. I always fancied a roadster. That is a thing of beauty.

The Smart Roadster is hugely under appreciated. A friend had one for a while, and it was very impressive.

This is a really very smart solution. Because the concept, the engine arrangement etc. offers a good starting point (the Smart Roadster also has a rear engine, right?)
I would be interested to know whether it achieves somewhat the same dimensions as the original Alpine? Also the performance is somewhat comparable to the original.
And the price of the conversion is, in my view, reasonably down to earth for the beauty you get.

The nearest I got to kit cars were a variety of the output of Lotus which from an engineered to last point of view was not great, and as for likely performance in an accident.. Hmm..?
For sure kit cars have moved on to some degree and like Morgans some have been improved by skilled and quality engineering built in by their owners, while others may have been ...err...butchered to some degree....I think things have moved on somewhat from the Ferrari Dino look alike nailed on to VW Beetle floorpan and running gear... ? (-:

I have always admired the original Alpine A110, but my days of kit cars are over, so I ended up buying a s/h modern iteration of the A110. Fast, frugal, airbags etc etc and to my eyes just as pretty.

There is probably a saving in cost, buy what price the original whether old or modern?

Thanks for posting the link though, always interesting to see what's out there.

Paul .... not really a fan of kit-cars either .... just seemed that the Smart Roadster is under-appreciated and this was a stylish way of stretching the life of an old one .... kit's about £15k ...

A real one will set you back £50-60k.

Personally one of the main things that grabs me about classic cars is the very fact of their survival .... whether the copy is a dodgy plastic 'Morgan-a-like' or a Petersen hand built blower Bentley ... they don't do it for me.

But this one struck me as harmless fun.

K

Yes, I agree, and it looks to be quite nicely done too with all the little details faithfully recreated. Maybe we will see an agent importing the kits into the UK. Let's hope so.

We have had a Roadster for 17 years now. Its not a bad car at all but I wouldnt describe it as "very impressive" Dave. Good roadholding, could do with a bigger engine, awful gearbox and every one of them leak like a Morgan when it rains. Been totally reliable mind you.