I came across Peter Stevens’ facebook page when I was researching my piece on the Alpine A310. In one post he had described his time working with Alpine, and I made contact with him. As a result of these conversations, Peter has very kindly sent me some images of a mid-engined proposal he had prepared for presentation to Alpine. These images have never been published before, and Curbside Classic is proud to bring them to you for the first time.
Professor Peter Stevens is one of the UK’s foremost automotive stylists. He started his career at Ford in the 1970s and went on to work with Ogle, Lotus, BMW, McLaren, Lamborghini, Jaguar, Prodrive and Toyota. Some of the shapes that came from his hand include the Lotus Elan M100, Jaguar XJR-15, MG Z-series and Rover 75.
For a period in the 1970s Stevens was involved with Trevor Fiore, who was working with Alpine.
To recap from my Alpine A310 article, I will reproduce Peter’s words;
‘In 1976 the A310 was restyled with input from myself, the project under the guidance of Renault Design Chief Robert Opron. The original 1971 car was never wind tunnel tested and suffered from both front end lift and rear instability and one of my jobs for the 1976 model was to counter these problems with small aerodynamic additions.’
‘The other interesting job was to design an alloy wheel for the A110, Alpine Renault 5 and the A310. During the previous year’s Monte Carlo Rally all the works cars had retired with damaged rear suspension caused by heavy lumps of ice being frozen between the wheel spokes and so putting the wheels out of balance. The task was to design a wheel that was sufficienty smooth that the snow would not stick to it. I always preferred the three-slot version of the smooth wheel, the four-slot style tended to look static.’
These wheels would live a Renault-related life of their own. The mid-engined Turbo R5 received them during mid-development, but they would not be used on the production vehicles. Another application was the DeLorean Safety Vehicle mockup of 1976, anticipated to be using the PRV V6 engine. This vehicle was ultimately renamed and released without the Alpine’s wheels.
The wheels also made an appearance on the Alpine A480 styling proposal. There is very little information available on this project, apart from that it was part of an initiative called Nouvelle Alpine Gamme, or New Alpine Range for 1980. It was a mid-rear engined configuration, with a shape influenced by the DeLorean and an eye on the US market. This fullsize styling mockup was presented to Renault leadership on 13 May 1977, but not shown publicly and never proceeded with.
In my A310 article I posited that the A480 might have been the work of Marcello Gandini at Bertone, but I now think it’s from Marc Deschamps – who was shared between Renault and Bertone at the time the A480 was produced before taking Gandini’s full-time position with the carrozzeria in 1980. Deschamps had produced the original sketch for the mid-engined R5 Turbo in 1976, and in the early 1980s he was generating shapes such as the Mazda MX81 and Lamborghini Athon which bear some similarities to the A480.
Though Peter Stevens worked with Alpine during this period, he was employed directly by Trevor Fiore. Around the summer of 1978, Fiore briefed Stevens on a mid-engined Alpine and provided him with some 1/5 scale drawings of the car’s packaging. Stevens conceived the shape and built the 1/5 scale model, photos of which we are seeing today.
This front 3/4 angle shows it off at its best. Though it doesn’t bear any overt Alpine cues, it’s still a sharp, trim, handsome and nicely proportioned form.
Peter discussing this photo; ‘My idea for the complex detailing on the rear deck surface was to emphasise the contrast between the simplicity of the surfaces touched by the air flow and the complexity of the details that were influenced by the technology. I have always had this philosophy and used it on the McLaren and Diablo SV too.’
I love this angle. Though it may not have been applicable in the real world, the detailing around the car’s venting contrasts effectively with the rest of the shape. I realise this may be a counter-intuitive response, but I tend to believe the clean wedge sometimes needs a tension point. In a similar way I prefer the NACA ducts on the first production Lamborghini LP400 to the smoother shape of the prototype LP500.
This facet of the model speaks the same language as the innard-revealing Centre Pompidou, which had only recently been built.
The profile is probably the least effective angle. The mid-rear engined configuration resulted in a cab-forward solution from Stevens – something he came to master. It brings to mind the 1994 Cadillac Seville, and the proposal in general reminds me of the 1983 S12 Nissan Gazelle and 1988 Nissan EXA, though of course neither manufacturer was privy to this model.
Peter Stevens is not sure whether this was created at the request of Renault/Alpine, or if Fiore was making a proactive effort based on the presence (and perhaps failure) of the A480. Stevens drove the scale model to Dieppe in his white VW van and presented it to the Alpine team himself.
The mid-rear engined Alpine project was abandoned by Renault, who made the more pragmatic decision to sustain the A310 V6 for a second series, and to focus any extra effort on the R5 variations with which Stevens also had some involvement.
Peter Stevens enjoyed a very good relationship with the Alpine team, and a decade later when he asked to use the tail lights from their GTA on his 1989 Lotus Elan M100, they were more than happy to help.
After the Elan entered production, Peter Stevens left his role as Head of Design at Lotus and moved on to create to his next shape.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Peter Stevens
for allowing Curbside Classic to reproduce these images.
Further Reading
Peter Stevens writing for Car Design News
Curbside Classic on the Alpine A310
Wow! Won’t read that anywhere else. Thanks Don
Awesome Don I love coming in here and learning something completely new, Thanx made my night.
+100
Wow, Don. Impressive! There is nothing like hearing from someone who was in on the design of a car.
Whoa, this is quite the scoop! Thank you for doing the footwork on this and an even bigger thank you to Mr. Stevens for allowing you to use his images.
Thanks to you Don and to Mr. Stevens for this sharing.
My favorite work by Mr. Stevens is his restyle of the Lotus Espirit in 1988. To take a legendary shape by another and refine it for another era is quite challenging. This is especially true of Lotus where timelines stretch and budgets are tightly constrained.
I was at university in Atlanta, where Lotus made some news locally by moving their USA headquarters to Atlanta. They were just restyling the Espirit and had a plan for cheap car insurance inhouse. This and the big bucks I was sure I was going to make upon graduation made the Espirit seem like a realistic fantasy. Not to be of course, but what a great dream.
I haven’t seen it written here or in any other Alpine related article lately, but I have a distinct memory Peter Stevens was responsible for the 1985 Renault Alpine GTA-design. So, it would only be natural he “borrowed” the tail lights from his own design penning the Elan a few years later, though he probably needed clearance from Renault to do it.
Don’t know if the GTA was his. When he described using its rear lights for the M100, he didn’t refer to the GTA as his shape.
Really fascinating. I love learning about the thinking of the design language of cars. Combining beauty,build-ability, aerodynamics, and practicality into a single package has to make car design into one of the most complex of art forms. You might argue for architecture instead, but I would counter that buildings don’t have to roll down the street.
Thank you for this article and I would really enjoy reading more please.
I focus on this sort of thing for my longer pieces, but you’ll also want to have a look at Peter Stevens’ writings linked at the bottom of this piece. He would have to be one of the most prolific authors on car design who is actually a significant designer himself. He doesn’t talk about his own work so much, but his writing and subjects are very interesting.
Very impressive and very interesting, thanks! People love to talk about their “babies”, no matter the form.
I’ve always been a big fan of the 80’s GTA as well as the Elan, but had not realized that they share the taillights which to me is one of their most attractive features. Large, bold, with a slight tint. Swoon…
Terrific! Another well-detailed little chapter in such a fascinating corner of cars and design at the time. Congratulations in bringing these to light here at CC!
And I quite agree with your analogy to the Pompidou; that approach was very new and hot at the time. And I still like it. I tend to not cover things up that have a function, even in my building.
I really see Pontiac Fiero in this design, with a slightly longer wheelbase and tail section. Better proportions than the Fiero, looks great.
Very generous for Mr. Stevens to donate these great pictures. Great discovery and write up!
Nice. Can definitely see Fiero in this.
Another top piece from Don!
I think the ideas on that rear deck are worth looking at again – rear decks on mid engined are often the weak points (IMHO) and this seems to ebe a solution that could be used. Like PN, i admire functional details not being covered up unnecessarily
The A480 has lot of Lotus Esprit about the front of it, to me at least.
How very cool to hear from the designer himself, and to see these previously unreleased photos. Fantastic work, Don!
I find the entire car to be underwhelming, and the rear deck to be both impractical from a rear visibility perspective and unattractive. Very interesting to see a designers viewpoint. Thank you for sharing your scoop here.