now this is how to repair an alpine

amazing what can be done with a jig and plenty of parts. look through these pics and then check out the website.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater


http://www.garagegregoirealpine.com/art ... goire.html

[stephendell]

Impressive work!

[The Saint]

Wow,
To be going to those extremes, just proves that these cars are worth saving. Their value must be going up, that or the owner has very deep pockets and some kind of sentimental attachment to the car! I would have thought it was beyond economical repair?
Still I am very impressed with the work. Shame we cannot get hold of similar equipment and supplies over here.

Fantastic work, but how much would that cost ?
Must either have a very understanding insurance company or very deep pockets

Curious to hear more back story, was it the bodyshop owner's car or something ?

[Alpineandy]

I would have thought it was beyond economical repair?

Don't forget that the rest of Europe isn't lumbered with the idiotic 'CAT' system that we have here.
So in this country the quality of the repair can be less important than the V5 not stating the car is a CAT C or D when it comes to buying/selling.

Very impressive work.

[mettersl]

It looks to me like they had access to a new front subframe and other mouldings. The jigs are rented,I believe, and the part numbers are in the body repair manuals. I don't know how long these companies keep the car specific fittings, I guess there weren't many sets originally?
Amazing work...and I notice it had some rot repaired at the same time (quelle surprise).

On the cat system,if I understand it correctly, if the car isn't written off, it's not categorised, it's only when the insurance company sells the damaged vehicle that it picks up the rating, meaning badly damaged but repaired vehicles don't get a category.
I know my old Audi had a medium sized front end thump and a 5k repair but nothing on the v5, it just didn't line up quite so well afterwards and then went rusty where it had been repainted.
Still did 240 k pretty reliably though.

Very impressive. Almost a new car .

If you look at the garage website, they are making polyester body parts, including Le Mans.

Paul

[mettersl]

Custard,
is this where you got your LeMans kit?

That is a smash, the way the frunt end is built that should be a right of, it would have twisted the frunt of the tunnel from the lifting and twisting of the frunt box section, as rust around that area is prone adding to weakness. No my Le Mans kit was not from these guys. But if thay are fixing it the Alpines are on the way up

[Alpineandy]

On the cat system,if I understand it correctly, if the car isn't written off, it's not categorised, .

Yes, If an Insurance Company is involved and the cost of repairs are large enough for them to consider it a 'write off' then they categorise it. Of course they value older cars low, so if the system were in place in the 70s then a small knock on the wing or (more likely the nose) would have resulted in most C, D and E Types being 'cat d' at least or scrapped (before the tin worm gained scrapped them), and a French car would have stood no hope.
Your Audi was worth enough to warrant a repair in their opinion, even if it was done poorly.

[mettersl]

Yes it was, but that means that many significantly repaired cars are uncategorized, so it means no catgory on thr v5, only means no damage after the first 3 years or so when its worth a lot, not a good measure of overall condition.
I was cross about the rust that emerged when it was 7. Poor quality but undetectable repairs at 1, not that I can thunk of a better system.
In France you need to get it inspected by a "garage de France" once the equivalent marker is set, it's costs 1000 euro or more and there are 8-12 weeks wait.
I'd imagine Germany would be even more stingent.
Our system is less likely to write off old cars.

[Alpineandy]

Our system is less likely to write off old cars.

No, It's actually more likely to write off old cars.
Many old cars here have more value in parts than resale when they have a 'CAT' on them. Whereas when a car is fixed properly elsewhere, the fact that it had an accident becomes irrelevant to the resale price. So you know that if you repair it properly for yourself then you won't actually lose out down the line "long term".
It's probably a draw back if you're trying to make a quick buck but that's the same elsewhere as well.

[mettersl]

Hmm, I'm not so sure...
I was comparing it to the French system where there is still a marker but you can't put the car on the road unless it's had a £1000+ inspection that takes 8-12 weeks to arrange post repair. If you put it on the road, its confiscated and crushed, regardless of actual condition, so damaged cars are often exported to lose the marker....The car still has the marker after the inspection, just like us, but the process makes it more expensive to fix, so more get scrapped.

For us cat d= no inspection, Cat c is £35 (or was last time I did it) BUT if an Insurance company fixes a badly messed up car, there is no inspection and no marker, but they save a bob or two on replacing the car. New owner knows nothing. That may also be true in France.

I'm sure someone on here has more experience of this than me but I'd have thought that as repairs are cheaper under our system, more cars get repaired but values will be similar post-accident as both have the write-off mark on the registration document.

No idea about anywhere else bar France.
Lee

[Alpineandy]

No idea about anywhere else bar France.

I wasn't aware they did that in France until you mentioned it but as far as I'm aware they don't do it anywhere else.

Certainly not Germany. The German system means that if a car is inspected by a TUV engineer at a TUV station (Like the MOT only tougher) then it's fit for the road and doesn't need a 'Marker' like our dumb system (which you tell us France shares).
A car is either roadworthy or it's not roadworthy. How stupid is a system where it's roadworthy but 'slightly less so' due to a marker.

If our present system were used since the 40s then we'd have no british sports cars from the 50s and 60s on the road. They've pretty much all been in accidents when they were at the 'banger' stage, but you wouldn't know that now as they've all been rebuild to a better than original standard.