The 1973 Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo sits at a singular intersection in motorsport history: it opened a season in which Alpine would secure the inaugural FIA World Rally Championship manufacturers' crown. Car number 62, piloted by Thierry Sabine alongside co-driver Pierre Terry, ran in the unadorned white that characterised privately and semi-works entered A110s of the era — a visual counterpoint to the factory blue cars that dominate most collections.
The Alpine A110 Berlinette
Built on a tubular backbone chassis with a fibreglass body, the A110 Berlinette was produced from 1961 to 1977. Its rear-mounted Renault-Gordini engine and light overall construction gave it an agility that heavier, more powerful contemporaries could not match on the tightening mountain stages of the Monte-Carlo.
A Historic Rally, A Remarkable Co-Driver
Jean-Claude Andruet and Michele 'Biche' won the 41st Rallye Monte-Carlo outright in an Alpine A110, one of several victories that drove the French marque to the 1973 WRC manufacturers' title — the championship's first season. Thierry Sabine and Pierre Terry, co-driving car 62, retired from the event, but Sabine was then a young competitor early in his motorsport career; he would later become known worldwide as the founder of the Paris–Dakar Rally, first held in 1979. That biographical thread gives this particular entry a cross-disciplinary resonance rare in rally modelling.
The Trofeu 1:43 Scale Model
Trofeu is a Portuguese specialist manufacturer with a long focus on 1:43 rally and racing subjects. The firm is known for short-production-run releases covering specific event entries that mainstream makers pass over. This model reproduces the white livery and number 62 of the Sabine/Terry A110. Trofeu's approach concentrates fidelity on exterior surfaces: the fibreglass body contours, period-correct number placement and the distinctive rear-engined roofline of the Berlinette are rendered at 1:43.
In the Display Cabinet
At 1:43, the A110 stands out on the shelf alongside other rally entries from the 1973 WRC season. The white livery reads cleanly next to the more commonly seen blue factory A110s, providing tonal variety across a French rally grouping. It pairs naturally with the Andruet/Biche number 15 Monte-Carlo winner from the same event, or with Trofeu's own catalogue of 1970s rally entries to form a coherent period display.
