24h Le Mans
On November 10th, the Etude Osenat auctioned off the heterogeneous collection that Gérard Gombert, a former mechanic who had subsequently chosen to live in seclusion, had amassed throughout his life before his death.
Any number of cars that have competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans go on display in museums or are added to collector's garages, but some end up under a layer of dust in some nondescript location for decades. That was the fate of the Alpine A210 that took the start at Le Mans three times between 1967 and 1969 prior to being sold at auction a few days ago.
Though currently in a sad state, the 1725 had beaten all the records for an Alpine A210, after a buyer offered 710,000 euros, much more than two nearly identical models sold at 420,000 euros in 2014 and 450,000 euros in 2015.
This Alpine A210 participated in seven endurance races in all (500 km of the Nürburgring twice, 12 Hours of Reims and 9 Hours of Kyalami) between 1967 and 1969, including three appearances at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 1725 chassis earned two class wins (less than 1,300 in 1967 with Henri Grandsire and José Rosinski, and less than 1,100 in 1968 with Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Jean-Claude Andruet) with just one retirement (Alain Le Guellec and Bernard Tramont) in 1969 at its last race.
In all, there were around 400 lots, including an AC Cobra once owned by writer Françoise Sagan, sold to the benefit of the SPA, the deceased without heir among the 1,200 persons in attendance.
Photo (Copyright - Archives/ACO): The #46 Alpine A210 during the 1967 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
