AnimeCars<p><span>Hello everyone!<br><br>I plan on discussing interesting Cars featured in Anime here, starting today with Misatos Alpine A310 from Evangelion.<br><br>The Alpine A310 was produced from 1971 to 1985 with just under 12.000 units. It was confusingly also sold as Alpine-Renault and Renault-Alpine, despite never being registered as a Renault, only using a Renault engine. This is because Alpine was sold to Renault during the production run of the A310. The A310 featured in the Anime is probably of the early years (71-74), one of the chassis built with a 1.6L 125hp Inline four engine. The 4 cylinder models stand out through their quite characteristic single-unit headlight compartment, spanning the entire front of the car. Starting in 1976 the engine was exchanged for a new 2.7L 150hp, later 190hp, V6. This was done as the I4 was found to be lacking in power compared to expectations for a sports car. At its height it became the fastest production car manufactured in France, reaching around 225kph. Just like its predecessor, the A110, it was destined to become a rally legend, debuting the V6 model to great success and multiple wins in 1977. Unfortunately due to the sale of Alpine to Renault and their commitment to Formula 1, the program was killed off right after its first year, ending Alpines rally heritage.<br><br>This was certainly an interesting choice for Misato as this car was, to my knowledge, only officially sold in Europe, with a few being imported by US dealerships. Some have definitely found their way to Japan but they are incredibly rare. I suppose this car was chosen because the author liked its design, which is very 70s futuristic and fits well into the Evangelion aesthetic.<br><br>This also brings us to the few differences this car has compared to its IRL counterpart. It is right hand drive, even though it was only ever offered as a left hand drive. Its gearbox also seems to have been modified to an automatic gearbox with manual gear selection over the original 5-speed manual gearbox. Some also claim the car might have been converted to electric because lots of batteries can be seen on the rear seats. But in the Anime a combustion-engine sound can clearly be heard, so I'd argue that it might have been turned into a hybrid.<br><br>All in all, a really cool choice for the anime, highlighting a rather forgotten but interesting car. </span><a href="https://sakurajima.social/tags/car" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#car</a> <a href="https://sakurajima.social/tags/anime" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#anime</a> <a href="https://sakurajima.social/tags/alpine" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#alpine</a> <a href="https://sakurajima.social/tags/evangelion" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#evangelion</a> <a href="https://sakurajima.social/tags/misato" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#misato</a></p>