Miguel Sánchez
This week we were talking about the Alfa Romeo manufactured in Ávila. A story that may surprise some readers, but that is part of the protectionist policies of the last century. Trying to incentivize domestic industry, many states imposed high taxes on imported goods. Thus, acquiring a foreign vehicle - still popular in the range - was a chimera for most of the public. Thus a multitude of consortia flourished where foreign capital granted a manufacturing license to a national company. In this way, the SEATs under the FIAT patent or the Barreiros were born in Spain from Chrysler designs.
However, this situation did not only occur in our country. Also suffering from a lower industrial potential compared to the United Kingdom, France, or Italy, Mexico entered the world of manufacturing under international license. In fact, the starting context in this country was quite similar to that in Spain. That of a developing place, struggling to get out of ruralization and the lack of industry. At this point, any nation needs low-cost industrial vehicles to technify the fields and factories. A fleet of vehicles that will be complemented by the vans necessary for the growing service sector.
As in Spain, in this phase the private sector still had a low capitalization, requiring the leadership of the state. That is why, in Spain, the old National Institute of Industry created SEAT in 1950. A step that just a year later was replicated in Mexico with the founding of Diésel Nacional SA Participated between the private capital of Dina Motor and the public of the Federal Government, this company obeyed the purpose of offering industrial vehicles at the same time that it commercialized the FIAT range brought in import. A logical story within the economy of the moment that, however, harbored a surprise. Manufacture the Mexican Alpine known as Dinalpin.
DINALPIN. SPORTS BORN AMONG THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIESEL
In the middle of the XNUMXth century, most of the Mexican population was still peasant. That is why any automobile industry focused on passenger cars and family cars would have a very narrow audience. Under this situation, the Dina SA consortium developed a wide range of trucks and buses during the XNUMXs. Vehicles designed for work and collective transport. But nevertheless, the rise of the Mexican economy during the XNUMXs led to the emergence of a growing urban middle class. Just the type of public with a demand for cars and family cars for urban daily use and, exceptionally, long-distance vacation trips.
A demand that in Spain was satisfied with the SEAT 600 and 850, but that in Mexico was made with the expansion of Renault models manufactured under license at the Hidalgo factory. A huge complex that, together with plants such as Volkswagen in Puebla, has established the Hispanic country as the sixth most important car manufacturer on the planet. Since 1962, Dina SA has offered the Mexican market the Dauphine, the Floride, the Estafette van as well as the R4, R8, R10 and R12. A wide range in which sports cars were missing. Almost unknown in an impoverished Mexico, starting in 1965 Dina SA obtained a license from Renault to manufacture the Alpine.
This is how Dinalpin was born. A curious lexical fusion with which to symbolize the hybridization between French sports cars and their manufacture in Mexico. In fact, the interesting experiment was given so much care that its production lines were severed from Hidalgo's opening a small factory in Colonia Vallejo in Mexico City. There, the Dinalpin were assembled from their central chassis in the manner of the Lotus Elan. A light structure in which to hang engines from the R8 behind the rear axle. All this wrapped in the already classic fiberglass bodies.
THREE MODELS FOR THE DINALPIN RANGE
Introduced in 1961, the Alpine A110 had already been four years old since its launch when in 1965 Dina SA embarked on the Dinalpin adventure. That is why in the Dinalpin range we do not find its most direct antecedent, the A108. Eager to offer the ace of rallying in Mexico, both Dina SA and the licensee Renault were happy to jump directly to this model. Yes indeed, offering a wide range in which three bodies and various mechanics are combined. Regarding the bodies, it must be said that, obviously, the berlinetta was offered. But also the convertible version and even the strange GT4. Neither more nor less than the unknown four-seater Alpine A110.
Un "Rare avis" that, with its 128 units, represents almost the sixth part of a production encrypted in 693 Dinalpin. 57 were cabrios and the remaining 508 were berlinettas. All of them divided into three types of engines always extracted from the R8. In the first place, the displacement set at 1000cc, which equipped the first dozen Dinalpin from the Colonia Vallejo factory. In second place is the 1100cc, the majority having been assembled in 586 units and, finally, the most powerful version with 1300cc that only 95 of these sports cars carried. A story ended in 1974, when the Dinalpin stopped being produced to thus become appreciated collector's items both in Mexico and in other countries.
Regarding the competition, the truth is that Dinalpin never came out as a brand of pure and harsh commercialization. Dina SA had already done enough daring to produce the Alpine A110s under license, so it did not form its own team with which to compete in races. Something that is not surprising, since the reference in Mexico was the old Panamericana, closed in 1954 after a terrible succession of fatal accidents on bumpy roads. Nevertheless, some units were used for competition by private teams. One of the most successful is known as The Devil without Panties. A fantastic 1967 Dinalpin of which, in not long, we will have more news.
DINALPIN PHOTOS: DINALPIN / DINA SA
