To celebrate it’s 30th anniversary in the US, Alpine Electronics closed the street and opened its doors to a “customer appreciation day”. Aimed at the most enthusiastic fans, there was a car show for anybody with Alpine gear stuffed in their trunks, as well as live music for visitors to enjoy. In addition, there was radio controlled cars, free food, a demo room with the latest electronics and, best of all, a line-up of Alpine’s greatest projects.

The Alpine collection is a series of ever-more ambitious projects that spanned a Mini, BMW 6-Series, X5 and finally a speedboat. Each is remarkable in its own right, with Alpine’s builders almost reinventing each vehicle for their own purposes. The X6 is almost unrecognizable, while the X5 is probably our favorite for use of space and imagination.

The speedboat seems to have taken Alpine to a new level. Unfortunately, we weren’t really able to see inside because it was on its trailer and towed by a matching Mercedes SUV. However, we can’t wait to see how they’ll top this. Perhaps a small aeroplane is on the cards?

Of the display cars, James Ma’s wiedbody Audi A4 was by far our favorite, although James did suggest we might be biased! Of course we are, although his was easily the best there, resplendent in its new pearl paint and boasting an incredible stereo installation in the trunk.
We’re not sure who owned the demonic BMW 3-Series and what it lacked in subtlety, it made up for with imagination and build quality.
In between the rappers and rock bands on the live stage, Alpine held a raffle in which everybody seemed to win something. We didn’t see anybody walk away empty handed. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to participate because we had our eye on the radio controlled drift car that was being raffled!
The event was suitably laidback for a Saturday afternoon and while the invited audience was small for this event, we’re sure it’ll grow if Alpine decides to make this a regular meet.