Alpine Francaise
My Wedgewood blue racing Alpine, B9202627, bears chassis ID identical to the plate shown above. My car dates as the first car built on January 1 1961 (no New Years Day celebration in England? (Did they get all their yayas out on Boxing Day, their traditional day to 'tie one on' with friends and family?)), which would place this red car in early to mid-1961, late March to early May. Consulting old records would date it more precisely.
There were American servicemen and government employees (as well as embassy attachees) in Paris until the mid 1960s; one of them is a close friend. Whether the cars were tagged in Paris due to local tax and inventory is unknown but likely.
Neither Doug May, my car's previous owner, nor I know the way the car came to the US. We do know that it has been a racing car since 1962 or 1963. Both the red car pictured and mine were built in England and exported to France as completed vehicles, not CKDs (complete knock down) which would have been shipped on a palette and subsequently assembled by the destination dealer. I'm not certain about this last bit: I believe CKDs were destined for the African market; whether they were sent elsewhere is beyond my knowledge, but Ian, Jan and a handful of others like Norm Miller would know for certain.
Cheers, David Kellogg
1961 Alpine racecar B9202627