Category Archives: Motoring Events & Shows

Market 464: Abarth – Alfa – Colani 1000

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Update 2/14/13: As they must, things seem to always come around.  Henrik pointed out that this car is now on offer for (gulp) €380,000!  Quite a bit more than the auction estimate of a few years ago.  Is this crazy?  I don’t really think so.  A unique (refreshing to be able to use that word without hyperbole) rebody of an already very special car with an Abarth Tubular chassis, Alfa race intended engine rework to 1000cc etc.  It’s a styling that works for some and doesn’t for others -like an Yves St Laurent masterpiece (for seldom do masterpieces satisfy all lookers or readers or…).  It’s kind of a shame that both cars can’t exist.  Do any of the other original Abarth examples survive?

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Eddy sent me this image among some others from Retromobile.  I guess the mismatched wheels are period and thus the way it has to be.

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Reader Race Report: Lime Rock 2011 Fall Finale

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Track day report from Giulietta Sprint owner Marc in Mass, photo’s were taken by Jim Dyer, captions are mine: ” The 2011 Fall Finale vintage race the last racing event organized by the VSCCA and was held at Lime Rock Track October 14 and 15. The weather cooperated and the participants were graced by sunshine  and an almost dry track as rain was only sporadic. A strong number of Alfisti showed up and so the organizers were able to add an extra 15 lap session on the Friday for Alfas only! 8 Spiders (2 Veloces) ranging from 1956 to 1959, 2 Sprints (1 gorgeous red Veloce in period livery) and a delightful 1960 Sprint Zagato piloted by Sandra McNeil. Added  to the mix was a 1976 Berlina and a 1966 Lancia Fulvia both driven by Italian ex-pats.  Several of the lighter Spiders battled up front while other cars were happy to get a real Italian tune-up. The spectators were treated to some spirited drifting around Big Ben and through the S’s.  In the end each driver was a winner as all cars survived both days. Amazing to see a wonderful group of 50 some year old cars fly around this lovely race track framed by the surrounded fall colored hills.”

We all know what this must sound like -a 12 cylinder air plane or 4 Alfa race cars approaching!

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ARA All Italian Car day 2011

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ARA All Italian Day car show.  I’ve been busy.  Moved 3 times this summer, kid on the way, trying to make a start-up start up etc.  I made time this weekend and went to the Alfa Romeo Associations All Italian Day in Alameda.  Turnout was probably the best I’ve ever seen and the weather was amazing.  Here are some pictures I took.  This show is the best of the year for me.

The Jeff Glenn (24 hours of Lemons fame among other things) SS. 

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Alfa Centennial Celebration part 1

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Brad Baum, a southern California Giulietta owner/restorer/enthusiast -whose name you may recognize, was in Italy for the Alfa Romeo 100 year celebration and sent me these pictures from a parking lot in Rho.  He focused on the rare and interesting bits on the cars there.  Check it out.  Captions in Italics are Brads

This impeccable red 750 Sprint was in the Alfa museum parking lot Friday afternoon of the Centenario Alfa Romeo in Arese. I very much like the industrial design of this mirror, but it looks like it might interfere when the door is opened.

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Alpine adventure: Snowball Rally 2010

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Update 4/29/10 10:30am: Jon Fox now has a photo set up. 

Update 4/29/10: Jeff Glenn has posted his pictures on his JAG promotions website and as usual taken the whole event documentationthing to the next level.  Enjoy.

Update 4/27/10:  Dave has put togethter a pretty cool movie here, especially cool for those who have wondered what the passenger ride in a ’76 Trans Am 455 is like.  They were in close contention for the gas mileage award with the Imperial.

Also, Ben Buja has a link to his photo sets here on flickr.  He’s one of those guys who manages to take nothing but great pictures.  I think I need lessons!

And, here for your enjoyment is the Bring a Trailer write up of the event.  Another source of great pictures.

The Snowball Rally ran through the Sierra Nevada mountains this last weekend and the Mrs., the Sprint and I were there.  For most participants festivities started at one of the Bay Area night stage roll-offs on Friday evening that, after some Super Oscar exercising backroads between the San Francisco bay and Sacramento, met up at Hot Italian for beverages, some dinner and a lot of speculation as to what the next two days would hold.  For us the rally began early Saturday morning with a quick highway buzz from Oakland to Sacramento. 

I’m going on six years, a dozen events and probably 30,000 miles with the Sprint.  It’s been a faithful companion and after this weekend I have vowed to do some much needed upgrades. Photo by Nick Pon.

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Alfa 100 years track day hosted by CSRG at Sears Point (Infineon)

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Update, later the same day: Will, GTV and Giulietta Sprint owner was there and took a LOT of pictures… he even took some of my Sprint!

In recognition of Alfa’s centenary, CSRG hosted 3 days of racing at Sears Point with several Alfa only races/groups, lunch time parade laps for Alfa’s and a corral in the paddock for all the spectator Alfa’s to park in. I can’t make Italy this year for the ‘official’ centenary in June, so this weekend was my chance to hang out with some fellow Alfa owners and think about what 100 years means.

Not your average vintage Alfa. This 33 was long, low and amazing looking. Too valuable to take on the track? Tell that to the guy in the Aston DB4 GT Zagato who was mixing it up with the GTV’s and Corvettes.

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California Melee 13 event report

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I am at work enjoying coffee right now thinking about how much fun I had this weekend on the California Melee. Team Giuliettas.com signed up to drive the TI whose rebuild has recently been so frequently expounded upon in these pages, but a lack of time last week meant I failed to get the last few items on my list dealt with so the trusty Sprint had to do its thing. Good thing Jaan had been sorting out the Weber DCD over the last few weeks.

hamiltonsTaking a break at the intersection of HWY’s 36 and 3(?) traveling between Red Bluff and Fortuna. Sprint was running fab and spirits were high.

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Monterey Weekend/Concorso 2009 wrap up

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Monterey weekend was brief for me this year.  Brian and I drove down to Big Sur in his Junior Z on Thursday afternoon to stay at Trevor’s house, which would be our launch pad to the Concorso Italiano at which Brian had signed up to show his car.   We drove highway 1 from Half Moon bay all the way to Big Sur.  Just north of Santa Cruz we drove under the smoke/dust/ash/steam cloud from the Bonny Doon area fire, which was ominous in a post-apocalyptic way (see picture below).

No Monterey weekend is complete without a $9.25 tour of the 17 mile drive so we hit it on the way down as well.  About 10 miles into it I spotted the car you see below.  Photographers were crawling all over it and spectators had gathered.  I came away with a few iPhone shots and a lot of curiosity.  The car had a Ghia badge and a 5 inch turbine exhaust port right in the middle of the back. 

jimmy cropImagine if the future we were promised was the future we got.  Instead of Camry’s and Ford F150 trucks my commute would be populated by vehicles like this.  A later encounter informed me that this was Streamliner X “Gilda” built by Ghia at the request of Chrysler.

 Bat9d moving under its own power.  As it should be.

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Off to Concorso Italiano

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I’ll be at the Concorso Italiano with Brian in his Junior Z tomorrow so say hello if you see me wondering around. Below are some recent pictures I got in emails. The Sprint appears to have been the meat in a Semi pile up sandwich. The SS’s represent the full spectrum: Low-nose, Giulietta and Giulia.

My wife will be at Tiki Oasis in San Diego selling her hand-sewn children’s Hawaii inspired clothes. If you see her there tell her hi for me.

Sprint Remarkable only in that it still exists at all. There is probably $1000 worth of bit to be had off of it.

DSC_0459I want a low nose SS. I’ll take the bumpers off and drive it like I do my Sprint: daily and with joy.

Did I mention I was watching Dr. No and in the airport parking lot scene when the bad guys pull out they are parked in front of a Giulietta Spider?

I’ll be back on the TI on Saturday if anyone wants to come by and help rebuild the steering box and install it.

Pixar’s Motorama 2009

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Pixar’s Motorama is pretty cool. The fact that a corporation would even expend resources on an event like this in todays world of disappearing perks is hard to believe. Pixar’s grounds are perfect for this sort of thing -from the long and wide, tree-shaded approach to reception, seemingly meant to be lined with cars, to the grassy knoll they set up for dining, to the spacious atrium where motorcycles, scooters and Bicycles can be put on display and one can escape the elements -someone knew what they were doing when they designed this space.

Monteverdi HaiThis 1970 Monteverdi Hai 450SS is currently in Fantasy Junction’s inventory at a little over a million dollars. FJ is about 100 yards form Pixar so they roll a couple cars over every year. Metallic purple/pink with white interior. There aren’t rock stars these days worthy of a car like this. Jeff imagines Robert Plant circa 1974 in a fur coat on Sunset Blvd could pull this car off.

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Motherlode 400 event report

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The Motherlode 400, organized by expert and enthusiastic haver of good-times Josh Prentis ran on June 20 – 21st, but began for me on Friday the 19th when I spent an hour rigging up an air cleaner for the Sprint from some borrowed components from shop mate Duff.  Sprint’s oil and water levels were fine so I chucked one of my better looking spares in the trunk, filled a pillow case with tools I might need, stowing it under the back parcel shelf panel and declared myself prepared for the worst.  Having commuted 70 miles a day in the Sprint for two weeks solid, I was confident my tools would stay stowed unless needed by a fellow motorist.

Joined by first timers Hoon and Coutney in their charming Datsun Fairlady 1600, we rolled off from Peet’s coffee in Oakland at 7am on Saturday.  Meet up was at the Jackson Lodge in Jackson. 

motherlode thumb stephPedal Pusher Citation bait getting used to the new and potentially improved Sprint that she is half owner of.  The tach cable started squeeling like crazy soon after this and I had to cut it at the firewall.

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Another busy Weekend, Berlina Tour and TI tidy-up

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I guess the reason time goes by faster when you get older is you find more stuff to fill it. This weekend was another blur of activity starting with pulling the FIAT engine on saturday morning, the subject of my last post. Sunday I joined Andrew and the ARA for the Berlina Tour on rain-soaked roads in the East Bay hills. Click here to see my photo set from the drive.
aaron in the mistThe morning started out a little rough, fortunately the Berlina’s unreliable wipers behaved. For that matter the tired solenoid did too. Aaron is seen here on 580 braving the May showers.
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