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Alfantics September 2003 Stories


October Promises TSD Rally, Italian Car Tour and Show, Rockville Car Show

TSD Rally

For the past several years, Jack Rugh has treated the club to a TSD Rally. Time, speed, distance--that's the TSD, and all are relevant to placing high among the entrants.
This year, another Chapter member, Bob Rowan, has undertaken organizing this enjoyable event. It will be held on Sunday, Oct. 12, starting near Annapolis. The exact meeting location is the Park & Ride lot
at Exit 16 from Route 50, the Davidsonville Road Exit, about 10 miles west of Annapolis.
Registration starts at 9:00 a.m., and cars will head out by around 9:30. Bob notes that there will not be gas or food available near the start, so fill up on both in advance! The drive will be about 60 miles and 1.5 hours.
At trip's end, participants can choose to stick around for lunch at Pirate's Cove restaurant, on the waterfront in Galesville.
For more information or to register, contact Bob Rowan,
410/421-5021, or rrowan@fm.umaryland.edu.

Fall Italian Car Tour

For the past several years, Kevin Sims of the Lamborghini Club has been building the regional Italian Car Tour into a great and popular event. More than 20 Alfa owners have participated the past two years, enjoying the opportunity to drive and dine with each other and drivers of Ferraris, Fiats, Maseratis, DeTomasos, Lancias, etc.
Kevin has decided to give a Fall event a try. Mark your calendar for Sunday, Oct. 26. What we know so far is that it will cost an amount similar to the Spring tour; begin at the familiar starting line at Criswell
Chevrolet/Lamborghini in Gaithersburg; but end at a different location, a hotel where there will be an Italian cultural and tourism display and a meal prepared by several Italian restaurants. This should be a great last hurrah for the driving season before winter settles in.
Organizer Kevin Sims is at lamboeast@aol.com, or 703/730-0780.

JOIN THE CLUB PRE-EVENT

It happens our member Bob Lubran lives very near the starting line for the
Italian Car Tour at Criswell's, at 115 Leekes Lot Way in Gaithersburg. He
has generously invited club members to stop by his house, 90 minutes or so
before the event kicks off, for coffee, bagels, etc.

OTHER OCTOBER HAPPENINGS

On October 18, catch the Rockville Car show! Details and a registration form
appear on pages 7-8 of this newsletter.
Also that weekend or a proximate one, Club President John Kay will
lead his famous annual Vineyard Tour. "The Sarles, owners of Deer Meadow,
have replied. The 1992 and 1993 Deer Meadow Marechal Foch are really worth
driving for," John reports.

NOVEMBER TRACK DAY

Looking ahead to November: Bill McFarland shares that there are already
three Italian cars (a Fiat Brava, Fiat Spider, Alfa Milano) going to the
November 7 "Friday at the Track" school, at Summit Point's new Shenandoah
Circuit. If anybody else wants to sign up they can be confident that they
won't be there alone.
November 7th is the last FATT of the year at the new course (see
http://www.bsr-inc.com/SCHEDREC.HTM). If you haven't been to a FATT before,
Bill advises you might want to read up on the driving school at:
http://www.bsr-inc.com/FATT.HTM. And if you have been to a FATT before, the
only information he could find on the new Shenandoah circuit is at
http://www.dcsportbikes.net/modules.php?p=modload&name=News&file=
article&sid=65
Bill would be happy to coordinate a list of people interested in
going, but please plan on registering yourself using the directions on the
FATT website. Contact him at: 240/631-2894 or bmacfarl@fastmail.fm.

August Meeting Report

By Bob Kleinfeld, Secretary
About 20 loyal Alfisti found their way to The Olive Garden restaurant in Laurel for the August 4 meeting. While this location was chosen as an experiment to determine whether a more central location would draw greater numbers than the traditional far-flung McLean, Silver Spring, and Baltimore sites, this writer saw no change in attendance. Considering my nearly one-hour drive in rush-hour traffic (and that in good weather), I think it doubtful that many Virginians will attend future Laurel meetings.
On a more salubrious note, roving Chapter Member Pat Graziosi, who's been residing in Atlanta, happened to be in the area and attended our meeting (driving the world's most immaculate Alfetta coupe).
Having just attended the memorial service for Chapter Member Tom Rouse, President John Kay noted some of the contributions by Tom to the Alfa community, notably the staging of swap meets at his service station. Although few of the attendees knew Tom, we sensed that his passing was a true loss to the world of D.C.-area alfisti.
Gianni diFatta, our exuberant guest speaker for the evening, entertained us with stories - some fairly hilarious - of his adventures with unreasonably fast Alfas, especially a supercharged Alfetta that ran with the Porsches at Summit Point. He shared a common lament among Alfisti that nothing on the market could replace the aging 164 -- and he's currently driving one of the nicest examples thereof.
One of Gianni's more entertaining stories involved replacing a piston in the parking lot of the Atlanta convention.
Following the business meeting and Gianni's presentation, Brewster and Sherry Thackeray shared a video of their experiences at the 2003 convention. They even brought their own TV set and VCR to the meeting.
Since your chapter secretary received no comments on his laboriously prepared July meeting report in reasonably good French, he is concerned that nobody reads these reports. Should we continue to include meeting reports in Alfantics? Please e-mail alfabob@comcast.net, if you read this!

Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
I was amused/concerned to see your 'scam alert' article in Alfantics. Having an '83 Audi Quattro I also belong to the Audi Quattro Club and the exact same scam has been reported there involving a Dublin address. The Audi owner was 'out' the same way as described in your article. Just goes to show that even in the world of 'interesting car' owners there are still people out to defraud.
==Martin Dapot

Elizabeth Miller sent the following to John Kay, who attended the funeral of her father and our member Tom Rouse. "Dear Mr. Kay: It was ao very kind of you to attend my father's funeral service last Monday, and a great deal of comfort to hear your kind words. I never knew how much he meant to so many people. Thank you for letting us know."

Exceptional Alfa Romeos featured at

The 100 Motor Cars of Radnor Hunt, Sept. 12-14

By Harlan W. Hadley
For the last six years, there has been developing a remarkable concours d'elegance at the Radnor Hunt Club in the middle of Pennsylvania hunt country. The setting is very beautiful. The grounds of the Club are arranged in grassed terraces separated by low fieldstone walls, each terrace being wide enough for a row of cars and walking space. The club building is comfortably elegant.
The organizers have always emphasized the quality of the cars and entry is by invitation only. They strive to present just one hundred very remarkable cars with no duplication. The goal is to develop the event to be the "Pebble Beach of the East."
I can personally attest to the amazing depth and quality of the entries as I have been honored to serve as one of eighteen judges of the cars for the past two years. What a treat! I have been able to examine
closely about fifteen cars each year including a 1926 Rolls Royce Sedanca deVille driven by Tazio Nuvolari, a 1906 Cadillac runabout, an Aston Martin DRB that won at Le Mans and Sebring, a magnificent Zagato bodied Aston Martin and an 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 coupe.
The variety and depth of each year's collection is spectacular.
Last year the weather threatened to spoil the show. A heavy rain was forecast and in fact, it was lightly sprinkling in the morning. It was estimated that about fifteen percent of the cars stayed away because of the forecast, but I don't think anyone really noticed because the cars present were so remarkable. As it turned out, the rain largely held off.
Most of the entries are from the near environs of Philadelphia. The long-standing affluence of the area has sponsored some amazing collections, some of which have been with their present owners for a long time. I believe it is fair to say that this is a rare opportunity to see these cars and possibly even a more rare opportunity to talk to their owners about them.
Each year, three marques are specially featured; these are represented in the greatest depth and comprise about half the field.  This years Concours, scheduled for Sunday, September 14, will feature as the Honored Marques Ford (100 year anniversary), Corvette (50 year anniversary) and Alfa Romeo.
It is safe to assume that the domestics will outnumber Alfas but there are sure to be some amazing Alfas. Willem van Huystee is expected to bring his 1934 6C 1750 Touring Spyder and Dr. Frederick Simeone has entered his 1926 RLSS. Henry Wessells is bringing his 1900S. The Alfa 1900 Club is bringing some cars and is sponsoring a barbecue on Friday evening September 12.
On Saturday, September 13, the organizers offer a classic rally that rambles through Chester County on glorious roads. The rally is intended to be informal but the amazing closeness of the top finishers last year suggests otherwise.
I would like to extend a personal invitation to fellow Alfantics to join me for any of the event but especially on Sunday, September 14 for what I promise will be a spectacular day. To learn more, please visit the website for the event at www.radnorconcours.org.

Left Hand Drive

By John A. Kay, President
The Government of Barbados is very precise. The rule of the road is to drive on the left, as cars are right-hand drive vehicles. Thus, if a driver has a left-hand drive vehicle and may be less able to see the middle of the road, he or she is compelled to paint on the vehicle the words LEFT HAND DRIVE.
At that time we had a Nash Metropolitan, a two-door convertible painted in black and white, which happened to be the colors of the Barbados Daily News, a journal that we and our money helped to keep going for two years. The young people of Barbados did not have much to do out of school; so when I turned up in villages delivering newspapers, they would shout out "LEF' 'AND DRIVE," and hopefully "Daily News."
I was reminded of this episode during a recent attack of "muscle spasm," a disease to be avoided at all costs. It appears to be well-known, unpredictable, and debilitating. During my attack, I was more than ever grateful that I had persevered through earlier models to end up with an Alfa 164 L automatic. Only two problems arose. The doors are so big and heavy that if the car is parked on right-sloping terrain, the driver may fight long and hard to get out. The other, minor, is that to get the ignition key into the lock, the driver has to hunch the right shoulder far forward to get the right key angle.
Otherwise, everything can be done with the left hand: the windows, the handbrake, the forward/reverse, the lights, even the radio. And most of the steering. 
This is really quite a mechanical feat, when I think back to driving a six-cylinder Humber reconnaissance vehicle (lightly armored) for Her Majesty. To keep that machine going in the right direction needed two hands, and a quick reaction on the corners. If you did not let go at the right moment, the torque on the steering column was so great that you risked having stiff shoulders or stiff neck. I remember one trip to the Divisional Cashier (about 35 miles each way) that left me without the use of the upper torso for two days. The problem was intensified by the presence of a small foot-operated turret which made the vehicle very top-heavy. With the Alfa I have been able to do everything necessary, including my weekly trip round 160 degrees of the Beltway north side, neatly slumped into the driver's seat - not a pretty sight, perhaps, but effective.
What do members think of the calls for special testing for older drivers that are now appearing in the Washington Post and other media? My view is that the tests should be the same for older as for younger. Despite people who write "It is evident that older people need more stringent tests"
it is in fact not so evident. The most dangerous age group is 18-25.

President Emeritus Drake Coming Home


Club President John Kay just received an e-mail with good news from his predecessor, Charlie Drake. Charlie, President of our Chapter from 2000 to 2002, resigned when his unit of the National Guard was deployed last fall, and has been in Iraq.

Charlie says he hopes to be home "in time for the Rockville Car Show." It sounds like he will be leaving Baghdad soon, and we can look forward to welcoming him back!  Meantime our thoughts are with him and with all the other American servicemen and women and their families.

Alfantics is the official publication of the Capital Chapter of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC). Local membership and a subscription to this newsletter is included in the annual AROC membership fee of $60.

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