All Italian Day Report from Alameda

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The annual Alfa Romeo Association benefit for Special Olympics kids took 
place on Sunday, 11 October. There was a great turnout of both bikes and 
cars, the weather was superb, the food delicious. Many of the usual 
faces, and a few new ones, made it and everyone had great fun.

The cars ... ah, the cars. Some of my very favorites were there this 
year. Many many Alfa Romeos (natural since the event is sponsored by the 
Alfa Romeo Association) included a '31 1750-6C, a Zagato GT Junior, a 
Tubolare Zagato. Many Spiders, Guiliettas, Sedans, GTV6s, 164s, couple of 
Guilia TIs, a Montreal, etc etc. There were a fair sampling of 
interesting Ferraris, an Innocenti, a hefty gaggle of FIATs, a number of 
Abarths, two Maseratis, DeTomaso Panteras, and a Lancia B124 Spider, a 
Lancia Appia Zagato Sport, and a Lancia Lambda. That Zagato Sport is one 
of my very favorites, but I discovered that the owners (for almost 37 
years!) have already written its next owner into their will ... damn!, 
I'll never get my hands on it! :)

On the motorcycle front, Ed Lutz from SoCal brought his beautiful Laverda 
500 Montjuic up for the event, it and Steve Wilcox' Laverda 1000 
represented the Laverda marque, there was a Vespa scooter, an Aprilia 
RS250 and a Moto Morini 500. The rest were an almost evenly matched 
number of Ducatis and Moto Guzzis. The Moto Guzzis ranged from 1938 
singles to "just out of the box" V10 Centauros, the Ducatis from a 250 
Single (really nicely done cafe racer style) to the 916SP. 

I rode my '89 Moto Guzzi LeMans to the event while my friend, Mike Bitz, 
drove my '78 Alfa Romeo Spider up. It was a delightful day, both vehicles 
behaved themselves and ran beautifully, and sweetheart Angela Barkes 
home-made ice cream afterwards was a great way to end it. It was great to 
see and hear all the machines once again, and to visit with all the 
people who came. Thanks for everyone who attended, I look forward to 
seeing you next year too!

If you live in the San Francisco area, you should plan on attending ... 
it's a great day, a good cause, and worth the time. 

Godfrey

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