Re: Anybody read Italian?

[Jaap Bouma <j.h.bouma@domain.elided>]

At 03:56 PM 5/14/99 -0400, the esteemed Mr. Hertzman wrote:
>For years it has been standard information, an often-answer to a Frequently 
>Asked Question, that to get the date of manufacture, color, and 
>where-delivered for your Alfa Romeo, you send a FAX with the VIN #  to Alfa 
>Romeo at "Centro Documentazione Storica" attention Ms. Elvira Ruocco, at # 
>011 392 931 5746. Apart from this modest but much-appreciated service Ruocco 
>has been famous for the lavish help she has given to all who were seriously 
>interested in Alfa Romeo's history.
To be painfully precise, the fax message I received from Ms. Ruocco
originated at:
   Archivio Storico Alfa Romeo
   Centro di Documentazione

>Now in AD7-711 Jaap Bouma reported "after repeated attempts I finally got a 
>reply from Miss Ruocco (Archivio Storico) about the build date etc. of my 
>car." and asked if somebody would translate the message, which is in Italian:
This may seem as a cheap shot at somebody who indeed is providing a
valuable service to the Alfa-loving community, but I have to say that I
have had great difficulty reaching both the Archivio Storico and Fiat
Customer Service. Fax machines seem to be switched off much of the time,
and when a fax message does get through, there is likely to be no response
whatsoever. Even now I am still trying to send a fax to the Direzione
Customer Care at Fiat Arese, as suggested by Ms. Ruocco.

>Nobody has commented on what seems to be the obvious: the gentle lady who
has 
>for years and years presided over Alfa Romeo's archives, generously helping 
>individual owners and historians in innumerable ways, aparently no longer
has 
>the access she has had to Alfa Romeo's records, which were at her
fingertips in 
>Arese and are now at Fiat Auto in Torino.
One of the people who responded off-digest to my request for a translation,
suggested that the fact that the information was not available to Ms.
Ruocco might be due to the fact that my car may have been built after the
take-over of Alfa Romeo by Fiat in '86. On the other hand, why should Fiat
maintain the Archive Centre of one of their marks, only to keep the new
records for that mark in another place?

Maybe it's worth asking Ms. Ruocco herself.



Best, Jaap Bouma (Netherlands)
'87 GTV6 2.5 Grand Prix

------------------------------