Honeymoon, Alfas & Mille Miglia (long)

[Jon_Finkelstein@domain.elided (Jon Finkelstein)]

Greetings everyone.

Now that I'm back from my honeymoon in Italy, I thought I'd drop a short note
to say how great my 3 weeks were.

My wife and I landed in Roma, where we tried desperately to rent a Alfa 146
from EuropeCar.  We had requested it months earlier... and I even called the
airport kiosk the day before  to request the car -- just like someone on the
digest suggested. Heck, I would have paid the extra money to upgrade to a 156.

But no luck.

So we got a new Fiat Brava. 

Not a bad car, I guess. But not an Alfa. Not sure about the build quality.
Because in the first week, we we're driving along the windy Tuscan roads at
night from Volterra to San Gimignano and the headlights stopped working. Yep,
pitch black.

Luckily I was able to giggle the stalk to get the highbeams going. No big
whoop. We were in Florence the next day, and EuropeCar gave us another new
Brava with only 4km on the ODO. Again, I tried for an Alfa... but nothing.

Anyway, enough about that. Suffice it to say the Brava performed well enough
to take us around Italy without a "real" mechanical failure.

We visited most of the usual sights, Roma, Florence, Venice, Tuscany etc.

The number of 156s is extraordinary. What a fine looking machine.

On route to the north, we stopped by a small town Alfa dealer. I was
interested in seeing what sort of accessories could be had. 
The salesman didn't speak much English. So in my broken Italian, I was able
to explain that I was a fellow Alfisti from Canada, and that I owned a mint
84 spider and so on. The salesman was very happy to meet me. I guess they
don't get many Canadians there.

Unfortunately, this particular dealer was a little "light" on accessories.
And since the salesman saw me ogling the sparking blue 166, he offered me a
test drive... perhaps to make up for the lack of swag.

Of course, I jumped at the chance. Wow, what a fine machine. This particular
166 was a JTD model. So it was a little slow. It handled brilliantly, not
like the big saloon it is. I also found the six forward gears very useful.

We snapped a few pictures with the salesman and the car and went on our merry
way. Not before I was given a free Alfa hat and fanny pack.

We also stopped at another Alfa dealer in Orvieto. Sure, this town is known
for it's white wine. But there is also very nice Alfa accessories here. We
had a similarly excellent visit with the salesman, who took particular
interest in Canadian Alfa events. I told him about the digest, which he had a
hard time understanding. Perhaps it was my broken Italian.

Although we didn't test any cars, I bought a lovely CD wallet made of
leather. I was tempted to by some Alfa leather luggage, but it was way too
expensive. Incidently, a new spider (blue version) with electric top and all
the goodies is about 69,000,000 lire. 

Get this! Before we left, I was once again given some presents. This time,
the salesman gave me a silver 156 model, and a very nice Alfa lapel pin! Are
these dealers great or what. I sure miss them in Canada. Although I never
remember them being that nice.

Another highlight of the trip was the Mille Miglia.

It was beyond description. We arrived in Brescia at 3pm. Found a parking
space very far away from the piazza della Vitoria where many of the cars were
displayed. We wondered around, jaws hanging open as 8Cs, 6Cs, Ferraris of
every description, 550 spiders, 300 Gulwings, Bugattis, Astons etc were
around every corner.

It was amazing to see such a collection of historic cars from around the
world all gathered in one place.

At about 7:30pm, we made our way over to the starting podium. We managed to
get a place to stand about 100 meters away. Close enough to see and hear, but
far away enough to let the cars gather some speed before they passed.

We watched all 370 cars go past. Each one was announced over the PA while an
Italian flag was draped over the hood. When the announcement was finished,
the flag was removed. Then the car sped away down the ramp to jubilant cheers
and waving flags.

I was literally exhausted by the end. But the sights of the cars, the sounds
of the superchargers and the smell of exhaust will always be with me.

I truly feel fortunate I was able to be there. I will never forget it.
Perhaps one day I will return to see it again. Or, (I can dream) participate
in it.

BTW: there was one Canadian entry, an Alfa (1900?) but I can't find the entry
of the MM site.

So if you're on the digest, I'd love to hear from you.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. But I wanted to share my experience.

Now, it's time to get my Alfa out for the season.

Cheers,

Jon Finkelstein
Toronto, Canada
84 Spider Veloce

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End of alfa-digest V7 #749
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