Re: Why an Alfa? (LONNNG!!)

["B.D. & Petei Zelazny" <unltd-ltd@domain.elided>]

AlfaBill wrote:

> 1) Why did you buy an Alfa Romeo!?

AlfaBill, you may regret askin' this, but here goes!!

To answer this question properly I must start at the beginning, years before my
first Alfa Romeo. If you aren't interested in the wwwhooolllleeee history, scroll
to the ** where the Alfa Romeo related part begins.

My desire for a sports car started when I was about 13 when a neighbour bought an
XKE and parked it on the street for a few weeks. A few years later my girlfriends
out-of-town boyfriend had a TR3. A few months later, in '65, I bought a raggedy
$500 `56 MGA (my first car). I had it up to about a 115 mph a few times, but those
wire wheels where a b!tch to keep balanced (yeah, right!!).

The MG was also unreliable since I really didn't know where to take it for service
and I had little money to throw at the car. One of my uncles was a partner in a
used car lot. In late '67 the MGA was traded for a '65 Mustang, but with the doggy
in-line 6. I had it painted like a Shelby GT (hey, I was a foolish kid just outa
high school) and actually got a speeding ticket for more than the car would pull.
I tried to get the cop to look under the hood (bonnet) to no avail.

That same year, one of my college roommates (a really interesting fellow form
Pakistan) owned a TR4A. I rode in it once or twice and decided I didn't want a
Triumph, any of 'em (sorry, Brits). In late '69 my brother convinced my father to
follow through on his promise to buy us each a car after we'd graduated from high
school.

Well, my dad was still mad at me for buying that MGA BEFORE I was outa high
school. So here was the offer I got: If I cut my hair to above my ears and the
shirt collar (yeah, I'm just an old hippie) he'd swing for any NEW car under
$2,000. Let me say up front, I didn't really want a new car, all I wanted was the
two Grand. Needless to say, my dad would not just give me the money!! He also
wouldn't let me use it towards a car that cost more then $2,000. (Can you say,
"Controlling Parent.")

So, I cut my hair, took the only car that I could buy for the deal (a VW Beetle),
drove it for a few months then sold it to my mother for $2000!! I admit it, I was
taking advantage of my parents being divorced, but hey, look what my dad was
doin'!

My new wife, Petei (now of 30 years as of the 23rd of this month) and I used the
money to go to England and visit her pen pal of several years. We also wanted to
see how the folks on the other side of the pond lived. We stayed for about a month
and decided to head back to 'merica.

**

Now here's where the Alfa Romeo part starts: On the flight back to 'merica our
plane experienced an engine failure just as we'd got over the big pond. This was
one of those three jet engines in the tail jobs (okay, I'm not into planes!), so
it was back to Heathrow.

After we had deplaned this 'merican guy comes up to me (remember, I'm an old
hippie and my hair had already grown back after the "big" VW deal) and says, "Hey
man, you look 'cool' and I need some help. Before the plane took off, I dropped
some acid and it's startin' to kick in. Can you talk me through it?" Well, of
course I said I'd help him out (are you out there, by any chance??). In the
meantime, the airlines fed us dinner. That's where Petei met a young English boy
who was all alone on his first flight in a plane. He was kinda freaked by this
engine failure deal.

Once we got back on the plane (well, not the same plane!!) Petei and I sat with
each of our new companions. Hours later, as we're landing in New York, my acid
head pal told me he new some "stewardi" with an apartment in the city. We could
stay with them instead of a hotel. As luck would have it, all four of the stewardi
were out of town on flights, so we ended up sharing a hotel room with this guy!!
(Hey, I've never been paranoid, can you tell? Would I do this today? H3ll NO!!).

The next mornin' this guy tells us about a car he's tryin' to sell for $2000
(there's that number again!). It's at a shop in the city having the engine rebuilt
after he "blew it up."  It was a red '67 Alfa Romeo Spider!! (I figured he'd had a
blown head gasket, but who knows). We had plenty of time before our flight back to
Dallas, so we all three went to check it out. Since we'd just spent about all of
our $2000 and I had no job, and no relative would loan me that kind of money (it
was worth a lot more back then! You could buy a Mercedes Benz SL for $5000!!), we
passed on the Alfa.

Once back in "Big D" I bought another car.......a '54 (?) Mercedes Benz 190 Sedan
for $500!! It was fun for awhile with the 8 track player (the young kids are
askin', "What's that?") and those big woofers in each door, but it was more of a
rollin' music box than what I thought a car should be.

I was soon to get a "straight" job instead of the "artist" jobs I'd been gettin'
and I needed a better car. After a few months at $500 a month (how could we live
on $500 a month??) I had enough money to buy a new car. This time it was another
MG (sorry folks!!), a  MGB GT to be exact.

Less than a year later I got promoted and transferred to Austin. The 400 mile
round trip drive to Dallas and back at 75-80 mph was killin' the 4 speed MG. We
decided to look at cars. We didn't get turned on by the new `73 FIAT Spider so we
checked out the Alfa Romeo/Mercedes dealer. There sat a brand new plum '73 Alfa
Romeo GTV. In the used car lot they also had a Jag XKE for sell. Both were about
$5000. Hmmmm.

I drove both cars. Boy what a disappointment the Jag was!! And what a joy the Alfa
Romeo was!!!! So we finally bought our first Alfa in early '74! Since then we've
owned four more: a '74 Spider, acquired after a distressing accident in then paid
off GTV. The Spider was traded towards the '83 GTV6 (Petei still hasn't forgiven
me!!). In '92 we added Petei's '91 164S with the rare Recaro option and soon
after, her '69 GTV). I figure I've driven almost 750,000 (s)miles in the Alfas -
so far.

We did own a Mazda station wagon (for Petei) until it was totalled, and a FIAT 3P
(or was it a P3?) which was part of the GTV6 deal. And, yeah, I've owned Alfas
over half of my life, too. The saga (and love affair) continues...

> 2) Why do you keep your Alfa?

That's easy. There isn't another marque I want to spend any time behind the wheel
of. Alfa Romeos are in my (our) blood. We're hooked!! What other vehicle can offer
so much pleasure (driving and otherwise) at such a relatively low cost? And what
would my "alfa Romeo Family" think if I bought a non-Alfa?

`nardo
b:d+z
Alpine, Brewster County, Texas USA
  Animated global position (~2:30 load @ 28.8):
     http://www.brooksdata.net/personal/thc-aroc-usa/alpine_zoom.htm

  Divided by Zero Productions
http://www.ojinaga.com/unlimited_limited/divided_by_zero_productions/

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