Have I told you I love this car? (I love this car!)

["Joe Garcia" <corsanostra@domain.elided>]

I picked up my car from AutoVolante where the 15,000 mi. (!) service was 
being done, rather ahead of schedule. Also glitches #1 & 2 were taken care 
of (the low moany noise was an OH-SO-SLIGHTLY warped rotor and the power 
window glitch was just a bit of poor contact on the switch). I chose to 
stick to stock rotors because of the sound reasoning and explanation of the 
laws of physics as seen on this Digest, but mostly because I want to enter 
the car in the Concours at the 2003 Convention which, conveniently, will be 
practically next door. Anyway, I figure that I'd keep the car as original as 
I can.

So I picked up my car and parked it home and took my beater (1991 Nissan 
Sentra SE-R) to the office. After coming home, going off to the gym in the 
beater, coming back from the gym and then showering I went outside with 
Numbah One Son. The sun was in the process of its daily setting routine and 
the sky took that orangy-reddish-violetlike color and and all that chromatic 
wonder shone 'round about me and off the Maratona's still pristine silver 
paint. Normally I would have my Alfas ONLY in the proper shade of red, but 
at this moment, the magic light of the twilight hour did the silver Maratona 
paint a grand, grand favor.

The subtle curves and graceful creases that Giugiaro penned THIRTY+ years 
ago still look vibrant and fresh. Which is also how the leather seats still 
look, vibrant and fresh. I decided that the world deserved a thrill and 
chiropractors a boost in patient traffic so I told Numbah One Son to hop in 
the back seat (the perfect size for him, BTW) and that we'd go for a little 
spin.

So off we went...down what passes for the back roads 'round these parts. As 
usual, the car felt like its wiring was an extension of my central nervous 
system. Once fully warmed up 2nd gear is MUCH less recalcitrant (a well 
executed double-clutch usually brings things in line when the gearbox still 
declines to play nice) and as such I was able to take full advantage of the 
joy available under my right foot and at my fingertips.

There's a neat little stretch of road about a mile and half away...usually 
deserted, clean, smooth and scenic-ish. Heading north you first 
encounter--on this particular stretch--a broad right hand sweeper, followed 
by a straightaway of about 10 feet (!) and a tighter left. At an interesting 
speed, with Numbah One Son making eerily accurate Alfa engine sounds, I 
scrubbed off enough speed to take the right at a pleasant steady state...tap 
the brakes, double-clutch downshift to 2nd and take the tighter left and a 
speed that makes my son giggle...letting this car, this thoroughbred 
machine...this lineal descendant of Nuvolari's and Fangio's rides guide me 
through it all the while.

The funny/great thing is that I just thought about the things I needed to do 
to take those curves as smoothly as I humanly could and THEY HAPPENED. I 
have come to the conclusion the tachometer not only counts revs, it also 
indicates how attentively your car will listen to you. At 2000 rpm the car 
will grudgingly go where you say, but at 4500 rpm it's positively 
obsequious.

And...OMG...the exhaust note.

-Joe in reasonably sunny SoFla
1984 GTV-6 Maratona, ~13K mi.

P.S. I do love this car. Please don't read my tepid prose praise and assume 
otherwise.

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