Re: [alfa] Autoitalia @ Portofino

[Joe Garcia <lacorsanostra@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dean (& Digestivi),

I think the turnout may have been adversely affected
by the change from October to March. I expect this
will improve for the next go-around.

For the 2nd year in a row, however, I had the
nicest--by far--GTV-6 there. :-) In a burst of irony,
I was sent to park among the Panteristas. Furthering
the irony was the fact they had printed out the write
up on Auto-Italia @ Portofino I did the last time.

As I was registering, someone came over and asked if a
Joe Garcia had registered. Since I was in the process
of registering I obviously was not on any list...so I
helpfully piped up and said "I'm Joe Garcia."

"No, you're not" she said with incredulous glee.

"I am, honest."

"What car do you have?" She pressed, and, not waiting
for an answer looked at the form I was signing (which
said that if personnel from the Portofino Bay Hotel
tied me down and disemboweled me, the Portofino Bay
Hotel would not be responsible) and she read aloud and
with great joy "Maratona! That's the one! Where are
you parked?"

"Right there behind those two yellow Panterae."

"In the Pantera section, huh? Come by when you finish
up."

Normally, people don't come asking if I am among the
assembled, and on the rare occasions they do, they
never ask to stop by.

The lady at the desk also was supremely curious, and
asked me to come right back and tell what this was all
about. (Whoever you are, this is my way of telling
you, sorry I forgot at the time.)

When I got back to my car to buff off the wax I had
applied prior to my pre-dawn jaunt up Florida's
Turnpike (a/k/a/ Insect Alley) I saw the assembled
Panteristas, including the lady who had been inquiring
as to li'l ol' me. She recognized me and joyfully
waved a printout of the scribblings I had made from
the last Portofino event (wherein I described the
ordeal of trying to wash a car at said hotel, and my
having bumped into a pack of Panteras during such
tribulations).

They all smiled and burst into laughter, and so did I
when I realized what this was all about. I explained
to them how I was amazed that Panteras run in packs,
while Alfas seem to be a solitary bunch. I got their
emails and promised them there would be a copy of
whatever the Hell I wrote about this event to be
forwarded to them (along with a picture of my 6 y.o.'s
Pantera model).

In reality the Pantera guys were a great deal of fun,
and quite nice even though they ribbed me mercilessly.
Which I deserved, for being a smartass. They mostly
hung out and BSed, had lunch, admired each others'
cars, and hung out BSing some more. They do seem like
an amazingly stress-free bunch. They are so relaxed
and easygoing and fun-loving I don't think you could
clog their arteries with a caulking gun. Whereas I was
all bent out of shape because some bugs were hard to
remove from my grille.

Oh, and if the guy from VA with the 164LS is on the
Digest, shoot me an email off-list.

-Joe in SoFla
1984 GTV-6 Maratona
~22K mi.
Keeper of the Maratona Registry (temporarily located
at
www.geocities.com/lacorsanostra )

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