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July 4, 2005 Chagrin Falls Car ShowThings have been pretty crazy around my house lately. Between trying to close on the new house, trying to get all the chores around my current house finished before the new one eats all my time, helping my folks with some landscaping work around their new house, and, well, my days are pretty full. But today I did some car stuff My step-father, Aaron, who occasionally goes to car shows with one of his cars, wanted to take his 1963 Alfa-Romeo 2600 Spyder to a local car show this afternoon. He's trying to sell the car and thought this would be good exposure. So Julia and I jumped in the TT, dropped the top, and headed down to see the show in the 95-degree heat.
You may recall Aaron's Porsche 356 from another show we went to last fall, and his 1963 Alfa is an earlier addition to his collection, bought on a whim because he liked the lines of the big, red 4-seater. It's a very handsome car, quite a bit bigger than most Alfas (it's actually about the size of my Mustang!), with a twin-cam 2.6-liter in-line six and three Solex side-draft carbs. I've never seen another one, though I have seen a vintage Ferrari wearing the same body made by Touring. The car is about 90% original though he's installed a new top and just had a beautiful set of chrome wire knock-off wire wheels made for it last winter. They compliment the car perfectly. It has about 48,000 miles on the clock, and I believe that's an accurate number. The engine has never been apart, the interior has wonderful patina, but isn't ragged, and the paint is exactly right for a nice driver. I'd rate it as a 3+ or 2-. It's too nice to restore, but not too perfect to drive. They're only original once!
So why is he selling it? It's just one too many cars in his stable, and he's hoping to add a 356 roadster to his collection. He's a Porsche guy, what can I say? I drove the Alfa for the first time (yeah, the first time in 11 years) today, and it's a hoot! That big six makes incredible sounds and pulls hard (lots of torque!). It's a deceptively big car and not really meant to be a sports car. I think it was really made to drive from Paris to Rome at 100 MPH, and it cruises effortlessly. What a cool piece. If you're interested, he's asking $23,000 or best offer. Contact me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net and I'll forward your E-mail to him. OK, on to the rest of the show. First, the Buicks:
The show was filled with a mixed bag of interesting cars. There were a lot of rods which don't really interest me any more, especially since all but one had the ubiquitous 350/350 combination. The only oddball was a yellow Model A tudor sedan with unusual small-block Ford power. Not that there's anything wrong with these rods, but I wish people would spend a little time to make them interesting. Taking an old car and throwing in a small-block Chevy and a Mustang II front suspension is no longer a challenge. Even at a little show like this, it's hard to stand out with a garden-variety rod. Same deal with the Cobra replicas--why build one just like everyone else's (or worse, with an AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION)? Anyway, rant over, here's some additional interesting hardware I saw:
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Restoration Day E-mail me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net This page accessed Thanks, Fidget! |
