The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club
IniezioneIniezione
Viva Italia 2012 Columbia Winery, Woodinville
* Viva Italia …….…………... pg 1
* President’s Column …... pg 2
* Club Meeting …...…..…... pg 3
* News …………………....….. pg 4
* Half Fast Lap …...…...….. pg 5
* RTC Exotics ………….….... pg 6
* Summer Drive …….....…. pg 7
* Maryhill Hillclimb .….…... pg 8
* Alfa Challenges ……….... pg 9
* Classifieds …….….. pgs 10,11
* Calendar ……………….… pg 12
Next club events…
* Club Meeting ……….......… Aug 14
* Concorso Italiano …….….. Aug 17
* Summer Drive …………….. Aug 25
Inside this August 2012 issue…
The Viva Italia car & motorcycle show was another fun day filled with a great mix of Italian metal. The weather in the area around Woodinville was stormy with thunder and lightening not too far away, but our event location was blessed with just clouds and cars.
No rain fell on us, but based on the reduced number of cars overall I think the weather kept a few at home in their garages.
Harry Reed arrived early to help me setup, but neither of us had much of a task list. The new American Car Museum in Tacoma
showing nearly 400 of the cars
from the Lemay collection, joined us early as well with a table to sell raffle tickets for the 2013 Ford Mustang GT Convertible. I bought my ticket so I assume I’ll win.
We used the west half of the Columbia Winery parking area this year mixing the Alfa Romeos, with Fiats, De-Tomaso Panteras, and Ferraris. One gorgeous yellow Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera came up from the
Redmond show earlier in the day. Others from Red-mond came as well like Bruce Wanta with his one of a kind Tom Tjaarda Pantera, and his blue Maserati Bora. Greg Whitten brought his red Ferrari FF, to park next to the Ferrari Testarossa, as well as a few 308 and 355 that came. The Fiat side had a couple older cars but also a brand new
white with red Fiat 500 Abarth that belonged to Dick & Judy Buckingham. The Pantera club had a few folks arrive providing a nice rumble to the area as they
drive in or out.
The Alfa Romeo side was well represented with a few sedans ranging from a Giulia Super, my Sport Sedan, and a number of nice Milanos. John VanRensberg made an appearance with his fierce Milano / 75 project which always draws a crowd either from its sound, looks, or mechanical extremes. We also had a few beautiful Giulietta Spiders as well as two Giulietta Sprints. Spiders came in a variety of years and colors and the GTV6 and Alfetta GT segment had
good representation from both polished and non-polished alike.
We had a few Ducati attend the show with their unique sound from the dry clutch when it is not engaged… but we also had a nice guy, and his family who brought out a rare Moto Morini Excalibur V-Twin motorcycle. Alfonso Morini started making motorcycles under the name Moto Morini in 1937 at a factory in Bologna,
Italy. Just like Alfa Romeo, their factory was destroyed by Allied air strikes in 1943. By 1946, Moto Morini was back in the motorcycle business and independ-ent until early 1987 when they sold out to Cagiva. The last 17 years, Moto Morini was run by the daughter of the founder; Gabriella Morini. In 1999, a nephew of
the founder bought the company with plans to revive it’s earlier glory. This year, showing a sign of a heartbeat, they launched a limited run of a new Moto Morini called the Giubileo.
In the end, it was a grand day with nice cars, good weather at the show, new friends, good wine, and I delivered 73 pounds of donated food and money to the Hopelink’s food bank on National Harry Chapin Food Drive day. Thanks!
Sorry… no photos were sent to me so I couldn’t
share any in the article.
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 2
President’s Column by Merril Gordon
Summer Fun
I was supposed to have this article in yester-day to Fred and here I am one day late trying to write up something. I also haven’t reserved the motel for the ½ Fast Lap… wait, got that taken care of. Even got it cheaper than Fred quoted. Those drives are one of the best events this club does and we can thank that guy who publishes our newsletter for that too. Once we get to The Dalles we’ll have some incredibly scenic and fun driving in north cen-tral Oregon. I’m looking forward to it.
Was on the racetrack again in July, having as always, a total blast. Did have one issue. Driving out of Turn 8 I’m full on the throttle in second and shift into third, except one time I shifted, or tried to shift and the lever landed between first and third. What with adrenalin
excitedly pumping through my veins and about a year’s worth of bench presses pushing on 75 lb hand dumbbells… now I can’t select 1
st gear anymore! I can still select the rest of the gears
so I finished out the day with no handicap as 1st isn’t really used
on the racetrack. Now I’m wondering what I bent.
Speaking of the track, does everyone know Kathleen Boutiette? She’s been managing track logistics for as long as I know. She sometimes gets involved during the Holiday Gala as well. Joe Faherty is our Competition Director and performed track master duties that day. John Gates always leads tech inspection and I sure appreciate being able to count on him. Tess McMillan
helped out with tech and other tasks too. Inspected my car and was pretty thorough at it too. Fred Russell (yeah, that guy again) brought a bunch of colleagues from work to help with corner worker responsibilities. Who else did we have at the corners? Bill Gehring, Earl Krygier, were two of them. I think we had a few more. Phil Edwards helped out with driver instruction. I need to know who the other instructors are. Seems like a good subject for a future President’s article. Anyway it takes quite a few people to put on a track day and I for one appreciate it.
…writers block, I’ll call Gordy and see if he has any ideas. Gordy says Alfa is the featured marque at the Mary Hill hillclimb, 1
st weekend in October.
He’s staying at the Quality Inn in Goldendale. He’s also giving a presenta-tion at the next club meeting regarding the Toronto convention.
Gordy also knew some advanced details for next year’s convention. It will be in north central California at the Double Tree Wine Country in Rohnert Park located between Petaluma and Santa Rosa. This is a Monday through Friday convention beginning July 8
th and continuing through the
12th. Here’s some contact information: 800-222-TREE for the general
Double Tree reservation line and 707-586-4615 to access the Rohnert Park Double Tree facility. Request “Alfa California”. Everyone! This is close enough to drive to and that means scenic drives in your own Alfa as well as track days, maybe even two track days at Infineon Raceway. That sounds like a fantastic time to me. So start preparing now, i.e. reserve the vacation time, make any chassis/engine freshening needed, and if you have A/C, make sure it works! I can imagine Vancouver Canada Alfisti driving down and collecting the NWARC folks, who then continue on to Portland to gather the AROO aficionados for a continuation onto Rohnert Park. And you track rats, get preparing, we’ll get to meet a lot of California drivers who like to keep slip angles at maximum with the tach at redline. Sounds like my kind of week. One last thing, Gordy says there will probably be some kind of post con-vention tour headed back north, so the more days you can re-serve the better. Let’s have fun!
Last item; elections are coming up for November and we need volunteers to hold office. I’ve been president for two years now and any longer means I become dictator, and I don’t want to be president for life. The positions of President, VP, Secretary, and Treasurer are elected and the committee chairs; Activities, Com-petition, Membership, Editor, Webmaster, and Technical Editor are appointed, i.e. if you want it you’ll likely get it. Give some thought to supporting our club and shape it in the direction you want.
Ciao for now,
Merril Gordon
President NWARC
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 3
Italian Car Club of BC Fritz Duernberger
604 988 7904
SOVREN (Society of Vintage
Racing Enthusiasts)
Dick & Judy Buckingham 425 277 3177
AROO
(Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon)
Ed Slavin 503 789 3282
FEN (Fiat Enthusiasts NW)
Gordy Hyde 425 241 9307
MGCCNWC (MG)
Ken Bottini 425 883 9615
President Merril Gordon (206) 290 4704 [email protected]
Vice President Bill Gehring (425) 822 4231 [email protected]
Secretary Gordy Hyde (425) 241 9307 [email protected]
Treasurer Thomas Jermann(206) 276 3484 [email protected]
Activities Shannon Low (206) 715 9670 [email protected]
Competition Joe Faherty (253) 549 6828 [email protected]
Membership Paul & Kristy Affolter (206) 523 8534
[email protected] [email protected]
Iniezione Editor Fred Russell [email protected]
Webmaster Earl Krygier [email protected]
Technical Editor Wes Ingram 15613 “C” Peterson Road Burlington, WA 98233 (360) 707 5701 [email protected]
http://nwalfaclub.com
www.aroc-usa.org
www.alfabb.com
Facebook: NWARC
Only a few club members were lucky
enough to attend the AROC National Con-
vention in Toronto Canada, known as Alfa
Canadese. This was the first time AROC
has ever held an International meeting,
as they combined the gathering with Alfa
Romeo Club of Canada. The location and
many of the people and cars were new, mixed with
many of the great members many of us recognize
as well.
Gordy, as an AROC National Board Member, did
his usual bang up job representing NWARC. He
participated in a variety of events and gathered
stories for us. Now, at
our August club meeting,
Gordy will share a number
of photos and words to
give each of us a taste of
what the rest of us
missed.
Andrea Zagato
Special Guest
Alfa Romeo TZ3
Stradale Displayed
Alfa Romeo Giulia 50th
Anniversary
If you were at the convention,
you must attend this meeting to
ensure Gordy doesn’t spin any
tall tales. If you weren’t at the
convention, you must attend this
meeting to get a feel of the con-
vention without the time and
cost. See you at Lombardi’s on
August 10th. Bring an appetite
for good Italian food, Alfa photos, and a little Canadian humor.
When: Tuesday, Aug 14th 6:30 - 9:30 PM
Where: Lombardi’s Cucina
695 NW Gilman Blvd Issaquah 98027
NWARC August Club Meeting Board Members
Committee Directors
Club Liaisons
The Iniezione is the monthly newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club, a non-profit organization of Alfa Romeo enthu-
siasts. NWARC is a regional chapter of the national Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC). Chapter meetings are held the sec-
ond Tuesday of most months except December. Membership dues are $63 per year, which includes subscriptions to ei-ther the digit and / or print versions of the Iniezione and the monthly national publication, Alfa Owner. For information
about joining the club, contact the membership director listed in the right hand column. Opinions expressed in the Iniezi-
one are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the club. (The author may simply be nuts!) Publication
of articles describing technical procedures does not constitute an endorsement by the club, its officers, or AROC. It is the
responsibility of the person performing any procedure to accept all consequences of his or her actions. Wouldn’t it be nice
if everyone would take personal responsibility?
Commercial advertisements in the newsletter are a win! During this tight economy, give your business
added exposure while supporting the NWARC. Ad rates are: 5”x8” $85/Quarterly $200/Annually
4”x5” $65/Quarterly $170/Annually 2”x3.5” $50/Quarterly $120/Annually
E-mail a color tif, or pdf file (300 DPI) to [email protected]
Just the Facts...
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 4
Have you been watching the Olympics going on in London? The TV coverage on NBC is rather good… except for Ryan Seacrest, but that’s another issue. The highlight of the games so far (and it is rather early in the weeks of events) is the ad for the new Infiniti
G25 that’s been played a few times. Why, because the ad shows a couple dreaming of
where to vacation. The first idea is a cruise but then they think better… they dream of going to a beautiful waterfall and a twisty scenic road. Their dream in the Infiniti ad is Multnomah Falls and the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway. You can live that dream… just register for this year’s Half Lap of Washington by reserving your hotel rooms (See page 5) since that is exactly where we are going on September 15-17. Dream along with NWARC and you don’t have to buy an Infiniti.
Spotted along the side of West Lake Sammamish Pkwy
just north of Issaquah. An abandoned GTV appeared to have been dumped in a wide spot along the side of the road. Just two days later it had been removed. Perhaps it has made it into the King County impound lot while awaiting an auction or the metal scrap truck.
NWARC has a nice summer drive coming up on August 25th, just in time for summer
to start. The drive should be a nice chance to spend a day with the warm sun, wind in our hair, and the sounds of Alfas. See page 7 for details.
As a member of NWARC, you may get to explore some of Washington’s most scenic roads, the Kirkland Concours “Tour d’ Jour”. The tour begins at the new Lemay Museum with a private viewing of some of the cars. Coffee and pastries will be provided, while par-ticipants attend the mandatory drivers meeting prior to the official 9:00 AM start of the tour. The planned route takes in 100 miles of country roads with a mid tour rest stop in
Belfair at a Starbucks before the final leg of returns participants to the McCormick Woods Golf Course for a hosted lunch and a secured parking area for display of participant cars. Participation will be limited to 50 cars from selected clubs that will rotate from year to year. This year’s invited club participants are: Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Lotus, Jaguar, All British, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Porsche. The cost is $70 per car for two people, which includes a small donation to the beneficiaries of the Kirkland Concours d’ Elegance. If you want to participate, send an email with your name, our club name,
make, model, year, and color of your car entering to: [email protected] and mail a check made out to Kirkland Concours d’Elegance to Dennis Rood at 11205 82nd PL NE, Kirkland, WA 98034. Questions? Contact Dennis by e-mail at [email protected] or 425-647-3739. (Dennis will confirm your attendance.) Drivers must be over 18 years.
Goodwood Festival of Speed annual event took place for 4 days earlier this month. It really should be on most Alfisti Bucket Lists. Here are a few of the cars at the show!
Alfa News
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 5
2012 Half Fast Lap Sept 15-17 Make Hotel Reservations by Aug 16th
The plans and details are getting finalized for this year’s Half Lap of Washington. Three days of driving, playing
tourist, learning about the area, and enjoying our friend-ships!
This year, our trip starts on Sept 15th by heading south to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to see if any birds are on their Half Lap. Then to the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge with a couple quick stops before
ending in The Dalles.
Sunday, we head for the twisty roads and small towns of eastern Oregon including a plan to take a couple parade laps of the new racetrack, Oregon Raceway Park. The day continues on fun back roads before returning to The Dalles.
Yes, we return to the same hotel. Staying in the same ho-tel, in a cool town makes our travelling easier but also al-lows people to stay behind who don’t want to drive twisty roads. On one of our two nights, we’ll make a quick visit
to Goldendale for a tour and celestial education at the Goldendale Observatory.
Our Monday brings us west-bound through the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon side. This allows a drive along the Historic Highway which is one of the
nicest roads around, plus stops at a few of the fantastic waterfalls along the way. An optional stop for a little vino from one of the great Portland wineries before we drive the “exciting” run back north along I-5 to the Seattle.
These Half Laps are always a great drive filled with great roads, wonderful
people, educational opportunities, cool scenery, and a few stories to tell. If you have blood in your veins, you need to attend this event. The first step is to make your hotel reservation for our 2 night stay in The Dalles, Oregon at Cousins Country Inn. Call them at 800-848-9378. Ask for Barb and tell her you want a room from the block reserved for NWARC. Rooms are around $100 per
night.
With 2 weeks to go before we loose our block of rooms, I checked, and we already have over half of our rooms
reserved. Good job! Thank you to all of you, and if you haven’t signed up, please do it now so you will be staying with us at the event hotel.
Vista House overlooks the
Columbia River Gorge
Rowena Loops
Multnomah Falls
Goldendale Observatory
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 6
Redmond Town Center Exotics in July
The weekly gatherings (weather permitting) on Saturday mornings at Redmond Town Center (RTC) have become
more of a success than the organizers could have ever hoped for. A slow showing is “only 100 cars” while the busy
shows have closer to 225 cars. It is always free, well man-aged, filled with enthusiastic people, a great variety of “exotic” cars, and more and more publicity.
After 5 straight weeks of rainy Saturdays, you knew the wait would make the next RTC Exotics a good show. July 7th turned out to be really good. With a British focus, NWARC member Chris Papendorf brought two cars; his blue Austin Mini and his green Lotus Elise. Both, as you’d expect from Chris, are perfect examples and drew plenty of lookers.
Meanwhile Chris went to find the owner of a rare TVR that caught his eye. Other club members there with cars. Mike Kay with his stunning burgundy colored Giulia Super, Mike
Wilson with his red Lambor-
ghini Countach, and Blake Siebe driving his extremely
rare Plymouth Sport Truck. I spotted Merril Gordon walking the crowd, and the nice red Giulietta Spider with the VROOOM license plate.
There were plenty of British cars on display: Jaguar, As-
ton Martin, Bentley, MG, Triumph, Morris,
Austin Healey, Lotus, and a McLaren. Yes McLaren is British. The company that produces the modern McLaren for street and racing is headquartered in the
UK. The car at the show was the new MP4 12C that you can own for around $400K. Though the British cars took the
center of the Mall, there were plenty of other Exotics also displayed. A row of Nissan Skyline GTR was impressive much like the row of Cobra replicas were. Lamborghini was blessed with a few Diablos, Mucielagos, a matte black Aven-tador, and even a yellow Miura. Ferrari’s
are never limited at this event and among the great cars was a perfect red 246 GT Dino with both the front and the engine cover open. Mercedes, Audi, Por-sche, and Corvette all had nice contin-gent of cars to represent them.
Topping that show, July 21st featured Ferrari and the weather was equally great! Over 100 Ferrari down the middle of the Mall area including members Greg Whitten and Mark Colbert showing great cars. The Alfa area had a GTV6 3.0, a 73 spider, and a Black 8cCompetizione. Then on July 28th, the featured car was McLaren so the new MP4 12C was on dis-
play with Sir-Mix-A-Lot bringing his new black one to sit next to the stun-ning burnt orange color version.
I am not sure how much longer this can stay this cool. Enjoy it while we can and before the organizers go crazy from all the volunteer effort they input every dry Saturday and
the days prior!
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 7
Name: _____________________________________________________________________
Spouse: ____________________________________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip: ______________________________________________________________
Home Phone: _______________________________________________________________
Alt. Phone: _________________________________________________________________
E-mail Address: _____________________________________________________________
Do you wish to be affiliated with the local Alfa Club? Yes…. NWARC
Please indicate your interests:
Technical______ Tours______ Social_______ Rally_______ Vintage Cars_______
Cost: $63 annual AROC dues includes $3 NWARC affiliation fee
Make check payable to: ALFA ROMEO OWNERS CLUB
Or… Online registration http://www.aroc-usa.org/
N
WA
RC
/ A
RO
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bersh
ip A
pp
licati
on
The following members have volunteered to provide Alfa Mentoring!!!
Don’t hesitate to contact any of these members for good Alfa info!
Model/Series Member Name Contact 164 / GTV-6 Dan Jardine [email protected]
GTV Dave Emerson [email protected] Spiders, GTV Fred Wright [email protected] Spiders (101/105) George Gibbs [email protected] 80’s Spiders Harry Reed [email protected] Almost Anything! Fred Russell [email protected]
The NWARC would like to welcome these 5 new members who joined in the last 30 days!
Mark Glenwood Arlington
Tyler Hendricks Lake Forest Park
Dan Hoogen Tacoma (GTV)
David Larsen Maple Valley
Derek Wang Kirkland
Membership
Come bring your favorite Alfa Romeo for a summer drive through the beautiful Snoqualmie Valley. Ken and Louisa Case have laid out a scenic and interesting route for us to use.
The route includes beautiful valley views, some “off the beaten path” back roads (all paved) and some up close looks at Mount Si.
Along the way we will stop for a tour of Camp Korey at the old Carnation Farm. Camp Korey is a children’s summer camp pro-vided for children dealing with childhood illness or serious medi-cal conditions. The camp was founded in 2005 by Tim Rose in memory of his son Korey who died of cancer at age 18. The pro-grams at the camp are provided free so the kids can “raise a lit-tle hell” in spite of their situation. In 2008 the camp became
part of seriousfun founded by Paul Newman. (campkorey.org)
Later we will visit Jim Giordano’s Vintage Motors in Carnation. Jim has a showroom full of inter-esting old cars including a nice ALFA 164. I’m sure Jim would be happy to sell you any of his
collection if you asked. (giocars.com)
We will end our drive at Jay Berry’s in North Bend where we can all have a snack and tell each other what marvelous drivers we have been.
We will be starting at the Starbucks in Redmond Town Center (7525 166th Ave NE) at 11:00 AM. (Map available at redmondtownceter.com) The drive to North Bend is about 40 miles and we should reach there about 1:30 PM including generous time for our points of interest.
Mail t
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2340
KAN
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Summer Drive August 25th!
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 8
Member Recommendations
This month we have no new additions to the list of rec-ommended vendors. If you have had a good experience with some provider of ALFA related goods or services, please share your knowledge. All providers listed were
recommended by one or more club members as being
highly satisfactory, but are not specifically endorsed by NWARC.
The list includes:
Bellevue Collision, Bellevue - Collision Repair
Classic Interior Restorations, Seattle - Headliners
East Bay Collision, Gig Harbor - Collision Repair
Mark 2 Collision Center, Lynnwood - Collision Repair
North Kitsap Auto Rebuilt, Poulsbo - Collision Repair
Professional Glass Company, Seattle - Windshield Replacement
Security Safe & Lock, Inc., Bellevue - Lock Rebuilding
Tire Rack Internet - Tires, Wheels and Parts
You can add to this list by sending your recommendations to Ken Case at [email protected]. Ken maintains the list and contacts the pro-viders. Ken will also exclude a provider from the list if you send an email indication a provider should never go on the list. All providers of automotive goods or services are eligible for the list if:
1. They are recommended by a member based on personal experi-ence
2. The provider has no family or financial connection with the mem-ber recommending them
3. The primary business of the provider does not compete with one of the providers advertising in the Iniezione
If you have a provider you have found to be highly satisfactory, share your wisdom and pass your recommendation on to Ken. With your help, we can all be better automotive consumers.
Save The Dates: October 6, 7 2012
SOVREN’s featured marque will be Alfa Romeo at this
year’s Maryhill Hillclimb and Concours. This event is held annually at the Maryhill Museum and on the Maryhill Loops Road. The Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon (AROO) will be joining this event as well.
The Maryhill Loops Road was first constructed from 1909 to 1913 by Samuel Hill (1857–1931), founder of Maryhill Museum of Art. The road ascends 850 ft in a series of 25 curves including 8 hairpins with a gradient of at 5%.
Maryhill Hillclimb
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 9
Alfa Market Challenge Questions
Most communities don’t get the luxury of having a new race track built, let alone have a club member who was in the middle of the process. As the original plans were getting rolling to create the new race track near Shel-ton, Fred Wright heard about it and, in typical Fred Wright style, he
jumped in. Helping to write the business plan, raise investor money, then helping as the trees were cut, grading was done, and paving went down. Now, he took the time to recap the process and give us a turn by turn description of the new track.
We were treated to his insight on the best line, braking zones, turn in cones, and gear choice. Fred talked us through the two blind spots where
the track rises up onto the ridge making the crest of the hill an act of blind faith, at speed.
At this point, Fred Wright runs the Ridge Racing School at the track and
has been lapping the track since before the paving went down. He shared ideas how the NWARC could co-ordinate a lapping day
at The Ridge! Perhaps next season we’ll have a day at the new track and see what all the talk is about.
Fred Wright & The Ridge Motorsports Track
The reintroduction of Alfa sedans/coupes into the US may have run into headwinds that have less to do with product de-sign or “getting things right” as CEO Sergio Marchionne has said, and more to do with manufacturing capacity and simple
economics. The US will likely see limited segment, specialty models of Alfa starting in 2013 with the 4C spider (made in Italy). A cross-over type vehicle bearing the Alfa badge (likely made in Canada) will be exported to Europe and may be
sold in the US. The Mazda-based car (made in Japan) is slated for 2015. But a mainstream Alfa that will likely produce real profits is another question. A look at the Fiat/Alfa situation shows:
American Fiat dealers are clamoring for more product. Having invested millions into their dealership studios they are
now in the position of having to boost sales significantly in order to make their businesses successful. This will re-
quire cars other than the Fiat 500, and, having been promised a new Alfa line, are putting significant pressure on Marchionne and Fiat to now deliver those new models especially a 4-door. Dealers believe they can sell a well-made Alfa to compete with BMW because they’ve successfully taken on BMW’s mini.
There may be no North American production facility available to make Alfas. The Dodge Dart is expected to be a
huge winner for Chrysler/Fiat but the one plant that would most logically incorporate US Giulietta production ( the highly automated state-of–the-art Belvidere, IL facility) is already at 3-shift capacity producing Darts. Fiat’s Mexico facility is tooled for 500s and is at capacity, pushed by demand for the Abarth version. How Alfa production could be ramped up in N.A. in the near future is a big question.
Car sales in Europe have experienced a tremendous decline due to economic conditions and are not projected to re-
cover for several years, if at all. Fiat’s only hope of being a viable automotive company rests in North and South America near-term, Russia, and eventually China.
Currently Fiat is losing $500 million annually in their European operations. Declining car sales in Europe and declin-
ing Fiat/Alfa market share (Fiat now has less than 10% of the car market in Europe) has left the company with huge
excess production capacity especially in Italy.
The obvious solution would be for Fiat to build US Alfas in Europe, but as logical as it is from a capacity standpoint, it’s a non-starter financially. Alfas will need to retail at certain price points to be competitive in the US, but the Euro-USD ex-change rate makes it almost certain that Fiat would lose money with such a plan. High-cost European-made Alfas would be competing with BMWs, Mercedes, and VWs made in the US and Mexico.
Our take is that if Marchionne had North American manufacturing capacity available we’d see a Giulietta very soon. After all, the new Dart was designed in record time by a joint Italian-American team and the same process would be used for a
Giulietta. We think it’s already well along, perhaps even finished.
Written by David Wase
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 10
For Sale: 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto, dark blue. Original 1600 en-
gine, rebuilt 12K miles ago. Original Dunlop brakes replaced and
booster added. Top in almost new condition, 5 new tires. Excellent
condition overall, suitable to drive as is or excellent bones for a
ground up restoration. Asking $12,500. Send E-mail address for link
to file of pictures to [email protected] or call 360-480-2328.
For Free: Two sets of Cromodora 14” x 5 ½” alloy wheels for 105 and 115 series Al-fas. Free, but you have to pick them up in Ellensburg. Both sets have tires of question-
able worth mounted. One set of wheels is quite good-the other has some road rash and finish
blems. Ken (509-925-3888), [email protected]
For Sale: 1976 Spider $8,000 OBO 64,700 miles Cream w/Black The car was restored 12 years ago. Toyo tires mounted on Cromo-doras still have 90% wear. (Original wheels available as well.) Electronic ignition,
rebuilt alternator, Ansa exhaust, Koni shocks, Carello headlight covers, good top, small tear in passenger seat, paint chip on hood. Car is in Spokane. Call Larry Cowles 509-448-1478
For Sale: 1984 Spider $17,000 OBO 40,000 miles. This is a real time cap-sule car. If you want a brand new Alfa, but don’t want to wait for who knows when…
here is your car. This car, with its Anthracite paint and dark tan interior looks, drives, sounds, and even smells just like new. Everything is excellent on this car includ-ing how quiet it is. It has been cared for by Alfa of Ta-coma and Ferrari of Seattle its whole life and owned by
a meticulous car guy. This really is an outstanding car… start your own museum or enjoy it as you would a new car. On behalf of the owner, contact Fred R at [email protected] with inquiries.
For Sale: 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint $18,000 Come see this rare car! Body in excellent con-
dition. Interior in great shape with all original fabric. Engine has not been run for several years, tires flat. Stored in heated garage for 40 years. This car has been
formally appraised by well-known auto consultant, John Kincl of Auto Ideas. It is priced AS IS in current condi-tion for 18,000. Owner planned to restore and all in-tended parts are included in price for immediate sale. This is all the information we have on the car in regard to history, etc. Fully restored value is $36,000. The best
way to get more information is to come and see it. If interested, please contact Kristen Yagle for viewing times and schedule. 206-399-0941
Classified Ads
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 11
For Sale: 1974 Spider Veloce New Lower Price $6500 OBO Complete me-chanical restoration including all suspension - with poly bushings, Rugh sport springs, Bilstein shocks, adjustable upper front arm. Complete engine rebuild with
Hannifer Stage 1 head work with new race springs and 11mm cams, 10:1 pistons,
Ingram HP Spica pump to match, Crane Cam ignition, High voltage coil. Transmis-sion rebuilt by Ingram, Diff upgraded to 4.10 for nice cruising. Interior in decent shape with recent seat covers. New top. Gas tank cleaned and sealed by Seattle radiator. Radio upgraded to Alpine 4 x 65 W with 4 coax speakers discreetly mounted. This runs and drives better than new and is ready for a late summer cruise as it sits. Eventually the new owner may want to address the body and paint as it is patina rich but still looks good from 20 feet. Call Greg at 206 890 2525
- Kirkland
For Sale: 1987 SPIDER GRADUATE $6,996 (New Lower Price!)
Summertime fun-to-drive daily driver. Red with black interior and new top. Looks great! 8+ overall. Stock with Wes Ingram engine. Runs great and starts first try. Extras included 55K miles. Always waxed, covered, and cur-rently stored. Call Tom at (206) 604-0079
Parts For Sale: I have a bunch of GTV6 stuff… doors, hood, trunk, trim and left overs from rebuilding my car. If you know anyone needing parts, I want them out of my way! Dave Bibby 206 255 5669
Parts For Sale: 2.5 Ltr V6 Motor / Transaxle from Milano Call Joe 253 549 6828
Parts For Sale: Complete rebuilt 3.0 Ltr V6 Motor w/Auto Trans, from ‘91 164 L sedan Engine still at rebuild shop. Reduced Price… a great deal at only $900 Call June 425 244 2875
Parts For Sale: Four 15 inch Giulietta/Giulia wheels for sale. In good condition incl. hub clips. $150.00/set Jon Wright 206-459-2674
Parts Wanted!!! Rear view mirror for 1968 1750 GTV. Philip at 604-240-0864 or [email protected]
Parts Wanted!!! 1750 Berlina parts (e.g. seats, armrests) Contact Gary at [email protected]
For Sale: 1976 Yellow Spider Make Offer Doesn't run currently, but does have plenty of extra parts and a few new
parts like shocks and sway bar. Stephanie Raupach 360-509-2993 .
For Sale: 1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio Silver with hardtop
plus new soft top. Power windows and mirrors, AC, Nardi Classico wood steering wheel, Grey leather, 5-Speed, Cromodora wheels, original war-ranty books, front bra, matching numbers on the engine and transmission, 89,286 miles, and a custom wind cover for the passenger seat, custom car-pet. Has a few door dings. Hasn’t driven in 6 months after one cylinder lost compression. I have replaced the tires, oil pan (no leaks), engine
mounts, and exhaust. Priced to sell as I have already moved to San Fran-cisco. Call Ted at 703 862 1820 and I can put you in touch with her caretaker in Seattle.
For Sale: 1976 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce $8950 Excellent condition, Garaged, White/
Black / Chrome, No rust, One owner last 25 years Approx. 106K mi. All service records since 10K miles. Recent $4800 service & tune-up: Frank Spicer & Wes Ingram. Loves to be driven. Spica fuel injection doesn’t miss a beat. Robbins™ premium canvas convertible top. New aviation leather seats. Custom carpet.
Tonneau cover, exterior car cover & Alfa key chain included. Fuel efficient. Must see to ap-preciate. Ready to warm-up & go! (206) 718-4946 [email protected]
Classified Ads Cont’d... Cars & Parts For Sale and Wanted
NWARC August 2012 newsletter page 12
Aug 14 NWARC Club Meeting Issaquah Lombardi’s Cucina (Convention Recap)
Aug 17 Concorso Italiano Monterey, California
Aug 25 NWARC Summer Drive Redmond
Sept 8-10 FEN 3 Island Drive
Sept 15-17 NWARC Half Fast Lap of Washington (Reservations by Aug 16th)
Oct 6,7 Maryhill Hillclimb Alfa Romeo Featured Marque SOVREN
Oct 27 NWARC Driving School Bremerton
Dec 1 NWARC Holiday Gala Seattle
2012 Calendar of Events
Photo of the month: A humoristic view of a GTA widebody!