My beautiful GTV-6 Balocco love at first and second sight It was 1981, I was an upward mobile junior executive, I had a ‘72 Fiat Spider for weekends and was shopping for a 3 Series BMW. But then one day I wondered into Grand Prix Motors in Stony Brook, Long Island and it was love at first sight! A 1981 red GTV-6 seduced me right there in the showroom. I had to have a test drive and the minute I turned the key and that spectacular hemi head Alfa V6 rumbled to life I was hooked. It had everything the BMW was lacking, power, beauty, power, Italian styling, power and an unsurpassed racing heritage. I bought it immediately and was set for a lifetime of automotive bliss. As is the case with most marriages that are only based on lust, the relationship with my new Alfa soon became a less than pleasant experience. Needless to say, 1981 was not the high water mark year for Alfa reliability. I had a beautiful young wife at home raising my two wonderful children. Suffice to say, on more occasions then I care to remember she had to pack the kids into her Pontiac sedan to retrieve me from my non-operative GTV-6 or drive me to the dealer where the Alfa had been towed. While it was ecstasy when running properly, more often than not it was pure agony. It was this initial experience with Alfa Romeo and my wonderful Italian wife that caused me to coin the statement, “Italian sport cars are like Italian women, very beautiful and extremely exciting, but a pain in the ass to live with.” Maddy decided that she wasn’t happy living with the GTV-6 in our family and I couldn’t make a valid argument to the contrary so we reluctantly sold the Alfa and soon forgot about it. Well, so I thought. Fast forward to 1998, I’m enjoying a happy marriage and a successful career, my children are all grown up, educated and out of the nest. Suddenly, I have a major relapse of the dreaded NEAD, never ending Alfa Addiction and I become obsessed with finding another Alfa, more specifically a GTV-6. “Just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in.” After a year and a half of research, meeting Alfisti like Joey LoRe and searching I found my Balocco with only 26K original miles near Harrisburg, PA. During that time I went to see many GTV-6’s described by their owners as in good condition with only the usual surface rust. Did you know that you can see through the fenders of cars with the surface rust. However, the minute I saw my Balocco, it was again, love at first sight, or in my case it was actually love at second sight. Joey and I went to Harrisburg to retrieve my new mistress and the rest is history. This GTV-6 was meticulously maintained and it had all of the upgrades of the vastly improved í86 model year. In the four years I’ve owned it, it thrills me every time I drive it and has never let me down. While it took almost twenty years to buy my second Alfa, it only took one more year to buy my third Alfa, a pristine 164S. This story has an even better conclusion, I continue to enjoy my GTV-6, but it’s the friendships that I’ve developed with my fellow NYAROC Alfisti and sharing the numerous Alfa events we have every year that makes my Alfa experience a thing of beauty and never ending enjoyment Yes, Alfa’s are an addiction, but its lots of fun and feels so good!
George Pezold
I have owned and driven many Alfas since my first one in 1964, a 1600 Giulia Sprint, but my all-time favorite is the beautiful 1600 Giulia TZ. I was touring Europe in the fall of 1963 with a family friend, Owen Murphy, and we found ourselves in Milano. It was October, and everyone was talking about the auto races in Monza. We decided to drive up and see for ourselves, which itself was a competitive event since every Fiat owner considers himself a racecar driver. Monza was an experience - entire families were there with their picnic tables, chairs and ladders with seats on top for the kids. The smell of charcoal grilled sausages and onions blended with Castrol and gasoline fumes. At the start of one of the races (the FISA Cup), a crew peeled the covers off three sleek little Kamm-tailed racers. I recall noticing how they cornered with their tails up in the air. The TZ's won the race that day. I didn't see a TZ again for a few years. One passed me on Jericho Turnpike, but even though I made a U-turn and tried to follow it, it disappeared in traffic. Then there was another one on a mountain road in northern Italy. Again, I gave chase but my rented Opel was no match for it as it sped up through the hairpin turns.It was 1971, and I came across an ad in Newsday that mentioned a "GTZ" for sale. I promptly picked up the phone and spoke to the owner, John Steubenrauch, who explained that he had justreturned from a stint with the military in Germany and had picked up a Swiss rally car, as well as some others and had to sell them because he was buying a house. With checkbook in hand, I drove over to West Hills, and within the hour had bought the car. It was a beauty, red with a white nose, chassis No. 750014. Unfortunately, I only enjoyed No. 014 for a year or so, when it was involved in an accident and the entire front end was very badly damaged. I brought it home to my garage and initially thought it was unrepairable. Two uncanny strokes of luck encouraged me to attempt rebuilding the car: in Texas I found the forward tube steel chassis and front suspension parts from No. 007, the Sanesi car that had burned at Sebring; then I discovered a complete aluminum nose skin in a dark back corner of the Alfa Romeo warehouse in Englewood Cliffs. Work pro-gressed slowly, but after many months I had successfully attached the donor chassis section and assemble the front suspension, steering, etc. Still ahead was the design and building of a sub-frame for the sheet metal nose. Then one day, my friend Sam Smith called and said he had recently bought a TZ that had been imported from Sicily, and was considering selling it. The car was said to have been a private entry car in the Targa Florio (Nino Todaro), and had been raced extensively. After some negotiations, and a swap for a 250 Ferrari Spider, I became the proud owner of No. 058, which I have now owned for some 30 years.
George Linton
I joined the National organization of Alfa owners 8 years ago, my goal was to learn more about Alfa Romeo's, joining automatically made me a member of the "AROCNY". I had been a sports car nut for years, but there was something special about "Alfa people". As a member I have had the pleasure of meeting the nicest most fun-loving bunch of gear heads I've ever known. Each Sunday morning, rain or shine, we meet at a local diner, have breakfast and share stories. As a club we have had many wonderful experiences, such as attending the National Alfa convention in Ft. Lauderdale Fla., relaxing wine tours, and even a caravan to Lime Rock Park to watch vintage races. In 2003 some of our members participated in time trials against the Connecticut chapter, the best part... we won!
Dino Pappous
It began with my first car, not an Alfa, a 1969 Pontiac Bonneville. After four years of college and countless hours working at my father's coffee shop I had a few bucks and was ready for a new ride. Trans Am's and Z-28's were the hot cars at the time, but they didn't "turn me on". One day I stumbled upon an ad for an Alfa Spider, black with brown interior, I had to see it. There it was,beautiful, well maintained, and always garaged, in other words, perfect. This was my new car. I jumped at the chance to own it and never looked back... even though I didn't know how to drive a stick. Now I own a Giulia Sprint GT and a 164. I love driving them both and often alternate driving them to our Sunday morning breakfast where we sit and talk about Alfas.
David Rivkin
David passed away November 14th 2016 at the age of 82
I first became aware of Alfa's while competing against them in SCCA races during the 60's and early 70's. There was something about those cars, they were so much more refined than the Austin-Healey and the MGB I drove. So it was in the late 70's I found myself working for Alfa Romeo Inc., longing for the days of racing. By this time I had become an SCCA race official, but I missed the rush of competition. It was then that I decided to begin my search for that "special" car that would return me to my racing roots. What could be more special than an Alfa. So I hit the books, well one book, the Fusi book. "Alfa Romeo, Tutti Le Vetture Dal 1910", the Alfisti bible. Over and over I found myself marking the pages concerning the Giulia Sprint series, more specifically the Giulia Sprint GTA. The story of the GTA is well known among Alfa fans. First introduced in 1965 at the Amsterdam and Geneva car shows it dominated the European Touring Car Championships throughout the early 70's. My search was long, days turned to weeks, weeks to months, finally one day someone told me about a man who might be interested in selling a GTA. It turned out that he had both the Alfa and a Ferrari Dino. His plans were to restore one and sell the other, I was hoping he would sell the Alfa. And so it came to be over a month later the decision to sell the Alfa was made. Behind the Belmont Race Track, tucked in a garage, under some old quilts sat my Alfa Giulia Sprint GTA. The long search was over. The car only ran on two cylinders, needless to say a complete restoration was necessary. Searching for parts became almost as hard as finding the car. I wanted the car to look exactly as it did in 1966, and any old parts just wouldn't do. It was during this time of extensive research that I coined the phrase "archeological engineering". Today if you look under the hood you will see an original GTA radiator, oil cooler, air box, oil recuperator tank, and if conditions allow, you'll see the Sebring side outlet exhaust. In addition to all that it has an 8-plug cylinder head and tubular exhaust headers. For the real enthusiasts, like me, you can get down and look up under the rear end and see the "Sliding Block" rear axle locating system, devised by Ingegnere Carlo Chiti of Autodelta. Remarkably, the odometer reads only 37,272 kms (23,109 miles) after 38 years.
Dan Goldman
It started with a simple question. Che cosa si può fare per parlare veramente bene?
I was in Italian class in 1995 when I asked my teacher. What can one do to speak much better? I had just completed Italian 3 in adult education. My teacher responded that Mr. Goldman , though you will never be Italian you need to expose yourself to all things Italian. From food to music to Italian T.V. Ce sono molti così de vedere e sentire. There are many things to see and feel. She asked me what did I do and what do I like to do?
Che cosa fare, e che cosa le fa piacere? At the time, I sold Italian dry-cleaning machines and my hobby was the rolling restoration of my 1958 Volvo PV444. My teacher told me that her husband hurt his back and could no longer drive his Alfa Romeo. A day later I came home with a rusty 1976 Alfetta GT which was rusting away faster than I could enjoy it. A 1967 GTV arrived a few month later followed by my current car a 1979 Spider.
I sold the two old Alfas and the old Volvo and switched jobs after 18 years. Today I sell Swedish washing machines but much as I have tried the Scandinavian languages are way too sterile for me. By the way, fellow club member Enzo Rella did a beautiful restoration on my old 1967 GTV but it pains me to see the car today. Like a old girl friend who suddenly looks more desirable after you break up. So I have steadily been updating
my Spider. Adeso, mi sembra che il mio lavoro non paga e abbastanza per la mia machina.
Forse mia moglie può risolvere mia problema e lavora più. Spero ti si. ( Now, it seems to me that my job doesn't pay enough for my car. Perhaps, my wife can resolve the problem and work more. I hope so.)
Robert Cess
1959 Giulietta Sprint, 1960 Giulietta Berlina,
1962 Giulietta Spider, 1969 1750 Spider
I purchased my first Alfa, a new Spider Veloce, in 1986, and at the same time joined AROC. Then two years later I purchased an ’88 Milano Platinum. Over the previous two decades I had restored three vintage wooden cabin cruisers, and now I started to get the itch to restore a Roundtail. But instead of looking for a car, the car found me at the 1989 AROC Convention in Waterbury, CT. My wife and I had been to a cocktail party, and while we were walking across the hotel parking lot to go to dinner a young man parked a ’69 1750 Spider in front of us and placed a for-sale sign on the windshield. Twenty minutes later I owned the Spider, a car purchased between cocktails and dinner. The restoration of the ’69 Spider was completed in 1992 and again I got the restoration itch. I went searching for a Giulietta Sprint and found a ’59 Euro-spec Sprint in Rhode Island. This restoration was completed in 1996, and I managed to hold the restoration itch at bay until 1999 when I decided I absolutely had to have a Giulietta Spider to go with my Giulietta Sprint. The car I found, a ’62 Giulietta Spider which is a Giulietta/Giulia transition car (a Giulietta with a Giulia body shell) was the ultimate challenge. The car had been off the road since 1980 when it had been in an accident (smashed nose), and then it had passed from one “intended restorer” to another, and what I bought was a disassembled car with unlabeled boxes containing unlabeled parts. I finally got all the parts sorted out, and the crumpled nose was replaced by an NOS front nose panel that had been sitting for 40 years on a dealer’s shelf in Seattle (God is indeed an Italian). An additional Alfa adventure is that I have been fortunate to have visited the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese a total of seven times, and on one visit, in 1991, I had lunch with Luigi Fusi. It can’t get any better than that!
Vic Cerami
I come from an automotive family, cars are in my blood. At A young age I was exposed to almost everything on wheels. Although I owned, drove or raced many fine machines, in the mid 1960’s a short drive in an Alfa GTA floored me.
I previously knew something about Alfas, but never had driven one before. After some research I became convinced that these light sports cars could not be beat. I bought my GTV and almost 40 years later have gone through about 25 Alfa’s including a 2600 Spider.
As a kid I was affected by the sight of Alfas being scrapped at junkyards such as Stuckers or Sil’s. I never forgot the sight of those still beautiful Guiletta’s being parted out and piled up to be melted for scrap iron. Over the years I managed to save a few Alfas. I'm currently restoring a 1967 GTV.
I currently own 6 Alfa's as follows: 1966 Duetto, 1967 GTV (three), 1971 GTV, and a 2016 4C Spider. And I'm on the list for a new Giulia.
I’ve been a member of AROC for 40 years and an original Charter member of our chapter LIAROC, now NYAROC. I currently serve on our Board as a Director, have previously served in every position except Treasurer, and also on the National Board as a Director. My wife, Gail and daughters, Lorraine, Michelle, and Victoria have enjoyed participating in club events over the years, especially our conventions. We are all Alfisti and happy to be involved with the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. I believe that our club is the best because of our fellow members and also, of course, our collection of fine automobiles.
