The Sunday edition of the Greenwich concours was held on May 31st 2015 and featured cars of Europe. Several NYAROC club members presented their cars at the show.
“I Almost Entered the Greenwich Concours”
- By Stuart Light
One of the nicest car shows I have ever attended is the Greenwich Concours. I hadn’t been there for a few years…the last time was in 2008 when my Alfa Romeo GTV-6 was selected as an entrant. Unfortunately in years since there were scheduling conflicts. However, I am not currently affiliated with competing car shows on Long Island and this year without any show conflicts I intended to enter my 1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider.
I asked one of the show organizers, Maria Jannace how far in advance I needed to submit an application…I was informed that if my application was submitted by mid-April there wouldn’t be any problems. I thought this was great…now I can order a new convertible top, have it installed and have enough time to prepare the car for the show. Then again…when it comes to ordering parts for an Italian car…especially an old one…nothing goes as planned. It took weeks for the top to arrive….the Alfa Auto Clinic then brought my Giulia Spider a few doors away to A & B Upholstery for installation.
Mid-way through the installation process it was discovered that the top was not the correct top and by submitting the vin# of the car to the top manufacturer it was discovered that there was a mid-year change in the top design…it figures.
So there I was waay past the cutoff date to submit an application for entry. I wanted to attend even without a car to enter. Since I’m a card carrying member of the Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society and the Head Honcho, Bruce Wennerstrom runs thewhole “shootin match” at the Greenwich Concours at least getting in would cost the usual admittance fee.
I left home before 6AM and pointed..or rather aimed my FIAT 500 up the Cross Island Parkway over the Throgs Neck Bridge and onto I-95 North…by the time I exited at exit 3 in Connecticut less than an hour had passed…..parking was easy…not many people were in attendance at 7AM.
I positioned myself at different locations to get a few good photos of cars arriving and then being placed on the field. Not many Alfa Romeos this year…there was Vic & Gail Cerami’s 1967 “stepnose” GTV, a Giulia Spider and a 1900 Coupe. FIATs ranged from a “Jolly” to Vinny Lambroia’s Bertone X1/9 to two Abarth Zagato bodied “Double Bubble’s.
I took a look at the Miller Motor Cars display. I kinda liked the blue McLaren, butthe Aston Martin convertible with the 6 speed manual transmission is a “Stuart car”…something I could actually see myself driving…if I ever won the lottery…yeah…like that’s gonna happen anytime soon (lol).
I know a lotta people really get a thrill drooling over big $ older exotic cars…ya know like a Lamborghini Miura SV…maybe a Ferrari 275GTB/4….perhaps a Ferrari Daytona Spider or an Aston Martin DB 4 or DB5…yeah…I like looking at those cars too. However I’m an old fashioned sports car guy driving a an almost “Pre-historic” 52 year old sports car so I got as much of a thrill looking at a FIAT Jolly, Alpine Renault, an Amphicar...even a “bug eyed” Sprite. Yeah I know…with the exception of the Alpine Renault…the others don’t drive well, but they’re sure as hell fun to look at.
The Greenwich Concours took place about a week ago. I just heard today that a correct replacement convertible top for my Giulia Spider was just shipped to the Alfa Auto Clinic. Hopefully within a couple of weeks A & B will complete the top installation. At least I’ll be able to drive my Giulia Spider with the top down until late Fall when the weather gets a bit too cool to drive with the top down. There’s always next year…maybe in 2016 my Giulia Spider will be picked by the selection committee to participate in the 2016 Greenwich Concours.
