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Alameda Italian Car Show - 10/13/02 From the archives: I woke up real early and on time with the intent to pick up Dom, have a cuppa somethingreallycaffeineated, and meet everybody at Larkspur, but in the foggy morn I had a surprise.... It seems that the nitwit that detailed my Spider yesterday left the damned radio on all nite, and this morning, my 124 was a Nova, as in 'no-go'. Way under-caffeineated, I stumbled around, tried jumping the dead-flat battery, and was starting to get seriously PISSED when my equally-sleepy Bride woke to the stream of epithets coming from the madman in the driveway. "What's wrong?" "The &(<^#@$% car won't start, battery dead, and I'm LATE - Can I steal the battery out of the Truck?" "The hell you are - What about the Coupe?" I stared at her blankly, thinking that the Coupe was dirty and not really presentable for the trip.... "no dumbass, why not take the Battery out of the Coupe? They are all the same for Fiat right?" "yeah, I was just about to do that...." (walks away, slapping forehead) And so the day began. Dom greeted me with at 7:40am with a single comment, 'Lagger!', and we hauled ass down 101. Met the troops, and off to Jodie's for some fine cuisine and cosy seating. Life was looking up after the first cup, and I think the pork chop was better this year than last. The show was awesome. There were a lot of cars that were familiar from last year, and a plethora of PRISTINE 1967 GTV's that had me bumping into things all day. Dom's favorite was the '71 500 that Obert is selling, and I think my fave was the Ferrari 400i Coupe... Not the most special car there, but I've always had a soft spot for 400's. Met a LOT of folks that wanted to know just what the heck this Mirafiori thing was anyway, and I distributed a lot of cards. Met a nice guy named Larry who is from Petaluma and has a KILLER blue Spider, and since he happens to be a MBZ tech we talked about oilburners for a while. I think Larry's a natch for future BARF/Mirafiori events up here, and I'll bet we'll see him at Oregon! Lots of Mira regulars were in attendance, and the weather was perfect. What more could we ask for? Dom and I closed our day with a circuit thru downtown SF, and got to see an Angel or two screaming over the city, which was loud, beautiful, and impressive. We caught the last bit of the airshow from the Sausalito hills, fought thru a bit of traffic to exit Sausalito, and whizzed home at 75+ to nurse our sunburns. Could not ask for much more, but I wish I had taken more pictures. Dom/KD took a lot today, and once I get them I'll be updating my page. Alameda 2001 pics Good seeing everybody today, and what was that rumor about another BARF Tour 2 weeks from now? Some guy named Dan was going to do that, wonder if he'll pipe up? ;)" - Eli Caul 
"The Alameda Italian car and bike show was just plain great.
Started the day with an awesome breakfast @ Jodie's in Albany
with Eli, Dominique, Pierre B, Nancy, and Erwin Van Hook.
We filled up all of the stools in the joint, and snagged some
chicken take-out for lunch. Then off to the show. The weather
couldn't have been better. Yes, there was a sea of beautiful Italian iron, and Gawd, if I had any money in the bank, I'da snagged a few of the puffs that had For Sale signs on them. The Montreol was cute, the TZ Alfa to die for. From 500's to the Latest Ferrai has to offer, not bad eye candy. Had a nice long chat with Mark Plaia, got to see how Peter Cripps was progressing with the Coupe, (which looked ravishing BTW, and it had that Zagato look- sans back window for that al fresco appeal :) Larry Sacks gave me a lead on a possible X for Mike Yokoi. Watched Obert and the clipboard dudes peer over a few candidates for 'Fiat of the year' for Fiat America. Pierre was nibbled at the ankles in his quest for same by the light bulb Gremlin, but that Yellow car of his drew more oogles than a lot of the cars at the event. It's purty! Steve Ferrari's 72 Orange spider looks like it got spit out of a time capsule- Very sanitary car Steve! Erwin's 72 124 Coupe ain't no slouch either. As usual, Eli's spider gleamed nicely in the sun. Bid Adieu and blasted back to Sonoma at a wee bit more than the speed limit but the car Gods were with me or the CHP took the weekend off. Thanks all. I needed that!" -kd | |
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