Miscellaneous 2023 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show

Yesterday I attended The Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show, in Alameda, for the first time in six or seven years. I was able to go this year because for the first time in that many years it didn't coincide with Art Trails (this coming weekend and the following weekend). 

 It's always fun to see what shows up – tiny Fiats and luxury Fiats, sporty Lancias, all kinds of Alfas, Ferraris, and some obscure vehicles I'd never even heard of this time around. I washed, waxed, and spruced up my 1978 Alfa Spider and she got more attention than in the past. Several people stopped to admire the car. A few people were interested enough to take pictures. Perfect weather. A nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

Cars: 2013 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show (October 13, 2013)

I showed my car, a 1978 Chocolate Brown Alfa Romeo Spider, in the 2013 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show on Sunday, October 13. The weather was perfect and there was a big turn-out this year. There were well over 100 cars and motorcycles on display at the usual venue, the playing fields at Lincoln Middle School on Fernside Blvd., in Alameda.

About half the cars are usually Alfa Romeos, but there were Fiats, Lancias, Maseratis, Ferraris, De Tomasos, Abarths, and more. There was a 1934 Alfa among the older cars. I love the details of styling on these and Italian cars in general. Some of the older motorcycles were beautiful, too. For more information about the show (for next year), go to this link. Proceeds from the show go to support the Alameda Special Olympics.

Cars: The 2012 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show

On Sunday I drove my 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider down to Alameda to participate in the 2012 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show, which takes place every year at Lincoln Middle School, on Fernside Blvd. in Alameda. There were about 70 cars in the show and I'd guess about 500 people showed up to look at them. There's always quite a selection--anything goes, as long as it's Italian--but usually about half the cars are Alfa Romeos. What I like about this show is that it's very low-key. The exhibitors are not at all snooty. People show everything from well-used Fiat wagons to brand new cars.  There were Fiats, Lamborghinis, Lancias, de Tomasos, Maseratis, Ferraris, and more. The car next to mine was an old Fiat X1/9 converted to electric power--a car that got a lot of attention. Fun, as usual.

Cars: The Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show (2010)

I just got back from the Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle show, held around this time every year at Lincoln Middle School, in Alameda. There were more than 150 cars on display this year, including my 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider--more than I've ever seen before. There were cars from Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat, Ferrari, Maserati, De Tomaso, Bertone, and Abarth Fiat. A big crowd turned out to see the cars as well. Proceeds from the event go to the Alameda Special Olympics.

As usual, the cars ran the gamut from Fiat clunkers to pristine concourse-ready restorations along with some beautiful unrestored cars. The oldest car this year was a 1925 Lancia. There were two "Jollies" (customizations, usually of the Fiat 600, done by the Ghia people, with wicker seats and frilly sunscreens; they were originally designed for use on the yachts of the very wealthy. Each one is unique. Only about 100 are said to exist).

Someone even brought a Yugo, presumably because it's essentially a Fiat. One year someone showed their Karman Ghia, because the body design is Italian. What I like about the Alameda show is just this laid-back attitude. Even the Ferrari owners that come are comparatively friendly. There were also about 40 motorcycles including an interesting 1946 Motto Guzzi. This show is always well worth the time--if you love Italian cars, or just love to look at art on wheels.

On the Road (Europe 2010): Florence

Arrived in Florence last night after dark. Saw the Duomo, with its campanile and dome--all lighted and looking like a decorated cake--for the first time in many years. Much of it has been cleaned since I was last here. The campanile, the main facade, and much of one side of the Duomo have been cleaned. The white marble is white, the pink marble pink, the green marble green. In contrast, the rest (as well as the adjacent Baptistery) looks quite dirty—as if covered with a layer of ash.

Went up in the dome today then walked around the city some and saw the Basilica of San Croce, which I’d never visited before. The church itself isn’t that interesting, but this is where Michelangelo, Gallileo, Machiavelli, Danté, and Rossini are buried—along with about 250 others, mostly under marble panels set into the terra cotta tile floor. Some of the panels have simple inscriptions with coats of arms, others have full figures carved in marble, but these have mostly been worn away by hundreds of years of foot traffic.

I particularly enjoyed seeing Gallileo’s tomb. Why are the resting places of the illustrious fascinating? I don’t know. Visiting a grave like that of Gallileo gives a sense of being in the presence of greatness, even if nothing is there but bones hundreds of years old—if the bones really are there.

There are some good paintings inside the church, for example, a good Bronzino pietá and another large Bronzino that I rather liked. There is also a very simple but interesting chapel, the Pazzi Chapel, designed by Brunelleschi, that is decorated with roundels by Luca della Robbia. According to my guide book (Blue Guide Concise Italy, Somerset, 2009). This is an early Renaissance use of the central plan (which refers to a round, square, or octagonal space topped by a dome) that was common in Roman architecture. It became part of the Christian architectural repertoire in the form of baptisteries and pilgrimage chapels. Brunelleschi is credited with introducing it to Florence. The latin tradition had hitherto favored the rectangular basilica form.

Visiting the main dome was a bit of a disappointment. Since I was last here they have raised a thick plastic barrier above the railings on the interior walkways, which obscures all views downward, obscures about half of the views up into the inside of the dome (the paintings have been restored since I last visited, too), and removes all sense of freedom; the walk around the interior of the dome used to be quite scary as the railing is no more than waist high and the drop below is a very big one. Still, it was nice to see the panoramic view of Florence from the top of the dome, to see the interesting brickwork inside the dome, and to see some of the timbers in the chain of large oak trunks that helps to hold the dome together.

Later, took a walk down to the Uffizzi to get advance tickets for tomorrow, which will avoid a wait in line. Took a detour down to the Arno to look at the Ponte Vecchio. When I was last here, the approach from the Uffizi side was closed because there had just been a bombing at the Uffizi (when was that? 1994  or so?). I wanted to see it from the Uffizi side as my photographer grandfather shot it from this side in the late 1920s or early 1930s. I walked along the bridge, looking at all the gold and jewels for sale. Hot, tired tourists were everywhere,  taking pictures of themselves, the sights, and seeking out cold water, sodas, gelato—anything cool. Now I remember why I always used to come to Europe in late September or  early October….

Walking home at the end of the day, I came across a red Alfa Romeo Spider parked in the street. Owning a 1978 Spider myself, I stopped to have a look. In the three or four minutes I spent looking at the car, about six people stopped to take pictures of it. A small crowd formed at one point. This appears to have been an earlier seventies car than mine, but it had a few anachronistic modifications (newer seat belts, newer antenna, missing something around the headlights). Still a very snappy-looking design, after all these years. 

Art on Wheels: 2009 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show

I showed my 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider at the 2009 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show today (first picture--just washed and ready for the drive to Alameda). Here are a few pictures of cars at the show--three Alfa Romeos, a Ferrari racing car cockpit, and a little Fiat 600. The turn out was excellent this year and there were more cars than I remember seeing in the past. It was mostly Alfas, which is why I enjoy the show, but there were cars from Fiat, Lancia, Maserati, Lamborghini, and Ferrari among others. Art on wheels.

Cars I'm Restoring: New Hub Covers

Much of the restoration saga is finished--too late to be chronicled in this newly started blog, but I continue to make small improvements to my 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider. I finally located a set of new hub covers for the car, on Ebay. Technically, hubcaps, I suppose, but these are only about two inches in diameter. They are adorned with the Alfa Romeo logo, which comes in many minor variations of drawing, but all with some sort of humanoid being swallowed by a serpent. The humanoid on these looks more adult than the "baby" the serpent is often eating whole.

The usual sources of Alfa information suggested removing the old caps (and the snap rings that hold them in) might be difficult after 30 years of corrosion and grime build-up (someone suggested I'd have to jack up the car, remove the wheels, and tap them out from behind), but they came off from the front--in a snap, you might say. I had allocated a morning to this project, but did it in about half an hour. No one will notice the improvement--a detail--except me, but I'm grateful for little pleasures.

Old cars can be mysterious. Today's little upgrade offered this mystery: Behind two of the wheel caps (those on the front wheels) there is a ball of metal. Each has a dab of sky-blue paint on it. Behind the covers on the back wheels there was nothing, just a hole. Hmmm...... Sort of makes me want to take apart the wheels on my other little convertible, a blazing yellow Miata. Not really.