Iniezione · 2020. 12. 31. · Iniezione page 2 January 2021 I f you joined us for the end of year...

Iniezione The newsletter of the NorthWest Alfa Romeo Club

T he calendar year draws to a

close and we finally arrive at

the biggest event of the year;

our gathering of Alfa friends and fami-

ly… the Festa degli Amici! The usual

sounds of a busy kitchen, the smells

of the Italian herbs and spices, the

loud symphony of voices and laughter

of 60-plus Alfisti, the clinks and clicks

of plates, and glasses… the normal

atmosphere of an Alfa holiday party

was stifled by that darn Covid-19.

Yes, our safety won out, and what

was normal had to be replaced by a

computer screen, small speakers, and

a plate of cookies. We took a newer

approach that involved less of our

senses. A ZOOM party.

By 4PM on December 20, people started

gathering online. The screen was lit with many

people near and far sharing stories of the good

things from 2020. “I had a great time on the

drives I went on,” said Mark Greengo “Thanks

for letting me pass everybody.” People shared

their updates on cars they’ve bought recently,

including Kenny Heng reaching a total of three

Alfas and newbie Phil McNamee acquiring two

in pretty short order. Dick Camp gave bad advice on the ad-

vantages of getting 2, 3, or even 4 driver licenses.

We transitioned to

the great recap by

Jon Inge known as

the Year in Review

slides. Images and

words reminded us

of the many great

events, albeit modi-

fied, that we were

able to still hold dur-

ing this year. Shop tours of F&L Fabricating and Common

Fibers, track days, pasta sauce competition, photography

lessons by James Parker, fun isolated drives,

unique guest speakers who would be tough in a

regular year, amazing book reviews, numerous

Search Party events with great creativity and pho-

tos, and even a chilly multi-club drive and visit to

The Brothers’ Collection in Oregon. Thanks to Jon,

we relived our events and reminded everyone of

what you missed if you weren’t able to join along.

As much as I’d like to say the Alfas are the best

part of the club, we know it’s actually the people.

Credit was given to the many long-standing mem-

bers who have kept supporting the club for over 30

years, with a few in the 50+ year range. Amazing…

Festa 2020 Style! A fun time was had by all, despite the distancing!

(continued on page 4)

January, 2021

In this issue…

* Festa 2020 Style! …....… pp 1, 4

* President’s Column .............. p 2

* Importing Cars ……....…....... p 3

* Thor Thorson ..…......….….... p 3

* Alfisti of the Year …………… p 4

* AROC Board of Directors …. p 5

* New NWARC Treasurer .….. p 5

* Toys for Tots Run ..………… p 6

* New Year’s Day Drive ……... p 7

* Neal Bascomb …………. pp 7, 8

* 8c Alfa Tour of 2013 ……….. p 8

* Attack the Greenies! …...….. p 9

* Classified Ads …………….. p 11

* Alfa News ………………….. p 12

* Membership Update ……… p 13

* Calendar ……….......……... p 16

Next club events…

* New Year’s Day Drive ….. Jan 1

* Club Meeting …………… Jan 12

The Year in Review - Pasta Sauce Contest

Iniezione page 2 January 2021

WooHoo! We all survived 2020!

I f you joined us for the end of year Festa, you knew it was

a fun online gathering for many reasons. New faces and

familiar ones were all present, with lots of smiles.

One of the good things to come out of 2020 was that after

spending much of our lives avoiding negative people, we had

to learn to avoid Positive people. (Covid humor!)

At the Festa we got to hear about the good things this

unique year has brought us, as when Dick & Jessica Camp

shared an update on their Alfa Montreal hot-rod restoration

that’s making good headway. Teamwork made this happen,

evidenced by the steering rack going in thanks to Jessica get-

ting dirty while Dick did the easy work. We heard how Kenny

Heng and the Affolters both have new Alfas, or at least have

them on order.

Phil McNamee shared that in the space of a few days he

bought two Alfas, wrote an article about the experience,

joined the club, and volunteered to be club treasurer… sadly,

since his wife found out, he’s been sleeping in the back seat

of the Giulia Super. There were many more testimonials to

good happenings that proved that we Alfisti are good at mak-

ing lemonade when the world gives us lemons.

Jon’s Year in Review was a prime example, as even on a

Covid year all of your efforts and enthusiasm showed in the

many great photos and event recaps that were shared.

Thank you for attending, and to those who helped set up or

help on these events.

We also thank the many people who supported the club

with their time, expertise, and labor. Singled out is the winner

of this year’s ‘Lorna Moore Alfisti of the Year Award’; David

James. A great choice. Dedicated, thorough, enthusiastic,

and a damn nice guy… and he likes Alfas. I’ll speak for all

the membership and say, Thank You to David, and everyone

who makes this club such a great group of Alfisti.

Going back through the 55 years of this club and comparing

our dues against inflation, we have stayed pretty close. Sur-

prisingly, the price of gas is actually rather close throughout

that timeline as well, though there are many other things that

exceeded the inflation rate.

It’s under this view I noticed that a few people have paid

their dues every year for an amazingly long time. First off, Dr.

Ray Marty has been a member for 56 years straight. He’s

followed closely by Steve Bodin with 54 years, Malcolm Har-

ris with 47, and people like Greg Loper, Charles Gunderson,

Will Painter, the Fahertys, Jim Elms, Alan Chockie, and W.E.

Damm all with over 40 years.

At the same time there were also 25 new members who

joined this year. The club is as great as it is thanks to the mix

of past experience and long-standing passion and the fresh

new interest and Alfaholism of these new members. Togeth-

er we make a fantastic team.

Each day I see more peo-

ple on the news who are get-

ting the Coronavirus vaccine.

I am thrilled for them, as

many are these hard working,

caring first responders who

have been helping society,

and mostly the medical work-

ers on the front line of this

pandemic. They have made

huge sacrifices of their time

and risked their health while helping others.

With time, this vaccine will be available to all of us. Thank

you to all who have been so careful to avoid catching or shar-

ing this deadly infection, despite the frustrating limits it’s

placed on our activities. We’ll keep offering creative options

for meetings and events and return to our many popular activ-

ities as soon as the Covid numbers prove we can.

In the ‘Same deal, Different Year’ department, LeMay /

America’s Car Museum still wants to have their Alfa Romeo

display that I talked about last year… just move it to 2021

sometime. I will reach out to the many people who were in-

terested in the concept a year ago. This should be a great

chance to share Alfas with the public and to tell the story of

why the marque we love is so special.

Many of you know that our club is generous. One example

is our annual gift of $2,500 scholarships to the Automotive

Services side of both Renton Technical College and Lake

Washington Institute of Technology. This last month, I had

the luxury of chatting with two of the scholarship recipients,

and heard how their struggles of the past helped them face

and overcome the challenges 2020 threw at them. They told

me of how classes were now held with a combination of in-

class and online lessons. Thank you to the club board for

approving us giving the same gift again in 2021. I’m very

proud of our club and its members.

Lastly, if you had stayed to the end of the Christmas gather-

ing you would have had a chance to learn a few nuggets of

odd Alfa and club history during our trivia game called Festa

Testa. For example, ‘What years did we hold the Gita e’Cor-

sa events?” Answer was 1994 - 1999. What was the last

Formula 1 race ever won by Alfa Romeo? The Italian GP of

September 10, 1978: Niki Lauda won the race with John Wat-

son taking 2nd, both in Alfa-Brabham flat-12 BT46 cars.

What is the hometown of club member Merril Gordon? Well,

we passed through the tiny town of Elgin in North East Ore-

gon as part of our 2017 Half Fast Lap.

Let’s make 2021 a great year… albeit with less online, and

hopefully less distancing!

Happy 2021!

- Fred Russell

President’s Column By Fred Russell


AROO (Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon) Doug Zaitz

509-768-4312 [email protected]

FEN (Fiat Enthusiasts NW) Fred Russell

425-308-6621

MGCCNWC (MG) Ken Bottini

425-883-9615

Pacific Coast AROA (BC, Canada)

Don Best 604-939-5056 dlbest@telus

President Fred Russell

(425) 308-6621 [email protected]

Vice President David James

(206) 849-3211 [email protected]

Secretary Paul & Kristy Affolter


Treasurer Phil McNamee

[email protected]

Activities Directors Judy & Bill Gehring

425 822-4231 [email protected]

Chief Driving Instructor Mirko Freguia 206-795-0861

[email protected]

Membership Chair John Schommer 206-713-7465

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor Jon Inge


Webmaster Earl Krygier


Technical Wes Ingram


15613 “C” Peterson Road Burlington, WA 98233

http://nwalfaclub.com

www.aroc-usa.org www.alfabb.com

Facebook: NWARC

Board Members

Committee Leadership

Club Liaisons

The Iniezione is the monthly newsletter of the NorthWest Alfa Romeo Club, a non-profit organization of Alfa Ro-meo enthusiasts. NWARC is a regional chapter of the national Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC). Chapter meet-ings are typically held the second Tuesday of most months except December. Membership dues are $65 per year, which includes subscriptions to the digital and/or print versions of the Iniezione and the monthly national publica-tion, Alfa Owner. For information about joining the club, contact the Membership Chairs listed in the right hand column. Opinions expressed in the Iniezione are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the club. (The authors 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! Give your business added exposure while supporting the NWARC. Ad rates are: Fullpage: $110/Qtr, $275/Yr Half Page: $90/Qtr, $220/Yr Qtr Page: $65/Qtr, $170/Yr Business Card: $50/Qtr, $120/Yr. E-mail a color .jpg, .tif or .pdf file (300 DPI) to [email protected]

To subscribe to the digital newsletter, please sign up using the form at the lower right corner of the Club Web-site’s home page, www.nwalfaclub.com..

Informazioni Generali

W e are extremely excited to have

Thor Thorson join us for the Feb-

ruary 2021 club meeting to dis-

cuss vintage sportscar racing, and particular-

ly vintage Alfa racing.

Thor is president of Vintage Racing Motors,

one of the foremost collector car specialists

and vintage racing support operations in the

country. He has been actively involved with

racing for over 40 years, dealing with racers

ranging from Ferraris to Sprites - although

we assume that vintage Alfa racers are his

favorites! He also writes the race-car profiles

for Sports Car Market magazine, which he

has done since 2003.

Details are still to be determined, but we

are hoping that, through the wonders of

Zoom, Thor can show us some of the Alfas

currently residing at VRM. More details to

come.

The Zoom meeting will open at 6:30 pm,

with the formal meeting starting at 6:45.

Look for an email prior to the meeting with

the login code.

- David James

Next Club Meetings

F or the first meeting

of 2021, Adam Cho-

vanak, proprietor of

SoDo-Moto vehicle sales,

will discuss the ins and

outs of importing European and JDM cars to

the United States.

What are the opportunities to acquire cars

rarely seen in the U.S.? What can go wrong

with an overseas

transaction? Can

you do it yourself,

or should you en-

gage a specialist?

Adam has exten-

sive experience

importing cars and

can answer all

your questions.

Scan his website (www.sodo-moto.com) for

a

sample of the tasty imported

cars and bikes Adam has al-

ready imported for sale.

The Zoom meeting will open

at 6:30 pm, with the formal

meeting starting at 6:45. Look

for an email prior to the meeting

with the login code.

- David James

February 12 Thor Thorson - Vintage Racing

January 12 Adam Chovanak: Importing Foreign Cars

http://www.nwalfaclub.com

http://www.sodo-moto.com


but so is the fact that 25 more people joined NWARC during

this wild year to become part of this Alfa family. We shared

the names of all of these people and of the club officers that

help guide this ‘boat’.

But the biggest recognition of the evening is the Alfisti of the

Year, which was presented - rightfully so - to our VP, David

James, for his

efforts and atti-

tude. Nicely done!

We closed out

the 2 hours with

34 Alfa-related

trivia questions.

You had to be a

long-timer to answer

a few questions

about club events in

the 70s or 80s, but

good guesses fig-

ured out that the

Chili Cookoff events

started in the 90s. Determining how many colors are offered

on the new Giulia proved tough since the AR Configurator

hasn’t been updated to match reality… but it’s 17! What does

A.L.F.A. stand for? A number of people knew it was Anonima

Lombardi Fabbrica Automobili. And as we closed out the

great evening a few people were able to guess that the fastest

Alfa Romeo car ever made was Mike Besics’ Spider ‘Bonnie’,

built for the Bonneville Salt Flats, which hit 232.215 mph.

Nope, this Festa wasn’t the same as the boisterous parties

of the past, but this year hasn’t been the same. Great partici-

pation by the 25-35 guests showed that the Alfa enthusiasm

for the cars and spending time with our friends and Alfa family

is still there. A true, online gathering of friends.

- Fred Russell

Festa 2020 Style - continued

T he Lorna Moore Alfisti of the Year award has been be-

stowed every year since 1983, with 38 names on this

beautiful cedar box, the creation of member (and past

winner) Tony Schmid. It will take more than an annoying pan-

demic to stop this annual recognition of our Alfisti of the Year!

A year ago, Kristy and I were very honored to have our

names added to the box, and in fact were very surprised to

join such company. I thought all we ever did was show up and

join the party! But that’s it really - participation. Participating

in the many varied activities and enjoying time with the many

fine & diverse members is what makes this such a successful

club.

This year’s nominee for the award is someone who has kept

the club active in the face of looming challenges and uncertain

obstacles. Although he has only been with us about four

years he jumped right into a board position, that of vice presi-

dent, though admittedly without knowing the full duties of the

job!

We thank you, David James. You have done a terrific job as

vice president, and we’re glad to have you on board. You’ve

managed to pull together drives, speakers and zoom meetings

in a year like no other, and if it ever fazed you, you never let it

show!

For the brief description to go under David’s name on the

plaque we were considering little quips like “action”, “energy”,

“inventive”, and “getting it done in a tough year”.

Then I asked Kristy, “Why did we decide he’s the one? -

Because he’s doing it!” And then there’s that constant smile.

So here it is:

David James 2020.

“He’s doing it - with a smile”

- Paul Affolter

Lorna Moore Alfisti of the Year

Paul and Kristy announce their choice..

...who is taken by surprise!


F eel like contributing at a higher level? How about vol-

unteering to serve on the AROC Board of Directors?

You’d be joining a great bunch of enthusiastic Alfisti

working together (remotely) to keep this great club humming

along! Nominations are now being accepted, and must be

submitted to the AROC office no later than January 15,

2021.

Directors are elected for a period of two

years, with six directors elected each year.

No more than two members of any chapter

may be members of the Board of Directors.

AROC Directors set policy for the Alfa Ro-

meo Owners Club. Monthly Board meetings

are held via video conference with subse-

quent Club business managed via email or otherwise electron-

ically. Board members are strongly encouraged to attend the

Annual Meeting held during the national conventions.

Interested? Those who’ve done this in the past say that it’s

one of the most rewarding things they’ve taken part in! If you

would like more information on Board duties or if you have any

questions, please call Cindy Banzer at (503) 709-7277. Other-

wise, let Fred Russell know at [email protected], (425)

308-6621.

W elcome to our new Treas-

urer, Phil McNamee!

Originally from Honolulu,

Hawaii, Phil now lives with his family

in Bellingham and enjoys a career in

Sales for tech services companies.

He moved to Seattle after graduating

from the University of Colorado in

Boulder and meeting his wife,

Michele. After their second son was

born (19 years ago) the family moved

from Seattle to Bellingham.

“My love for cars goes way back to when my Dad had MGs

and Porsches in the 60s, 70's and 80's. I love the history of

Alfa Romeos and had a great summer riding around in a

friend’s GTV back in college. I don't know how it all happened

but I am almost embarrassed to admit that I own 3 BMWs, a

21-Window VW Bus that I had a hand in restoring, and now 2

Alfas (the inn is officially full according to Michele).”

We featured Phil’s '68 Giulia Super in the most recent issue

of Iniezione, but you’ll also want to see his new (1967) Giulia

Sprint GT Veloce, which is absolutely amazing.

Welcome, Phil!

AROC Board Elections New NWARC Treasurer


Upcoming Events - continued Club Drive to Toys for Tots

A fter gathering at the Starbucks in Kenmore on Sunday,

December 6, far earlier on a Sunday morning than is

normally civilized, a small touring party of five Alfas - a

Spider, Alfetta,

4C, Giulia and

Stelvio - headed

off behind David

James for a grand

tour that would

eventually take us

to for a rendez-

vous with Santa’s

Elves. A second

Spider showed up

at the start, but left

early.

David’s tour took

us in convoy down the east side of Lake

Washington, via Finn Hill, Juanita and Kirk-

land, then across an empty 520 bridge which

gave us all a chance to exercise the ‘horses’

in our Alfa engines on a quick gallop. Then off

through the Arboretum for a run down the

west side of Lake Washington, taking in the

twisty ‘Alpine’-like roads behind Leschi and on

down to Seward Park. We cut inland to take

in the West Valley Highway through Tukwila,

and then on some

scenic back roads

along the Green

River to Auburn.

We paused to

form up for the

final push up to

Pacific Raceways,

our final destina-

tion and the main

reason for the

tour. This was to

join hundreds of

others from car clubs all over Puget Sound for the annual

Northwest Toys Run and donate toys to “Toys for Tots”.

This year

the normal

paddock

events and

car corral

were cur-

tailed be-

cause of

COVID, but

there were well organized coned-off lanes to get to the Drive-

Thru donation booths where Elves would collect our toys. This

all worked well, but then the optional follow-on ‘track crawl’

tours looked more of a challenge (or chore de-

pendent on your point of view), judging by the

queues.

The range of cars - old, new, domestic, for-

eign, custom, hot rods - and motorcycles was

fantastic. My guess was there were two to

three hundred cars in attendance, so lots of

toys were collected. Anyway, it was a great

day out and all for a good cause. Thanks to

David James for herding us cats!

- Dave Kingstone

David James

David James

Fred Russell

Cindy Akana

Cameron


Upcoming Events

TGIFO = Thank God It’s Finally Over!

2 020 has run it’s course and 2021

has no choice but to be a better

year for everyone. Let’s do our

part to celebrate the start of 2021 by get-

ting in our cars for the annual New Year’s

Day Anti-Football drive.

We’ll start off safer than usual… we will

use a Starbucks, but follow the distancing

guidelines in store, and we’ll gather out-

side in the cold so dress warmly. Our

drive will start in Bellevue then take us

south towards Renton before heading east then north through

the Snoqualmie Valley. Some standard fun roads and a few

new ones. We will return to our start point in Bellevue around

2.5 hours later.

Bonus at the end for every-

one driving their Alfa Romeo!

Start / End: Parking area next

to the Starbucks at 1350 156th

Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98007

When: Friday, January 1

9:30 AM socializing

10:00 AM drive away

12:30 PM return and quick

gathering.

I’ll cancel on Facebook and via email the evening prior if the

weather is snowy or too icy. Otherwise, rain or dry, let’s drive!

- Fred Russell

G iven our inability to gather in any meaningful numbers, all future activities are being designed to cater for CoViD-era safety precautions - masks, social distanc-

ing, hand cleansing, etc. Our HPDE lapping events at Pacific Raceways will be held on the limited basis we adopted earlier: limited spectators, experienced drivers only as there will be no in-car instruction. Group drives will continue but only when CoViD-appropriate lunch and restroom breaks can be arranged. Individual drives are OK, and Fred has been working on some suggested

routes, but remember that the virus has not been con-tained and continue to practice social distancing and all other precautions whenever venturing out. In the meantime, continue to take advantage of the enforced inactivity to check over your car and have any outstanding maintenance issues taken care of. Now’s a great time to make sure we can all hit the road again in fine style once re-strictions are lifted. And if you have any suggestions for isola-tion activities or meeting topics, let us know! Stay safe. - Editor

Friday, January 1 New Year’s Day Anti-Football Drive

December Club Meeting - Neal Bascomb

O ur meeting on December 8 was a

rare treat, as New York Times

best-selling author Neal Bascomb

joined us to talk about his book “Faster:

How a Jewish Driver, an American Heir-

ess, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s

Best.”

The book describes how American heir-

ess and rally driver Lucy Schell financed

Delahaye to produce a potent race car to

take on the all-conquering Mercedes and

Auto-Union “Silver Arrows” at the 1938

French Grand Prix in Pau. Rene Dreyfus, highly respected

by the other drivers and team managers but all but banned

from Grand Prix racing for being Jewish, was hired as the

driver.

The 4.5 litre V-12 Delahaye wasn’t an attractive car - Drey-

fus said it was the ugliest car he’d ever seen - and while it

put out a respectable 260-270 bhp, the German cars had

around 400-450… Nevertheless, Dreyfus ran away with the

race, beating the Germans by nearly two minutes on the

tight, 1.72-mile street circuit at Pau. Another Delahaye

came in third. Hitler was so incensed by this that, when

the German army invaded Paris, he had them find and

destroy all records of the victory.

Neal become fascinated by the story after hearing about

a restored Delahaye at Pebble Beach, a car which had

been dismantled during the war to keep it away from the

Germans. As most of his books have a

historical focus, writing about car racing

was a change of pace, and he admits to

a steep learning curve! Research for the

story took considerable effort; the de-

stroyed records were a challenge, but

fortunately the auto club in Pau had

kept their own copies intact.

Persistence was also required in get-

ting information out of the car collecting

community. Neal said that he’d thought

the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad


H ow often do you come across a photo like this? Or so

many fabulous 8c Alfas in one place? I came across

the photo in an on-line newsletter and had to track

down the story behind it. It turns out that Tom Price, a long-

time Alfa 8c owner and racer from Larkspur, California, used to

organize a bi-annual tour in the Rocky Mountains for prewar 8-

cylinder Alfa Romeos. This one was held in 2013; the photo

was taken at the Prince of Wales Hotel overlooking Waterton

Lake in Alberta, Canada.

That year 30 8c Alfas from both America and Europe took

part. Built between 1931 and 1939, many of these fabulous

cars were raced with great success, some seeing continuous

serious competition into the early 1950s.

The Tour began at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho, then

crossed into Canada for an overnight road stop in Cran-

brook, British Columbia, staying at the St. Eugene Golf

Club and Casino.

From Cranbrook, the Tour headed north to Lake Louise,

Alberta, stopping at the Relais & Château Post Hotel in

Lake Louise Village. After a day exploring Lake Louise

while the Alfas had a day of rest, the Tour continued south

to Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta and an over-

night stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel. After crossing back

into the USA, the Tour went over Logan Pass (6,640 feet)

on the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park,

Montana, and continued to the finish with a final overnight

stay at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake.

Close to 1,000 miles in 80 year old cars was indeed an

adventure! However, the 8c Alfa Romeos were really high

performance sports and racing cars with top speeds in ex-

cess of 120 mph, very definitely the premier enthusiasts’

prewar cars, and every bit as exciting today as they were in

the 1930s. And I’ll bet they sounded glorious running together!

- adapted from article by The Klementaski Collection

photos by Allan Rosenberg

had been tough to crack, but car collectors in the US and Eu-

rope were a real challenge! After much prodding Richard Ad-

datto agreed to take Neal for a ride in a Delahaye through

some orange groves in Oxnard at about 85-90 mph - about

half race speed - which Neal described as “a very visceral ex-

perience”! Eventually doors began to open and Neal began to

accumulate much valuable information from David, Peter Mul-

len, the Delahaye car club and several others.

The Mercedes Benz archives were a tremendous help as

the team kept detailed lap-by-lap records of each race. Local

collector Peter Gleeson met a niece of Rene Dreyfus by

chance in an art store in New York, and she eventually provid-

ed access to some family scrapbooks. Other rich sources

were the French, German and Italian newspapers and maga-

zines of the era, whose reporters were great narrative writers

and good interviewers and included a great deal of back-

ground and atmosphere in their accounts.

Lucy’s background was harder to unearth, as, despite her

rally-driving successes, as a woman she was pretty much ig-

nored. After two months of poring through French newspa-

pers, though, Neal came across a ten-part series written by a

journalist who’d traveled with her as a passenger on a Monte

Carlo rally, starting in Sweden. A great story, and pure gold!

Overall, it was a fascinating evening, and a real insight into

just how much effort goes into researching a tale like this even

before a writer such as Neal can begin putting it into his own

highly-readable words!

Many thanks to Neal for entertaining us so well, and to Fred

and David for making it happen.

- Jon Inge

Neal Bascomb - continued

8c2300 Monza

Alfa Romeo 8c Tour of The Rockies - 2013

8c2900


I spent a little time with my Milano the other day, curious to

figure out why the turn signals had stopped working.

(Some people who would respond that there doesn’t have

to be a reason on a car from the 1980s, but I reject that state-

ment on principle.) Tracking it down prompted me to put to-

gether some notes about working on the electrical system.

Connectors

Experienced automotive technicians replace obviously-

corroded connectors immediately; they simply clip them off

and crimp on new terminals before investing much time in di-

agnosis or troubleshooting. When brass and copper terminals

develop corrosion over the years, they produce a sickly green-

looking “corrosion product”. People with a sense of humor call

this stuff “the greenies”.

Bulbs and Sockets

Greenies can form on bulb contacts and sockets, too. Many

bulbs can be pur-

chased for a few

dollars, so just

replacing them

when they look

bad can make a

lot of sense. The

sockets are a dif-

ferent proposition

on account of

cost, availability

or both, so it makes sense to clean these for extended use.

Plated Steel Terminals

The Milano has many terminals and connectors fabricated in

plated steel, not brass. On these the greenies are white,

which doesn’t make for a good pejorative term, so I’ll just refer

to the white stuff as “corrosion product.”

That phrase is made up of great weasel words, popular with

scientists all over the world since they don’t imply any specific

knowledge about what the hell this stuff is, nor where it came

from. Such phrases can be helpful since they tend not to

blame, find fault or levy accountability (another is “mistakes

were made”), but can still lead us toward resolution.

I’ve been able to draw big laughs from technicians and engi-

neers by offering the stoic statement, when presented with this

sort of problematic situation, “That’s not on the drawing.” My

way of saying that you can’t go forward with that stuff the way

it is. Gonna have to fix it. So I dived into the task.

What I found was the usual stuff; lots of greenies on the sev-

eral remaining bulbs with plain brass bases. Many bulbs on

the car today are replacements, from Italy and from France,

with plated bases; I can report good results for those.

The brass bases, in contact with the Milano’s plated steel

sockets, develop greenies every year or so. I clean them up

using a steel wire brush by hand. I’ve found that brushing is

much more effective when using a solvent such as isopropyl

alcohol; it helps dislodge the greenies while burnishing the

metal surface gently. There’s no need

to overdo it or apply heavy pressure;

just get rid of the greenies and brighten

up the metal surface without digging in.

This time, putting it all back together, I

tried Mobil 1 ATF as an assembly lubri-

cant; perhaps that will hold off the

greenies for a little while.

I also found lots of corrosion product

on the plated steel parts, including OEM

parts from Bosch such as the Jetronic

distributor, spark box, spark amplifier and Air Flow Meter.

Nasty-looking white corrosion product develops on the flat ter-

minals of all these units, but they’re generally accessible and

can be cleaned relatively easily.

The light spring-tension connectors that match up with

the flat terminals don’t have a chance against corrosion,

though. I’ve cleaned them more than once, but found a

few years ago that during a mild scraping exercise I could

scrape off the entire plated coating from the steel conduc-

tor underneath. Yeeeooowww - that’s not on the drawing!

It’s better to use a burnishing tool; I made one from the

stainless steel reinforcement in an old wiper blade. Stain-

less steel does well for this task, since it’s not too hard. I

broke out a piece long enough for easy use, then used a

file to round off the end and to score the stainless steel, mak-

ing it rough but not abrasive. Work the tool lightly in the sock-

et contact, using isopropyl alcohol solvent, and wipe it on a

clean white cloth. Any deposits

transferred to the cloth may

help you figure out the situation.

So back and forth, up and

down, around and around - but

still no turn signals! After I was

satisfied with all the metal-to-

metal stuff I decided to re-seat

the flasher relay in its socket in

the fuse panel. I was rewarded with a very slight pop as I did

so. The turn signals worked!

Here’s the fun part. Alfa sourced the fuse box in Germany,

and the turn signal flasher relay is thoroughly conventional.

So why did I need to re-seat the relay? No way to figure it out

except for been there, done that. The car is 33 years old. Not

something to get upset about.

So with working turn signals I went out and bounced around

the neighborhood for a while on a test drive. Alfa built one

heckuva driver’s car in the Milano, that’s all I can say. This old

car is still fun after 33 years. We will have to have a small cel-

ebration. - Mark Thornton

Attacking the Greenies!


FOR SALE - 1986 Spider Quadrifoglio

Silver with grey/red interior, factory hard and soft tops. New

tires in the last year. Well and consistently maintained, 81,117

miles. $12,500

Rohan Thomas

425-559-1751

[email protected]

FOR SALE: 1984 Spider Veloce

Silver with blue interior. Black convertible top and clear

rear window in very good condition. Good shape mechani-

cally, runs well. Seat seams and foam need repair. Cool

wood steering wheel. Odometer shows less than 22,000

miles. Owner bought the car a year ago but has a medical

need and must sell. Car can be viewed in Bellevue. $4,000

Call Arbri Allaraj at 206-992-4465

Classified Ads


Kimi chooses Stelvio: Even after the end of the competitive season, Alfa Romeo

continues to support Kimi Räikkönen, and has delivered a Stelvio Veloce 2.0 Turbo

Petrol 280 HP AT8 Q4 to the Finnish champion. Kimi comments that “After this

intense 2020 season, it’s nice to

get back to a regular life with my

family. I still don’t want to give up

the pleasure of driving, though,

and the choice of Stelvio Veloce

2.0 280 HP with Alfa Q4 all-wheel

drive means I can do so in

absolute safety, even in the snow

of Finland”.

Alfa Romeo announces 4C Spider 33 Stradale Tributo: Alfa Romeo has

announced a trim-package version of the 4C Spider 33 called the Stradale Tributo,

inspired by the legendary 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale mid-engine sports car.

Only 33 units will be produced for North America. The 33 Stradale Tributo has a

unique red-finish carbon-

fiber monocoque, exclusive

Rosso Villa d’Este tri-coat

paint, gray-gold 5-hole alloy

wheels, a black-and-tobacco

interior, commemorative

badging, plaques and a

book that chronicles the

4C’s design concept,

technology, materials and Modena assembly facility as well as the history of the 33

Stradale.

Alfa News


Anniversaries

Congratulations on all these Anniversaries this month!

James Sullivan 35 years

Dale Hoff 13 years

John Sells 8 years

David Ely 5 years

David and Karen James 4 years

David Nudelman 4 years

Dieter Creitz 3 years

Christian Johnson 3 years

Colin McCartney 2 years

Malcolm Campbell 1 year

Marc Hull 1 year

Thomas Malone 1 year

New Members

Just one new member this month, but it’s our speaker for

the January Club meeting!

Please welcome Adam Chovanak of Mercer Island, with a

1996 GTV and a 2005 147 GTA! If those seem unfamiliar to

you that’s because Adam makes a living importing cars from

outside the USA, so what better way to attract new clients than

to showcase what’s available? Welcome, Adam! We look

forward to hearing more in January.

- John Schommer

Membership Update


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: $68 annual AROC / NWARC dues Make check payable to: ALFA ROMEO OWNERS CLUB

Or… Online registration http://www.aroc-usa.org/

N

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GALVAN

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The following members provide Alfa Mentoring!!!

Contact any of them 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] 80’s Spiders Harry Reed [email protected] Almost Anything! Fred Russell [email protected]

Member Mentors

Member Recommendations Have a parts or service provider you have found to be highly satisfactory? Share your wisdom with us all at [email protected]. With your help, we can all be better auto-motive consumers.

Burien Upholstery, Burien - Upholstery, carpets

Convertibles Only - Convertible top repair/replacement

Dent Solutions, Mobile - Paintless dent removal

Mark 2 Collision Center, Lynnwood - Collision repair

Muffler King - Kirkland Custom exhaust services

North Kitsap Auto Rebuilt, Poulsbo - Collision repair

Professional Glass Company, Seattle - Windshield Re-placement

NW Crafted Interiors (was S&S Custom), Everett - Auto Upholstery & Interiors

Security Safe & Lock, Inc., Bellevue - Lock rebuilding

Sound Wheel Works, Bellevue - Wheel repair

Tire Rack Internet - Tires, wheels and parts

Vancity Plating, Burnaby BC - Chrome plating and polish-ing

All the above providers have been recommended by one or more club members as being highly satisfactory but are not specifically endorsed by NWARC.

1959 Giulietta Sprint, 2019 CSRG Charity Challenge, Sonoma - Victor Varela, SCD


Northwest Alfa Romeo Club 9301 236th Street SW Edmonds, WA 98020

1954 Alfa Romeo SS Bertone Spider, 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed

• Jan 1 New Year’s Day Anti-Football Drive /

Bellevue

• Jan 12 NWARC Club Meeting / Adam

Chovanak: Importing Foreign Cars

• Feb 9 NWARC Club Meeting / Thor Thorson,

Vintage Racing Motors

• Mar 9 NWARC Club Meeting / tba

• July 18-25 AROC National Convention, Colorado

Springs

2021 Calendar of Club & Local Car Events

8C Competizione, Giulia - Daniel Piker

Iniezione · 2020. 12. 31. · Iniezione page 2 January 2021 I f you joined us for the end of year...

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