Potpourri 2
HERE'S ANOTHER COLLECTION of miscellaneous Alfa-centric online offerings. They're snippets on various topics that members have been contributing recently — if you have other items to share, please send them along to webmaster@velocissima.com.
First off, for those of you who are lamenting the fact that there's no printed AONE Wall Calendar this year, we just realized that 2021 has the exact same calendar dates as 2010! This means that you can dig out your 2010 AONE Wall Calendar, hang it up, and pretend that it's this year's! (You DO keep all of your AONE Wall Calendars, don't you?) Our 2010 calendar also happened to include a particularly outstanding set of photos. And don't forget that you can also download the official 2021 AONE Wall Calendar in PDF format and print your own. It has another collection of great photos that were the winners in last fall's AONE Photo Contest
Dan Donovan came across an item entitled Alfa Romeo's Valentine's Day Love Letter to Car Design. But it's really more than just a love letter — it's like a beautiful Alfa Romeo coffee-table book but in PDF format, with emphasis on the designs and designers of Alfa Romeos throughout the years. A hundred pages (48MB file) — just gorgeous!
A 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce 'Alleggerita' was the subject of a loving video documentary — and spirited drive — in one of these rare homologation specials (only roughly 200 were made) by none other than Alain de Cadenet, who presented the terrific Victory By Design Alfa Romeo series. Thanks to Jim Miga for the tip!
Jim also spotted a Motortrend article entitled Mafioso's Tiny, Armored 1980 Alfa Romeo Is the Fredo of Bulletproof Cars. The Alfetta sedan weighed 2500 pounds when new but was sold on Bring a Trailer weighing 1300 pounds more!
But never fear — the good guys used Alfas too! Jim also came across a very cool 34-minute video called Le Pantere della Polizia Italiana (The Panthers of the Italian Police). It's a documentary about the Museo Delle Auto Della Polizia (Italy's police car museum). Here, they've collected all the types of (mostly) Alfas you've seen in all those chase scenes in Italian movies over the years. Very interesting, entertaining, and informative!
We got a note this past week from Jim Scutti, who's learned that the 2021 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival is ON for this coming September 7th - 13th. Not only that, Alfa Romeo will be the featured marque (which was the plan for 2020 until a certain little pandemic got in the way). The events include the 2021 Lakewood Vineyards FLX Alfa Romeo Show and Journey to the Top on Thursday, September 9th. And there will be the races, car shows, parades, and lots more going on, so do check it out!
Finally, George Dolak came across a really nice story called Jim Huff's Honeymoon Adventure (PDF). It was written a few years back by an Alfista about the time that he and his brand new wife took their brand new 1961 Giulietta Spider on their honeymoon ... all over Mexico! Try that these days!