By Peter Walker

Photos by Peter, John Rowntree, and Chris Currier

THE IDEA BEHIND THE AONE BERKSHIRES SORTIE is to give Alfa owners the opportunity to enjoy their rides in their ideal conditions: driving at the desired pace on traffic-free, interesting and scenic country roads. Every year, we choose a variety of such roads, some used in previous years, some never used before, and some that haven’t been used in a while, and always in different combinations, so that our members can enjoy a slightly different tour each time.

Putting together the route is, therefore, an agreeable challenge. There is but one frustration, though, in organizing the Sortie: the unpredictability of New England weather. The 2023 Sortie was scheduled for Saturday, October 14, the weekend after the Indigenous People’s long weekend. During the long weekend, Meg and I drove the planned route. We enjoyed an ideal day for top-down, country-road touring. But we had noticed that the forecast for the following weekend (the weekend of the Sortie) predicted nothing by rain both days. It also predicted nothing but rain the following weekend as well (the weekend of Oct. 21). So while we enjoyed charting the route, we regretted that we were not holding the event that very same beautiful day. And we worried that the Sortie would have to be postponed indefinitely, due to bad weather, until western Massachusetts would be blessed again with dry weather.

However, as we got closer to Oct. 14, the forecast improved. About the only thing that is sure about long-range New England forecasts is that they are bound to change. The one good thing, therefore, about a lousy long-term forecast is that, since it is bound to change, there is every likelihood that it will change for the better. (It is the very positive long-range forecasts that are the most worrisome, as since they are bound to change, the only way that they can change is for the worse.) By the Thursday (Oct. 12), when we had to make a final decision on whether to run or postpone, the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday was looking good indeed. Phew! We sent out a notice that the event was on, and we were indeed blessed with skies that were no more than partly cloudy and—most importantly—dry roads. The earlier negative forecasts might, as well, have discouraged weekend trippers, so we ended up being able, as well, to enjoy traffic-free roads.

We were also blessed with an excellent turnout: 22 members in ten Alfas and one lesser car. The Alfas ranged in age from Tom Freiberger’s 1968 Giulia Sprint Junior to a pair of 2018 models: Tereza and Garry Prime’s 4C and Deb and Dan Donovan’s Giulia. A couple of rarities also turned out: Stefan and Sonchu Gavell’s lovely, yellow 1973 Junior Zagato 1600 and the 1988 75 i.e. Turbo of new members Michael Smyth and Marilyn Widmer. A 1988 75 i.e. Turbo, you ask? What is that? Both the Junior Zagato and the 75 are European market-only Alfas. Junior Zagatos are fairly familiar to AONE members (as not just Stefan and Sonchu, but Gary Levesque and the late Fred Frey have brought their Junior Zagatos on prior Sorties). But the 75? This is the European model name for what was sold in the U.S. as the Milano, except that most 75s were sold in Europe with four-cylinder, twin-cam engines. V-6 versions (the only ones marketed in the U.S.) were available only in small numbers in Europe, but the other, higher-performance option was an equally rare four-cylinder turbo version. Michael (see side bar) had inherited his from his uncle (the original owner) and had recently imported it to North America.

Another newer member was John Devereux, who, with spouse Robin, arrived in their (appropriately) robin-blue 1974 GTV. They had recently acquired this nicely restored car in California, and it was now enjoying one of its first AONE outings.

Our group was also blessed with a trio of late 1970s Spiders: Meg’s and my own white 1977, Larry LoPresti’s red 1977, and Chris and Heidi Currier’s white 1978.

The tour began, as it did in 2022, at Baked, in Shelburne Falls, Mass. This is a popular, local breakfast and lunch venue, located a stone’s throw from the town’s famous glacial pot holes (hence the restaurant’s slogan: get baked at the pot holes). The Devereux team had already arrived, when the restaurant opened, and along with the Walker team, the four of us enjoyed a hearty breakfast on the increasingly sunny sidewalk, as we waited for our fellow Alfisti to show up. And show up they did!

We held a brief drivers’ meeting around 10:45 and then set off on a roughly 80-mile drive through the eastern Berkshire hills. Our route took us, first, from Shelburne Falls, alongside the Deerfield River, north to Colrain, then up into the hills to Heath and Rowe, where we skirted the picturesque Pelham Lake. From Rowe the route took us back down to the Deerfield River valley and across the river to our (human) pit stop at the Berkshire East ski area. Here the heavy coffee and tea drinkers made use of the facilities, while the rest of the group admired each other’s rides and noticed that a separate, cordoned-off area of the parking lot was full of F-Type Jaguars.

After our short break, we left Berkshire East and headed south on Mass. route 8A, through Hawley and toward Plainfield (where novelist Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man, once resided). Leaving the ski area, the lineup of our peloton underwent a slight change in order. AONE’s new president exercised executive privilege and slipped his car into second position, behind Meg’s and my Spider. He was under the impression that as a result he’d be able to exercise his 2017 Giulia with slightly more brio. He indeed got his opportunity, as on route 8A in Hawley there was a traffic light for a bridge that was undergoing repair and was therefore reduced to one lane. Our Spider and the Stidsens’ Giulia made it through the green light, but the remainder of our group were caught out when the light turned red. Dutifully following “slinky method” protocol, Greg pulled over to allow the cars following him to catch up. But he quickly left them in the dust and set off at full tilt to catch up to our lead car. And catch up he did, proving that driver’s local knowledge of the road and a well-sorted 1970s Spider (with a Paul Glynn rebuilt and tuned motor and a restored suspension) are no match for a twenty-first century Alfa.

At Hallockville Pond in Plainfield, we turned east onto Massachusetts route 116, toward the center of Plainfield and beyond it, Ashfield. Here we experienced the only less-than-ideal part of our route. During the preceding week, this section of route 116 had been grated, apparently in advance of a planned re-paving (of which future Sorties will surely take full advantage). The usual sign warned motorcyclists to exercise caution and all motorists to be alert for “raised structures” (why does even a country road have manhole covers?). Of course Alfa Spider oil pans and type 105/115 oil pan guards took notice. But unfortunately so too did a late-model Porsche 911 that was just ahead of us and which became a very slow-moving chicane. The Porsche was so low that it obviously could not straddle the “raised structures” any more than our Alfas could. But because it was also a very wide car, it slalomed around the raised manhole covers at glacial speeds. In previous years, our Sorties have occasionally found themselves caught behind moving chicanes in the form of Subaru wagons and various SUVs and pickups. But a Porsche 911? Not to cast aspersions, but surely this 911’s was a very “fair weather,” suburban 911 driver!

Fortunately we soon turned off route 116, onto more traffic-free country roads that took us to Goshen and Ashfield, back to Hawley, and back across the Deerfield River to our final destination: the River Café in Charlemont—location, also, of the 2022 Sortie’s luncheon. Last year we benefitted from a warmer and sunnier day and were able to eat on the outdoor terrace. But given the fairly cloudy sky, we opted this year for indoor seating.

To our surprise, though, we found that we were sharing the restaurant with another car club: the same F-Type club that had been parked at Berkshire East an hour (and 45 miles) earlier. (We joked that we had enjoyed our cars during the intervening hour while the Jags had simply ambled the 1.3 miles from Berkshire East to the River Café.) Fortunately, the Alfa and Jag clubs were able to share the space harmoniously, though with a certain amount of teasing. At one point a woman from the Jaguar club approached the table where Meg and I were seated with Stefan and Sonchu. She looked at Stefan and began: “I’m really sorry, but as I was backing up …” Stefan’s face began to turn white, but then other Jaguar club members burst into laughter, and the woman explained that her co-conspirators had put her up to playing a practical joke on someone in the Alfa club. However, did she know that she had picked the owner of the rarest and most valuable Alfa in the lot to play her joke on? We never knew. And I suspect the Jaguar-ites found the joke funnier than we did.

Then the leader of the Jaguar club got up and asked for quiet so he could make an announcement. The announcement? That the Alfa club had offered to pick up the Jaguar club’s tab! The Jaguar club members had another good laugh at our expense, but a quick-thinking Garry Prime was immediately on his feet and announced that we Alfa owners were very understanding and of course would pick up the Jaguar club’s tab, because we well knew (and he, as a former Jaguar owner, knew better than anyone) that the Jaguar owners needed to spare every cent they could toward the cost of their cars’ maintenance. The ribbing, then, became good-natured, and after everyone had finished eating (and each club settled up its own bills), those who were not in a hurry to leave adjourned outside and admired each other’s rides.

In sum, the 2023 Sortie concluded with many satisfied and happy Alfisti, all ready to return next year, but not (we hope) without first taking part in the revived Cape Crusade over the November 2023 Veterans’ Day weekend. 

Participants

Peter Walker and Meg Anderson, 1977 Spider
Robin and John Devereux, 1974 GTV
Debra and Dan Donovan, 2018 Giulia
Sonchu and Stefan Gavell, 1973 Junior Zagato 1600
Tom Freiberger, 1968 Giulia Sprint Junior
Larry LoPresti and Michelle Dextraze, 1977 Spider
Andrea and Greg Stidsen, 2017 Giulia
Heidi and Chris Currier, 1978 Spider
Tereza and Garry Prime, 2018 4C
Michael Smyth and Marilyn Widmer, 1988 75 i.e. Turbo
Roberta, John, and Stephen Rowntree, lesser car (only because there’s no back seat in their Spider)