Across America in a GTV6 !!! Almost,,,,

[HeavyMetalAlfa]

Well, I have just returned from a great Alfa trip. Over 4,000 miles, great scenery, great people, great cars !!
I flew to San Jose, bought a really nice, essentially one owner 85 GTV6, black on black, got to meet some great Alfisti- Dan Farmer, Leroy a couple of other cool motorheads and the gent who sold me the GTV6, Rahul. They share a nice shop and had some cool cars.
Hit the road, north, stayed in San Rafael, went to see an 83 GTV6 I found on craigs list, good car, left a deposit. Went to Sacramento, got to meet Lenard[164family], what a great character!!, had a good visit. Got to see my GTV6 that he has been graciously storing for a long time. Good man..
Figured that I would take the scenic route, went to Tahoe, absolutely beautiful area, drove down 395 to the Mojave, over to Az, up through the Rockies, on to Boulder. Memorable drives to that point;

Around Tahoe was beautiful, 267 to 28 to 89- amazing drive, perfect for an Alfa !! Going to connect with 395, a nice lady told me about a great shortcut, the Kingsbury Grade. What an incredible set of twisties !! Though I did it in the dark, it was amazing !!

Down 395 through Cal; The Sierras were stunning! The desert was very beautiful especially for a boy from Maine, fresh come from a brutal winter !!

Next great section was the drive from Durango north to Montrose, rt 550 !!
Now, I gotta tell ya, normally I am a pretty unflappable man, not given to bein' skeered or nervous. Well, I tell ya, the stretch of 550 was a trip !! Amazing twisties, no guardrails, a LONG way down if you go off. A white knuckle drive, but for all of that, very exciting !! And great scenery.

Rt 50 east from Montrose had some great road, nice curves with a fun speed limit, very nice. A few snow flurries, not bad.
Got to Boulder, by this time-1,750 miles-, I felt the car was solid and a good choice for a client who had been looking for the right car. She liked it, smooth transaction, everybody happy. Stay tuned for part 2,,

[Greg Gordon]

great report! I look forward to reading more. It's too bad you were not on a more southern route, you could have stopped at my place for a visit.

Greg

[HeavyMetalAlfa]

So, having sold the 85, I thought, should I be responsible and fly home and get back to work?
Hail no!!!
I get a flight to San Fran, take a bus to San Rafael, bought the 83. The owner, a very nice guy, was loath to sell it, he had had it for a long time. He unfortunately seemed to have a mechanic who used him hard over the years, he had a HUGE pile of work receipts from the last 15 years. He told me it seemed he averaged $2,000 per year on the car !! I haven't read most of the receipts yet, but what I saw made me feel bad for the guy. I wouldn't treat a customer like that!! Geez..
Well as I drove away, having paid full asking- I could do no less- the poor guy had a tear in his eye. I assured him it would find a good home.
Great car, at least for all the money he spent, it did run good. I was a little concerned about the timing belt- it apparently had the oil tensioner and it seemed a little loose and I couldn't find a receipt for a water pump. WHERE DID ALL THAT MONEY GO??
Well, being brave [though my friends call me something else], I decided to go for it. Ah, hindsight !!
I felt it would be best to take a more direct route home, as I have cars to restore and good customers to attend to. I motored over to rt 70, thinking I might see a GTV6 on the side of the road that Leroy told me about. Didn't see it, but nice drive. Headed for Kentucky, wanting to see the Alfarm that I had heard so much about. Good drive till I hit KY, huge rainstorm, bad wipers {GTV6] couldn't see, much hydro-planing,, Bad directions to hotel- 2 hours out of the way in the worst of the rain,, still had a good time.
Finally got to Lebanon KY, Called Mark- great guy, went to the Alfarm.
So many Alfas !! I felt right to home !! Fell in love with a car there, will have to go back and visit it again. Mark and Dick were great, gave me the grand tour, many cool projects going on. Wish I lived closer. Met Marks family, wife is a real Alfista, great kids- a sign of great parents!!! Definately future Alfisti!!
Headed north, 1,000 miles to go, got to get home, 9 days on the road so far.
Well,,,,
Got as far as Cincinnati, out of the blue, the water pump lunched. No warnings before, just went. Hmmm, lets see, order pump, wait 2 days, pay someone to rent shop time if possible, get home 3 days later.
Decided to bail. Some good ole boys offered to let me leave the car till pickup. I'll have send them some lobstahs !!

Not too big a deal, a few extra bucks, but an excellant trip nonetheless.

[Zunige]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeavyMetalAlfa ... Got as far as Cincinnati, out of the blue, the water pump lunched. No warnings before, just went. Hmmm, lets see, order pump, wait 2 days, pay someone to rent shop time if possible, get home 3 days later. Decided to bail. Some good ole boys offered to let me leave the car till pickup. I'll have send them some lobstahs !! ...

[gt601]

Well.. We missed you by a day and a half. The wife and I went down yesterday for a visit. Spent most of the day and as always had a great time. It makes one sort of sad seeing all of that Italian memorabilia sitting there in the fields resting. It's a good place to sent old cars to be with their own as they melt away. You will probably never meet nicer folks as the Kirzingers/Smiths. You missed the little towheaded blond four year old sing a pretty good rendition of some AC/DC with a little System Of A Down thrown in for good measure. Even got the "Oy,Oy, Oy" right
I am still thinking of calling CPS
Glad you had a good trip. Makes me want to go ahead and take the 164 to Chicago instead of the Suzuki.
Lee Skovanner (sp?) will take care of you in Cinn. He replaced my Moms timing belt on her Volvo when it popped last summer on a Sat.

Link: European Auto Specialists - Home

Paul

[lgbalfa]

great pics.

thanks for sharing.

[Alex Csank]

Sorry you didn't make it all the way, Glen! But, I'm damn glad to know somebody still has the testicular fortitude required to attempt such a feat!

And perhaps some more inspiration for others:

Otter: "...We could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part."

Bluto: "We're just the guys to do it!"

And for this coming June:

Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.

Jake: Hit it.

[backfeeder]

Loved the stories and the pics. Thanks for sharing.

[fetta78]

Glad you had the chance to come down and visit!
I'll be working to see if I can get your name a little higher on the short list......
Rain is gone, nice and warm, sunny. We actually got the engine in the white GTV6 this afternoon. Come on back anytime......

Oh, and yes......my 4 year old daughter loves AC/DC, System of a Down and Mylie Cyrus plus she loves Alfa's and was in the shop with us today!

.

[HeavyMetalAlfa]

Thank you, Fetta78, I hope to visit again soon.
GT601, I know what you mean, I commented to Mark as I got my first look at all those great cars past their prime," Its heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time. At least they are all together".

The folks at the Alfarm are wonderful, as I only had a short time to meet them and talk, I went away thinking, " I could spend many enjoyable hours sharing Alfa stories with these folk!!" It was inspiring to see all the Alfa projects in process. The Ky Alfa club people are very lucky to have such a resource !!
Such a great trip makes me want to do it again!! There are so many cool Alfa people to visit!

Okay, I think I will !!!

[gt601]

I was talking to mark about a camping weekend there at the farm. I say we try to get an old fashioned "Hippie/Alfa" weekend together and have a long weekend of camping out among the Alfas some nice summer weekend. It would be worth the drive. Folks today are such wussies about camping and bugs but it might be fun to get it together.
The "crick" almost always has a little bit of water in it so no one would go dirty

Paul

Once again I'll steal some of Marks photos to show everyone how cool the place is

[HeavyMetalAlfa]

I'm up for that. I'll bring a geetar !!

[Nicola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Csank Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Jake: Hit it.

[Nicola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeavyMetalAlfa I'm up for that. I'll bring a geetar !!