Feb 6th European Car show/swap in Long Beach

[Alfajay]

While all the rest of you were at the drivers' school, I took a drive up to the Vetrans Stadium in Long Beach for the "European car show and swap meet". This is the first time this event has been held - it is the evolution of the Porsche show/swap event that has been held at the Dunkle Brothers in Anaheim for the past several years.

Well, for the first time, I guess the organizers did a good job. But, the content was still 99% Porsche. There were a smattering of British cars and parts, and a few stands selling generic stuff (chrome polish, Hollywood Speedometer, etc.). But the cars on display and the parts for sale were virtually all 356 - 911. Perhaps as this event grows/evolves we will see more familiar (e.g., Italian) stuff there. But for 2005, it was pretty much the traditional Dunkle Bros event without the neat museum and whimisical "Porsches hanging from trees" displays.

[italcarguy]

I was planning on going but got side-tracked this morning and didn't feel like dealing with the 405 once I remembered. Any pictures?

[Alfajay]

Anthony:

I brought my camera, but didn't take any pictures. It was kind of a grey day, and the Veterans Stadium parking lot is a concrete and asphalt monolith. Somehow, I didn't think the Alfa gang would want to see pictures of air-cooled engine parts.

I hope I don't come across as negative here - actually, I am very envious of the tremendous vendor support the Porsche community enjoys. Not to mention the quantity of used Porsche parts offered at the swap meet. I sure wish Alfa stuff was that available. Further, I don't want to seem like I'm ungrateful to the folks who organized this event, and tried to make it an "all European" affair. I suppose the fact that only the Porsche people showed up puts a burden on us Italian (and British and French) car guys to do our bit in 2006.

[Mike G]

I have a 911 and if it was not in the shop I would rather have taken it to the Alfa Streets event than power park it in Long Beach.
Hope to be rolling in time for the Alfa Buttonwillow event.
cheers