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Psaroa

16K views 85 replies 24 participants last post by  MNPNW 
#1 ·
Any Puget Sound Alfa Romeo Owners Association members on the BB? Any interest in doing some sort of reunion meeting since it has been about 10 years since the club was wound up? I miss the tire-kicking sessions in the parking lot at Vince's after the meetings...

Cheers,
 
#4 · (Edited)
No, NWARC was formed in 1965, independent of the national AROC. In the late 60's or early 70's NWARC joined the AROC. NWARC offered two levels of membership, NWARC only and NWARC and AROC. In the early 80's AROC cracked down on NWARC and would not permit the NWARC only memberships; if you wanted to belong to the local chapter, you had to belong to the national. A few of the founders of NWARC then broke off and formed PSAROA. PSAROA lasted until around 1995 or 1996.

I really enjoyed the club, it was really centered on the older cars and keeping them going. The highlight of the monthly meetings was hanging around the cars in the parking lot and shooting the breeze and asking questions of the guys who had 'been there and done that'. At the NWARC meetings everyone seems to jump into their car and leave after the meeting is over, and the focus of the club really seems to be track days (IMHO).

Are you joining us for the NWARC convention here in Seattle this weekend...?
I was planning on going to the concours, but I found out it only lasts until 11:30, and I have a previous commitment until noon. <sigh>

Cheers,
 
#5 ·
John,
I used to occassionally attend the PS club back in the mid-80's. I was wondering what happened to it. My Dad and I were members of both clubs for awhile. I bought my first Alfa from a PS member... But I have to say I did not know many people very well. Any luck finding any former members?
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the clarification John! I'm a new member so I don't really know shtick about the club's history... :)
...I have yet to make a meeting due to location, day and time...*sigh*

Beautiful GTV by the way!

I hope to have 72 looking that nice someday........ :)
 
#7 ·
There were some great guys in that group who really knew their stuff. Anyone remember Stan Carter? He's gone now, but he went to Indy every year as a machinist / crew member, back into the "Specials" era. He drove a '69 GTV and I believe an Alfetta sedan. And he could drive!...way into his 70's.
 
#8 ·
Yep, I remember Stan and his Red 1750 GTV and ever-present cigar. He had some great stories...

I ran into Mike and Dan Patjens at ABFM a couple of weekends ago, we talked a bit about the old club and its members and it got me to thinking about some sort of reunion. So far I haven't really gotten any interest. I suspect that not many PSAROA-ers are on the bb.
 
#9 ·
Hi guys,

I remember the old club. I'm new to the bb because that is really the only place for tire kicking now. My dad and I would show up late at Vince's for the BS session in the parking lot. Remember Everett DeVlieg with his turbo GTV or the blue rattle-can Berlina? A lot of the "been there, done that" guys were out for the Time Trials. It was nice to see them.

Tom Nuxoll
 
#10 ·
I am sure that Bob Palmer would be very interested in a reunion of the Puget Sound Alfa Romeo Owners Club. It broke his heart when the national would no longer permit (1) spyders without roll bars to run time trials under insurance coverage of the national (2) old cars having to be fitted with three point harnasses and (3) no good old "associate" members. So he started the PSAROC, and put out the newsletter for years. One of the best artists in the country when it came to painting pictures of cars. I have an extensive collection, but many of us old timers have others. As for Stan Carter, yes, he was inspiration. But, fellows, 70 is NOT old. Some Alfa cars that ran at the time trials at the convention were older than that. Remember that the club that was started in 1965 was not the Northwest Alfa Remeo "OWNERS" Club. It was the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club. The intial purpose was to share information so we could keep the cars running in the absense of a dependable dealer. The most important thing we learned is that we could work on our own cars, and most of us still do. Who after 1991, buying an Alfa would dive right in and start trying blind to do anything? In fact, when the Alfetta cars came out in 1975 the warranties would be voided if we did anything on the Spica injection systems. That did stop a lot of the guys, but eventually we caught on. Frankly, the club is now just a bunch of drivers who barely know how to change a tire. We did not become a chapter of the National Club until 1969. There are a lot of us old pre chapter days guys still around, but we still work on cars instead of just driving them. Perhaps that is why we have to have so many? Alfa = Always Looking for Another
 
#11 ·
GianniB said:
No, NWARC was formed in 1965, independent of the national AROC. In the late 60's or early 70's NWARC joined the AROC. NWARC offered two levels of membership, NWARC only and NWARC and AROC. In the early 80's AROC cracked down on NWARC and would not permit the NWARC only memberships; if you wanted to belong to the local chapter, you had to belong to the national. A few of the founders of NWARC then broke off and formed PSAROA. PSAROA lasted until around 1995 or 1996.

I really enjoyed the club, it was really centered on the older cars and keeping them going. The highlight of the monthly meetings was hanging around the cars in the parking lot and shooting the breeze and asking questions of the guys who had 'been there and done that'. At the NWARC meetings everyone seems to jump into their car and leave after the meeting is over, and the focus of the club really seems to be track days (IMHO).
A similar thing happened with the AROC and the Southern California club. I was only a member of the national club for a few years, but remiained on the board of directors of the local club for something like 15 years. Eventually, people just dropped out, no matter if they were AROC members or not, because of politics.

The chapter never died, but there are very few old timers left.
 
#14 ·
I think a reunion has merit. It was great to see Mike Patjens and I even stumbled into John Farver, the man who sold me my very first Alfa, a '75 Alfetta GT which subsequently caught fire with my preschool son on board. But hey, no hard feelings, son is fine, and he's able to finally laugh about it, after years of therapy! ;^) It would be good to see the likes of Ron Lotton, past prez, and his fabulous Giulietta Sprint! And so many others....

Only thing, is how to put out the word and contact the old Puget Sound membership?
 
#15 ·
Gianni,

Sunday is always tough at a convention, because that's the day of the concours, and then you have to have a closing ceremony and awards banquet early so people can go home. Not much time for the concours. Still, you should have come on down! It went on till nearly noon. Looked like a junior Concourso Italiano. The diversity of Alfa Romeo is just amazing.

The closing banquet was tremendous as well.
 
#16 ·
It was great to see Mike Patjens
Yeah, I ran into Mike and his dad Dan at ABFM and that was what sparked the idea for a reunion of sorts. I sent an email to Ron Lotton a while back, but no response. Good point about contacting the former membership. I'll have to look around and see if I still have a roster left over from when I was the newsletter editor.

Ciao,
 
#17 · (Edited)
psaroa

Out of my respect for my dear friend Lorna, the NWARC and the AROC, I'm editiing out the depressing details of the Associates episode. Sorry if anyone
was disturbed by it.

John, thanks for the great idea of having a Reunion of the PSAROA members.
Hans tells me that he still has about 700 bucks in our old bank account and
this would be good way to spend it.

As for the roll bars, the fellows with the new spiders were complaining the most. I did finally put a roll bar in my Guilia Spider because of trying to keep up with Stanly on our tours, not for the track, which was much much safer.
We looked at the track as an old country road with no oncoming traffic.

Go for it John, Looks like there may be some interest.

Bob P.
Owned many Alfas. My favorite was a Giulia Spider with a GTA engine.
at 4200 in second gear hanging on was necessary.
 
#18 ·
PSAROA Membership

Gianni,

Even though you didn't get a response from Ron Lotton, I believe that Mike Patjens has contact with him through work. If you can't find a roster, I can ask Mike to contact Ron to see what he might still have document wise concerning the ol' club. It'd be a kick to have a gathering after soooo long. $700 bucks will buy alot of steaks and beer! Jack Brooks, you still got that huge side yard, mowed, and ready for contingent of Italian steel (and rust!)? He is on the BB, no??
 
#21 ·
PSAROA Reunion

I think a reunion is a great idea. Since we still have funds, how about making it real and using my yard again for hi's, lies, etc, and a BBQ just like the old days. We shouldn't wait too long as we will lose the weather. We old timers should talk about how we use the left over funds and who should be invited besides old members and who might get paid for. Any other thoughts by anyone?
 
#22 · (Edited)
John , if I may I would like to add some more information to your explanation of the dues flap with the national. Jay Nuxoll wrote the original by-laws for the NWARC as you said, in 1965, He wrote in a part that allowed 5 dollar associate members who would receive the newsletter, could attend the meetings, but not permitted to vote on any issue, which was only done by the officers and the regular members who paid a fifteen dollar membership dues. We had several fine associate members who even became capable and willing officers. It didn't matter to us. The idea was to have them sample the club to see if they would like to join as regular members. They earned their full membership by their good work for the club. The Chapter dues returned to the National didn't balance with our membership list.
 
#23 ·
Party Time!! ??

Hey, Folks!

Nothing quite like getting a bunch of old friends together again! I've managed to stay in touch with a few these years - Bob, Jack, Jay, Paul, and met Dan Hoogen, John Farver, Dave Nudelman and Mike Patjens at the Convention!

It's been a while but I saw George Bradshaw a few times since, talked to Bobby Boone on the phone, also Ron Calkins since he's obviously active in the NWARC these days. Don Christian was here from Florida a while back. Don MacKay was also up here from New Mexico and since his sons still live here, he'd probably find a reason to join us as well.

I've been "sitting on" our remaining treasury all these years and talked to a few of the old PSAROA members, way back when, about how to deal with these funds.

Seems to me that a bit of a "bash" would take care of it nicely!

About the weather - as we all know, (and just look at the record) we tend to get rained out on weekends more often than not.

I'd suggest an indoor meeting site. That back room is still available at Vince's . We were just there the other day since we're fond of that pizza. Well, darn me, it tasted different! Asked Fred if he'd changed his formula and he nodded. Whatever...

There are any number of places for a reunion. I'd like to see people bring wives, too. The way I see it - the more, the merrier; well, I'm not suggesting people bring their children and grandchildren but $700 ought to cover a decent party and, if it doesn't, well, we'll just pass the old hat.

One final thought - we all know how to reach somebody - let's all list names of people, as I did, whom we can contact and invite to this bash?

Cheers and Happy Motoring!
 
#24 ·
I just stopped by Bob P's place and collected an old PSAROA roster from June of 88. Not sure if anyone has one more current. Heck, I don't even appear on it. I haven't started making calls yet but I'm sure there's a high probability of many of the #'s no longer being valid. But I'll do what I can, when I can (over the next week or so) and see where it gets us.

Bob had made a suggestion of perhaps putting a general announcement in the paper. Does that have merrit? Who would be the central contact? etc...
 
#26 ·
I think I prolly have a roster from the last days of the club up in the attic with all the Legenda stuff I saved. I'll take a look tonight.

I think the suggestion of an indoor venue is a good one being that we are just weeks away from the kick off of the fall rainy season. Ideas on where and when for this big shindig?

Cheers,
 
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