Okay, so winter is not necessarily the best time to come out with your Alfa and play with the club. But, it is a great time to catch up on maintenance, watch some inspirational videos, shop for another toy or plan for the upcoming months. Here’s a little of each:

Maintenance: While I’ve been busy stitching the race GTV back together and doing some unplanned upgrades, you might want to tackle some less ambitious work: clean your interior (good mice prevention) and windows, change your oil, replace your tires (are they more than five years old?) and check the age of your battery to see if needs to be replaced. For a good guide to winter storage tips, try this link: Winter Storage Tips

Inspirational Videos: There’s no better way to burn through winter hours than watching some great car videos. Here are a few suggestions: Classic Car Snow Racing – St. Moritz, Fantastic GTA Racing at Goodwood, Great Transaxle Alfa Rally Footage, The New GTAm, Alfa Formula 1 Behind The Scenes, Giulia Oil Change, Alfa Restoration, Five Reasons Why You Need an Alfa Spider

Shopping: Now’s a great time to get some parts, buy some books or Alfa swag. But if you’re really hooked, you need to be shopping for something more substantial. Maybe a winter shopping trip to Paris is in order? If that’s too cold, how about Arizona? Too far? How about Florida?

Planning for 2023: Your DVAROC officers have been busy. We have some great events coming up:

February 11 – Simeone Museum Tour – Jim Hanna will give us a tour of the fabulous Simeone Museum again this year. If there’s sufficient interest, we’ll also meet up for lunch afterwards.

April 15 – Tech Session at Nick Falcone Enterprises – Ruth and Vince are opening their doors to us for our traditional spring get-together.

April 29 – Alfa Meet at Faulkner Alfa Romeo – Greg Shpungin has been working with Faulkner to arrange a meet at their dealership in Willow Grove.

For more event details and a complete (updated) calendar, go to: DVAROC Events

It’s that time of the year, again. Time to put away our classic Alfas and put snows on our daily driver Alfas. It’s also time to start planning out next year’s activities.

Our draft calendar looks a lot like our typical year, with a Tech Session in the spring, followed by a tour around Memorial Day. Then, in July we’ll do our summer picnic and rally. Fall brings with it our annual picnic and then another tour which will likely include some wineries.

We’re looking to go back to the Simeone Museum this winter, but have not yet nailed down a date. We’re waiting for the Simeone to announce their test days to see if we can combine our visit with one of them.

Our calendar also includes a bunch of events that club members might be interested in attending – including car shows and vintage races.

The AROC national convention is being held in North Carolina, this year, in late June. That puts it within striking distance. If we can get enough interest, perhaps we can arrange a caravan.

To see the complete calendar, go to: DVAROC Events Calendar

If you have any ideas or things you’d like to do, feel free to reach out to myself or one of your officers.

While planning our fall tour, to visit some wineries, we found out that one of our favorites is no longer open on Sundays. So, we’re moving our tour date to Saturday, October 22nd. We hope that doesn’t cause any inconvenience.

Fall is upon us and with it, comes a bunch of events.  A lot of these are new and some require RSVPs, so please read carefully:

October 9th – DVAROC Fall Picnic – Chester County, PA

You are cordially invited to this year’s DVAROC fall picnic, to be held again at “Le Petit Mont” in Unionville, Chester County.  Join us on top of the “mont” where you will enjoy breathtaking views of the Brandywine Creek valley while sharing a lovely afternoon among beautiful cars, and fellow Alfa enthusiasts.  The event will take place on Sunday, October 9^th and will start a little before noon.  Gourmet lunches and drinks will be provided by the club.  Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets, chairs and Alfa Romeo related trinkets that can be given away as prizes. 

In addition to the gathering of cars and  Alfisti, we’ll have games, entertainment and the DVAROC will hold annual elections.

We need to plan food/drinks, so RSVP as soon as you can, but no later than Friday, October 7th to Bob Brady at: 302-420-6529 or robertanthonybrady@gmail.com 

The picnic will be held, rain or shine.

Don’t miss this great DVAROC tradition!  

October 14-16 – Historic Racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park

Not a DVAROC event, but I know at least one DVAROC member who will be racing there.  This event is open to the public, though the NJMP website has very little information about it.  If you want to go, let me know and I can give you the details.

October 16th – Skippack International Car Show – Skippack, PA

Not a DVAROC event, but a great chance to see a fabulous car show.  For more information, go to: http://www.skippackvillage.com/events/15/car-show.html

October 22nd – Alfa Demo Day at Simeone Museum

This isn’t an official DVAROC event, but a great event nonetheless.  The NJAROC is going, so we can meet up with them.  For more information, go to: https://simeonemuseum.org/demo-days/

October 23rd – DVAROC Fall Tour – Wineries of Chester County

Our fall tour will take us to some great wineries and maybe a special stop, as well.  More information to follow.

November 5th – Ragtops and Roadsters Open House – Pottstown, PA

Ragtops always has a great open house.  Not a DVAROC event.  For more information, go to: https://ragtops.com/events/

November 26th – DVAROC Visits the David Markel Collection – Skippack, PA

We’ve been visiting this amazing collection of cars for the past couple years.  Every visit shows us something different.  We need 25 people to RSVP by October 9th!  Cost will be $25 and we’ll likely meet for lunch afterwards.

There you have it.  Plenty of opportunities to get your Alfa out!

Hope to see you soon, 

bob

The annual New Hope Auto Show was out in force this year, with Alfas filling out the Sunday field. DVAROC member Bob Schlichting took home first in class with his 1991 Spider. Here are some shots from the day. Congratulations, Bob!!

Alfisti, 

Summer is here and with it, comes our summer picnic/rally.

The Delaware Valley Alfa Romeo Owners Club will hold our Summer Picnic and Rally at Ridley Creek State Park on Sunday July 3rd.  The event will include a fun rally, which should take less than an hour to complete, followed by a picnic in the park.  You’ll have a chance to show off your car, demonstrate your navigation skills, and enjoy some good food and friends.

We’ll gather at Ridley Creek State Park at 10:30, site #8 – we have the pavilion.  See map below:

After everyone arrives, we’ll go over the rally instructions and then have a Le Mans style start.  The rally will take participants through some very pretty Chester County horse country. The course is designed to make for fun competition that won’t reward use of GPS or following another car. 

The rally course will take less than an hour to complete.  Once everyone is safely back to the park, we’ll enjoy some lunch together.

Picnic lunches – hoagies, salads and drinks will be provided.  Lunch is free for members.

If you want to attend, please RSVP to Bob Brady by Friday, July 1st so we can plan food and hand-outs, accordingly.

Hope to see you there!!

bob

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful spring we’re having.  And with that, it’s time for our Spring Tour.

This year, we’ll be holding the tour on Sunday, May 22nd.  

We’ll leave from the parking lot at Peddler’s Village in Lahaska, PA promptly at 10:30am.  From there, we’ll drive through Bucks County, with some segments along the Delaware River and arrive at our first stop at Ringing Rocks park.  There, we’ll take a short walk to find out why the park got its name (bring a hammer….no, seriously, bring a hammer).  After that, we’ll head north a little more, and then swoop down, back to the river valley where we’ll make our second stop in Frenchtown, NJ.  There, we’ll have some time to walk around or catch a snack.  Our last leg will take us through some lovely New Jersey countryside, through Stockton, and finally to New Hope.  There are plenty of restaurants in New Hope and if there is sufficient interest, I’ll try to reserve some spaces for us at Triumph Brewing.

Total tour time, including stops, should be about three hours.  Tour length is about 45 miles.
If you are interested in going, please RSVP by Friday, May 20th

When you RSVP, please let me know if you want to have lunch at the Brewery.

A couple other notes: 
– Directions to the parking lot at Peddler’s Village are shown below, 
– Bring shoes you can walk in, 
– Bring a hammer
– Plan to be at the parking lot no later than 10:15

I hope to see you next weekend.  I’ve been wanting to take you to Ringing Rocks for a long time.

Wow!  With May just a day away, the events calendar has really exploded.  Here is what’s coming up:

Sunday, May 1 – Cars and Coffee – New Hope, PA
One of our members writes: “A number of Alfa owners are going to rally up at Barn Plaza in Doylestown, PA at 7-7:30am Sunday, and we’ll run the last 15-minute leg to New Hope together for this event.  Last year about a dozen Alfas made it to New Hope, and about half a dozen of us pulled in together. Barn Plaza: 1745 S Easton Rd, Doylestown, PA 18901
Tires roll for New Hope at 7.30am sharp. New Hope-Solebury High School, 180 West Bridge Street, New Hope, PA (Same school campus where we have The New Hope Automobile Show.
https://newhopeautoshow.com/cars-and-coffee/

Sunday, May 15 – 8th Annual Wheels of Wayne Car Show – Wayne, PA
A great hometown car show in our backyard.  For more information, go to: www.radnor.com/wow

Sunday, May 22 – DVAROC Spring Tour – Peddlers Village, PA
Our annual spring tour has been planned (I just need to test drive the course).  This year, we’re going to mix it up a little and leave from Peddlers Village outside New Hope at 10:30.  From there, we’ll drive up to Ringing Rocks park (bring your hammer) to find out why the park got its name.  Then, it will be back across the Delaware into New Jersey, where we’ll stop at Frenchtown.  There, you can visit one of a number of local restaurants for a bite to eat.  From Frenchtown, we’ll head back to New Hope, where we’ll end the tour.  As usual, expect it to be about three hours (including stops).  I’ll send out a separate notice of this event. 

Saturday, June 4 – Conshohocken Festival (and car show), Conshohocken, PA
Another local event with a car show you can enter.  For more information, go to: www.conshohockenartsfestival.com/

Sunday, June 5 – Italian American Heritage Festival – Rose Tree Park, Media, PA
This great event is back.  In addition to food and entertainment, there is an excellent car show.  If you’re interested in attending or entering the car show, look at the flyer below for more information.

So there you have it, plenty of events for you to enjoy with your Alfa over the next few weeks.

I hope to see you on the tour (or at one of the other events).

Our extended club brought 50+ people to enjoy the Simeone collection on Saturday, February 12th. We really want to thank Jim Hanna for his very interesting and entertaining description of the cars – it really made the event. After our tour, we enjoyed watching some British classics produce some wonderful sounds out back.

For a much better and more comprehensive report, go to Richard Reina’s car blog here: RR Blog

We’re on for our tour of the Simeone Museum.  If you are not familiar with it, go here: Simeone Museum  It’s pretty amazing and even more amazing when you find out that it used to be located in a nondescript parking garage in south Philadelphia, before it moved to its current location.

The tour will be Saturday, February 12th at 10:30am, so plan to arrive a little earlier.  A DVAROC member, who is a docent at the museum, will give us a tour.  Expect it to last two hours, or more – there are a lot of cars!  Cost for the event will be about $15/person, depending on how many we get.

Depending on interest, and turnout, we might stop by a local restaurant for a late lunch.
If you are interested in coming, please RSVP by February 4th, by email.

I hope to see you at this special event.

Nordic Alfa Inspiration

On these cold, short days, you might find yourself looking for some diversion.  That is, if you don’t have a heated garage.  If you ever wondered what Norwegian Alfa enthusiasts do in the winter (who doesn’t?), then check out this article: Spiders to the Arctic Circle  It’s… ahem.. inspirational (?)…. though my lovely wife gave me “the look” when I suggested we do something similar.  Here’s a shot from the article: