Okay, I realize that some of you drive your Alfa all year round, and kudos for that. But, some (maybe most) of our little Italian pets spend most of the winter hibernating in garages throughout the Delaware Valley. So, every year, when the days begin to get longer, and the trees begin to bud, it’s time to take the covers off, and fire them up.
As is our longstanding spring tradition, we’ll gather at Nick Falcone Enterprises in Bala Cynwyd on April 20 (note the day change) for our spring Tech Session. This is always a great time, so please join us.
The weekend before, on April 13th, the Simeone Foundation will be taking out their Alfa 8C 2300 Monza out for a spin, along with some other Monza favorites.
And, finally, mark your calendars for our spring tour on May 25th. More details to follow.
For all our events, please refer to our events page at: Events
We’ve made some updates and confirmed some dates for our 2019 events calendar. Check it out at: Calendar
In addition, note that the AROC national convention is within striking distance of our chapter, this year. It will be held in Pittsburgh on July 16-21 and coincides with the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. This is an uncommon opportunity to hang out with the Alfisiti as well as enjoy a premier vintage race. For more details go to: AROC National Convention and Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
I hope everyone had a great New Year and that your Alfa collection expanded.
We’re in the process of developing our slate of events for 2019. Go to our events page for more details. Here’s what we have, so far:
April (TBD) – Tech Session May 25 (TBC) – Spring Tour (Bucks County and along the Delaware) June 2 (TBC) – Horses and Horsepower at Brandywine Polo – Car Show June (TBD) – Italian Festival at Rose Valley – Car Show July 14 (TBC) – Fall Picnic and Rally – Ridley Creek State Park August (TBD) – New Hope Auto Show September 8 – Radnor Concours d’Elegance – Car Show October 6 (TBC) – Fall Picnic October 27(TBC) – Fall Winery Tour November 9 – Demo Day at Simeone Foundation
If you have an idea or a suggestion, just get in touch with one of your DVAROC officers.
Our last driving event for the year will be our fall tour. We’ve rescheduled it to November 11th to avoid any Eagles’ fans’ conflicts – so now, you have no excuses!
This year, we’ll be visiting two wineries and will finish up at a brewery for a late lunch.
The club will meet at Wawa in Chester Springs – see map below – before 10:15am. There, you’ll be able to tank up on gas and coffee. We’ll leave promptly at 10:30 and drive to our first stop, Stone Barn Cellars Winery www.stonebarncellars.com where we’ll sample their wines and enjoy a few club provided cheeses and snacks. Cost for wine tasting there is $10. From there, we’ll hit the back roads and for a 45 minute, or so, drive to Black Walnut Winery www.blackwalnutwinery.com for another sampling of Pennsylvania’s best wines and some more cheeses and snacks. Tasting at Black Walnut is between $5 and $10, depending on how much you want to taste. Finally, once we’ve finished sampling, we’ll take a short drive to Victory Brewing in Parkesburg for a late Sunday lunch and maybe some beer sampling.
The total tour length is only about 35 miles, but with stops, tours, tastings and pettings, expect to arrive for lunch around 2pm.
There is no cost to participate in the tour. The club will provide some cheese and other snacks to go with the wine tastings. Participants are responsible for the costs of tastings and lunches – from the restaurant’s menu
If you want to attend, please RSVP to Bob Brady at: 302.420.6529 or preferably, robertanthonybrady@gmail.com by Friday, November 9th.
The Delaware Valley Alfa Romeo Owners Club will hold our Summer Picnic and Rally at Ridley Creek State Park on Sunday July 15th. 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.
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. We’ll ask each participant to provide $10 per person to the club, to help defray costs.
If you want to attend, please RSVP to Bob Brady at: 302.420.6529 or preferably, robertanthonybrady@gmail.com by Friday, July 13th so we can plan food and hand-outs, accordingly.
DVAROC Spring Tour – Bucks County – Saturday, May 26th
So far, it’s been an unusual spring, but that hasn’t stopped us from enjoying our Alfas. With summer quickly approaching, it’s time for our May tour.
This year, we’ll return to the Delaware River valley. Like last year, we’ll travel through beautiful Bucks County, back and forth from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, through some lovely covered bridges and finish in Doylestown for lunch. Although the locale is the same, the route is quite different, and will take you to some new places. Along the way, we’ll make some stops to stretch our legs and enjoy some sites and towns. Expect the total length to be about 60 miles and the drive to take about three hours (including stops).
The tour will leave at 9:30am, from the parking lot at Washington Crossing Park, in Pennsylvania. Refer to the map below:
From there, we’ll drive through Bucks County, Washington Crossing, and New Hope, crossing into Lambertville, New Jersey. Our first stop will be Bulls Island state park, where we’ll cross the foot bridge into Pennsylvania, reversing our path from last year. Then, it’s up to Frenchtown, this time approaching it from the New Jersey side. We’ll take a little break there, to stretch our legs, get some gas, if necessary, and enjoy the town. From there, we’ll cross back into Pennsylvania and drive down, along River Road. Before we get to New Hope, we’ll turn inland and head to Doylestown for lunch at the Station Taphouse. After lunch, I’m hoping we can get a bunch to walk down to the Mercer Museum where they are featuring an exhibit on the Racing History of Bucks County.
Lunches at the restaurant will be from the menu, so no need to pre-pay or feel limited to selections. There is no cost for the tour. Cost for lunch and/or museum visits is up to you.
If you want to attend, please RSVP to Bob Brady at: 302.420.6529 or preferably, robertanthonybrady@gmail.com by Friday, May 18th.
If we get enough participants, I might even break up the tour into two groups, with slightly different directions – just to mix it up a bit!
