An Alfa owner and enthusiast since the 80's, I am still only on my second Alfa--and second Spider! After a 28-year run with a 1982 Spider Veloce, I finally sold it to a collector in New York and bought my dream--a roundtail spider--for restoration a few years back. 

A 3+ year project, my recreation of the '69 Spider 1750 was quite a journey, and now I at last have a completely restored car to enjoy. The story of my restoration is described in excruciating detail in several recent CAMS issues for those interested in the process.

ARA is my home for Alfa events and information exchange. The Club is a terrific resource for collectors and owners as well as a great place to hang out and enjoy our cars and the appreciation of la dolce vita!
  
ARA Member since: 2014  

Alfas Owned: 
1969 Spider 1750 (USA)
1982 Spider Veloce

Other Italian & European:
1970 Renault Alpine A110 (Dinalpin) 
1971 Volvo P1800E
1958 MGA
1966 Jaguar XJ13 recreation (RCR)
1971 DeTomaso Pantera

I bought my red GTV 1750 in February, 2012. It was listed for sale in “Overheard Cams” classified and located in Salt Lake City. I spoke with Dixie Lee, the widow of the owner, to learn about its pertinent details. I then flew to SLC on a one-way ticket, bought the car, and drove it home (on 25 year-old tires).

ARA President James Treadwell asked me to serve on the Board of Directors the following year. When he finished his term, he convinced me to take over as President. After leading the club for a couple of years, I became Vice President, where I remain to this day, trying to pull together as many events as possible.

In September 2015, while I was visiting Tom Sahines, Alfa mechanic extraordinaire, discussing work that the GTV desperately needed, Tom asked me “Bill, do you want to see something great?” and pulled the cover off a graphite grey Spider that was in his driveway. Then he said, “It’s for sale, do you want to drive it?” A couple of weeks later, I showed it at All Italian Day. 

ARA Member since: 2012

Alfas Owned

1971 GTV 1750

1965 Spider 1600 Veloce

2018 Stelvio Ti Sport

I became the owner of a 69 1750 GTV in late 2013. I've always been a car guy, growing up I lived off Road and Track and Autoweek (back when it was in newspaper format). My first car was a signal orange Porsche 914 which set me on the path of many German cars including a Jetta GLI followed by BMWs including a 535is, an M3. My first vintage car is a 72 3.0cs which I've owned since '91 and restored after I moved to California in 2000. 

I've always loved Italian cars and I had been looking for a stepnose for a quite sometime when a very nice 69 GTV came my way and I jumped on it. I've spent the last year or so bringing it back to the way it was originally doing a fair amount of the work myself but also taking advantage of the fantastic Alfa mechanics in the bay area. When I'm not wrenching on cars I work in the tech industry.

ARA Member Since: 2015

Alfas Owned:

1969 GTV 1750 (only one so far)

I first met our ’66 Alfa Giulia Spider - I was 14 at the time - when a good friend of the family in Sacramento bought it (almost) new.  Twelve years later our friend passed away; my wife Debra & I sold our just-purchased black ’65 Spider, bought his red ‘66, and it has been a part of the family ever since.  We took it offline in 2007 for a paint / chrome / upholstery refresh, but otherwise it has been puttering around South Bay pretty much original for the past 40 years as an occasional commuter.  After all these years our Alfa feels like second nature to me, and newer cars just don’t give the same sense of oneness.  Although I don’t tinker with the Alfa as much as I used to, my job until I retired in 2021 was total car guy – 20 years of creating dashboard car navigation systems at Trimble GPS, for just about every car company outside of Japan.       


ARA Member Since: 1983

Alfas Owned:
1966 Giulia Spider (ALFA1.6L)

Other Sports Cars Owned:
2003 WRX 

  
ARA Member since: 2016

Alfas Owned: 
1985 Spider

Current club projects:
Leader - ARA Green Hills of Earth Tour
Monterey Car Week - ARA/DSARC/AROC Concorso Italiano Field Coordinator
All Italian Car and Motorcycle Day - Event Advisor / Volunteer Coordinator
 
ARA Member since: 1998

Alfas Owned: 
1972 2000 GT Veloce [Euro]
1991 Spider

I've been a foreign car guy since college. Initially Northern European, then Japanese, and now European again. Only true domestic car that I have owned was a '60s Chevelle that I drove in Chicago winters when I had a 356SC. (My Crossfire is really a Mercedes SLK320.)

Except for the Chevelle and the modern Giulia, all of my cars have had manual transmissions. I admit though that traffic jams in Silicon Valley, and now Seattle's Eastside, make me weary of having to use a clutch.

ARA Member since: 2014

Alfas Owned: 
1974 Spider -- purchased in 2013 and have been tinkering with it ever since
2023 Giulia Veloce TI AWD -- purchased new in May 2024

I have a list of Alfas that I'd like to own that includes the original Giulia and one of the cool 1900s. (A long lost memory recently resurfaced: I had checked out a used Alfa in Chicago circa 1980 that I didn't buy. It was possibly an Alfetta sports coupe or possibly a GTV6.)

Other Interests/Hobbies: Travel that I didn't do when I was younger. Bike trips in Europe. Photography, a side effect of my role as editor of Overheard Cams. And still do some software development for grins.

As the long-time spouse of our esteemed Past-President, I am also the best co-pilot/navigator for our beloved 1969 1750 GT. My love affair with fun, sporty cars began with a Signal Orange Porsche 914 and progressed through many German sports cars to my current infatuation with Italian vehicles, especially Alfa Romeo! I enjoy taking scenic drives and attending car shows, as well as planning and taking part in ARA club events. Most of our dearest friends are folks with similar passion for speed and beauty. 

ARA Member since: 2015

Alfas Owned: 
1969 1750 GT

I guess I have to blame my obsession with these cars on my father, Marty. I can remember an Alfa being in the family for as long as I can remember. Helping him work on his red 72' GTV was always a lot of fun for me (possibly frustrating for him!) and I remember learning how to drive stick between 14-15 years old on a 78' Spider, boy that car took a beating, but was literally bulletproof.
I've been a member of the organization pretty much since I was in high school and joined when I bought my first Alfa, an 81' GTV6 with a 3.0L engine built by Hans Milo in Atlanta. It had a Milano Platinum Transaxle with 160mph speedo that actually worked. High flow cats and power steering from a Milano, this thing was a rocket, but it was plagued with several areas of rust. And then the obsession really took off, see below:

ARA Member since: 2004

Alfas Owned: 
1969 1750 GT
1984 GTV6
2018 Giulia TI Q4

Other Interests/Hobbies:
Very interest in old-railroad history/memorabilia. I spend a portion of my time running steam locomotives at a local park in the bay area. It is slightly less than half scale, 5" to the foot to be exact. Everything is scaled down almost exactly, except the engineers and folks riding.

I've always loved cars. I grew up in Southern California and while in college, a boyfriend was a member of the LA Street Racers, which began my obsession with fast and nimble machines.  My 1st new car purchase was a 1975 Fiat 124 Spider. The 2nd was a 1986 Spider Quadrifoglio and the obsession morphed into fast, nimble, and Italian. 

ARA Member since: 1986

Alfas Owned: 
1986 Spider Quadrifoglio
1991 164S
2018 Stelvio Ti

ARA member since:

Alfas owned:

Other hobbies:


 

I was born in San Francisco and grew up on the Peninsula. I have been an ARA club member since 2014.  As a true motor-head my whole life, as well as amateur grease monkey, I’ve had many types of cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The Alfa Romeo bug bit me when I drove my Dad’s ‘71 GTV.  I was hooked!  I have owned three Alfas since then. Initially, my wife and I had an ‘85 Spider and an ‘87 Milano as our daily drivers. But then, as kids came along, we had to sell our fun rides. Mini vans and trucks filled my stable for the next 20 years. 

By 2014, our kids were grown, and we were able to have fun transportation again. I snapped up an 1984 Spider from a guy in Sacramento; I’ve been driving it every chance I get. My wife has enjoyed the car as well, dubbing it our “date car”. 

The carefree sprit that an open top Alfa Romeo brings is one of the best experiences ever. I have really enjoyed being a member of the ARA, and now that I am retired, I am happy to be more involved with the club. 

I have owned a handful of British and German classic cars over the years, but became hooked on Alfas when a fellow ARA member let me drive his GT Junior during Monterey Car Week. In 2014 I found my Spider in Florida via AlfaBB, and based on a few emailed pictures and Tom Sahines vouching for the seller, bought it without any pre-purchase inspection. It’s among the best cars I’ve ever owned. After getting to know other Alfa enthusiasts and learning more about the cars and history of the marque, I followed up with my GTV in 2016, and then in 2017 while we were at Tom’s shop picking up the Spider from being serviced, my wife and I saw a blue Sprint that he was almost finished restoring. My wife said she liked the color so I bought the car in her moment of weakness. Coincidentally Bill DeGolia had sold the Sprint to Tom when he bought his Spider. My wife and I have enjoyed many miles of motoring in our Alfas and the camaraderie of the people we’ve met at club events.