Central Florida Alfas

From the 1960's to the 1990's the Alfa Romeo new car dealer in central Florida was European Motor Service in Longwood, Florida. ALFA is an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (translated: Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company).

European was owned by Johnny Mollica (Mo-leek-ah) and Carmine "Carlo" Briscese (Brees-chay-zee), both born in Italy. Not only did they sell and service new Alfa Romeos but they also served as the rebuilding center for ALFA Romeo USA, the place where motors and transmissions in need of fixing came to be rebuilt and then sent back out to various dealers nationwide.

I have had the opportunity in the last week or so to chat with both Johnny and Carlo. They are now in their 70's and are enjoying life in retirement but still in love with their Alfas as they each still own them.

In fact I have had several conversation with Carlo during which he told me a little bit about his childhood in Italy during WWII and some of his history with Alfa Romeo. Carlo did a lot of the engine and transmission rebuilding in Longwood himself and is an Alfa Romeo expert.

One of his cars is a 1991 Alfa Romeo 164 he has owned since new. Black outside. Beautiful tan leather inside. A dizzying array of switches and buttons controlling every little feature imaginable.

More pictures of this beauty soon.....and here they are! Not bad for a 17 year old car!

The last Alfa

The last Alfa Romeo imported to the US market was the 164 model, which was imported from 1991 to 1995, in 3 levels of trim...base, L(luxury) ans S(sport).

This was a V6 model, available in single cam (12 valve) and twin cam (24 valve) versions. These cars were intended to do battle with BMW, Mercedes, Saab, Volvo, etc. in the higher end of the sport/luxury market.

The 164L and and 164S models were quite luxurious, with power EVERYTHING, moonroofs, full Italian leather upholstery and just a host of niceties to make them desirable automobiles to own.

Ramble on....

I had a good, productive day today. I got up and got a haircut before 8 this a.m. After that I washed the Alfa Romeo Spider and glossed up all her black bits with Armor All.

Following that I helped my neighbor Jerry install electronic cruise control in his keen Smart Car. Jerry has had some health problems and a few days ago had a minor heart attack while undergoing a stress test at the doctor's office. He was pretty tired and weak from being in the hospital for 3 days so we tacked the cruise control together. It was a bit of a project involving having to mess with quite a few wires in the wiring harness but we got her done in a couple hours. Works like a charm and Jerry is jazzed about it!

Following that project I headed to Home Depot for some mulch and some sod to tend to some crummy looking parts of my yard. I got all the mulch and sod laid down and then went about trimming back some overgrown bushes.

Finally I walked a couple blocks to the local coffee house that opened a couple weeks ago and rewarded myself with a mango smoothie...mmm mmm good!

Now it's time to relax and get ready to watch Penn State football on one tv and the Cornhuskers on the other!

Haircut pic:



Mango smoothie:

Purring like a kitten

Tonight the new rear exhaust/muffler and assorted hardware for the Alfa Romeo Spider arrived from the big brown truck.

Off to the garage I went, with Cap'n Jim providing some consultation, and I shimmied under the Alfa to install the new bits.

'Twas not a bad job at all....and less than an hour total I emerged covered in black grime but successful! The Spider Graduate is purring like a kitten now!

Grind grind grind.......

I climbed into the Alfa Spider as I was leaving work today after some massive rains throughout the day. Luckily all my efforts to abate rain infiltration have paid off and I had just a smattering of water dropelts greet me in the passenger cabin.

However, my good fortune would not last for long. A few minutes later as I was tooling about in the parking lot I heard an ominous GRINDING noise :( This is NOT GOOD, methinks.

So I tooled a bit more and noticed it was coming from the rear of the vehicle. I thought maybe something was amiss with the rear differential. So I came to a halt and left the car to investigate.

Here's what I found.....the pipe entering the muffler had finally given in and the muffler tip was dragging upon terra firma. Whew, what a relief. A rather cheap and easy repair :=) Cap'n Jim lent me a sturdy bungee and I made it home, safe n sound.

Adios mighty Soob!

The mighty Subaru Legacy wagon, with 170 prancing ponies from its 2.5 liter Subaru flat four motor, is going back to Nebraska.

My brother Luke is buying the Soob. Enjoy the beauty of Subaru all-wheel drive Luke. It shall come in handy in those Nebraska winters.

Adios mighty Soob, ye shall be missed!

Mighty Soob Pics!

Alfa Club Meetup

Tonight I attended my first Mid Florida Alfa Romeo club meeting. We met for dinner at a seafood restaurant in Apopka, Fl called the Catfish House.

I would guess there were 35-40 folks on hand. Very nice group of people. Good food and fun conversation. Looking forward to more of these in the future. Here are a few pics. It was dark when I took them though...so not such great pics.

In order they are:

Green Alfa Spider Veloce
Red Alfa 164
Red Alfa GTV6
Orange Fiat Spider