A historical meeting
1972 Alfa Romeo Spider 2000 S2 Owned by Russ Smith (russ.smith@gmx.com) Time owned Eight years Miles this month 223 Costs this month Tank of petrol Previously New radiator fitted
Something I’ve never previously managed to do in the eight years since I bought the Spider is get it to the Alfa Romeo Owners Club’s National Alfa Day (NAD) event. The range of excuses includes the show being held at the other end of the country, foul weather when the car had no workable hood, or simply that my Alfa was enjoying one of its sessions of ‘garage time’.
But this year everything aligned. NAD was being held at Bicester Heritage, which is an easy 140-mile round trip, the forecast was perfect, and the car was running perfectly too (oh no, what have I said…?)
After 20 minutes of cleaning activity, light cross-country Sunday morning traffic made the top-down run there a blast. It was disappointing to only encounter one other Alfa en route, but that was probably down to me allowing too much time and arriving half an hour early. Never mind; that at least meant I bagged a prime parking spot – number two in what quickly became an unbroken line of red Spiders, the club trying to park cars in areas according to model. It largely worked too, which produced some good visuals.
Wandering back to the car half an hour later with a tea and Kit-kat, a tabarded marshal approached me with the greeting, ‘You don’t remember me, do you?’ Which was true until he removed his cap. It was Neal Courtney, from whom I’d bought the Spider in April 2011. He’d owned it for the four previous years. As we chatted about the car’s ups and downs in my custody, and Neal confessed he’d missed it so much he’d bought another the following year – parked just two along from mine – another familiar face joined us. It was H&H’S James Wheeler, formerly of Alfa specialist Black & White Garage. What I then learned was that he had sold the car to Neal. So obviously the Alfa world is a small and incestuous one, but it was nice to get together all the same.
The rest of the day was spent trying to see as many of the 900 or so Alfas present, while not dribbling too much on the Montreals, which I’ll never afford, and Bertone 105 coupés, which I might.
Another swift and trouble-free run home, to the suitable soundtrack of Johnny Walker’s Sounds of the Seventies on Radio 2, capped off a perfect ‘what it’s all about’ day of classic motoring. It wasn’t only the Alfa that got back to Cambridge refuelled and ready for more.