Mystery Photo Unveiled!
by Brian Shorey
AONE Director
Last month's Mystery Photo
Last month I was on vacation with my family, making the rounds of some of the finer theme parks of central Florida. You can’t get that close to Fort Myers without calling on Father Fred...
Fred with his girocopter
While Fred remains Fred, i.e. the only true immortal I’ve ever known, who simply refuses to give in to advancing age, I’m sad to report that Anna is not doing so well. Alzheimer’s is taking its toll on Anna, and Fred has had to share some of the care-giving with others. Having been married for over sixty years, Fred continues to show much love and devotion to Anna, and seeing Fred and Anna and the pain they’re going through breaks my heart. Please keep both Fred and Anna in your prayers, as I am.
Father Fred
Having gotten some help in caring for Anna, Fred has freed up some time for himself. When you’re in your mid-eighties and not yet ready to slow down, what else is there to do but take up a new hobby, like learning how to fly!
Another view of the Alfa Sud boxer engine
And if you’re going to be flying about over the left coast of Florida, what better way to power your craft than with an Alfa Romeo engine!
The giro viewed from the front
The engine with the Alfa Romeo lettering in last month’s Mystery Photo is from an Alfa Sud—a flat four motor that will be used to power the autogiro that Fred is building. For those who aren’t familiar with an autogiro, it’s sort of a cross between an airplane and a helicopter. The main rotor is powered only during takeoff, after which it free-wheels and serves as the wings, while the prop is used to maintain forward motion.
She's a mid-engine model
As I write this, Fred has just passed through Boston
on his way to Italy for a couple of weeks of well-deserved vacation. When he returns,
he’ll resume work on the autogiro, hopefully having it flight-ready sometime this
winter. After that, keep your eyes to the sky—that Alfa-powered red blur hovering
about will not be a figment of your imagination! 
And here are the entries we received for this month’s Mystery Photo Contest:
- Umm, all I know comes from surfing the net...1) the ex-Alfa USA test 33 type 1.7 boxer, 2) James Tsakirgis, 3) 1984 Alfa Romeo Sud Sprint QV 1.5. Waiting to see what the real answer is, next month.—Albert Weaver
- I’m guessing this is a boat engine, mostly because of the PVC pipe running under it.—Chris Keen, Los Altos, CA
- It is an Alfa Sud 8-valve 1.5 boxer engine. Carburetted, I think it probably belongs to James T; it is from an AlfaSud Sprint, 1983—Mike Mor
- Hmmm, looks suspiciously similar to, but not identical to, the boxer motors in our 70’s and 80’s Alfa Sud models. Possibly it’s a later derivative of the original Sud engine, from an Alfa 33 or 146 perhaps? Tricky... Best regards, Graham Hilder, Paekakariki, New Zealand.
- The motor is a Alfa Boxer engine, maybe 1500cc, is owned by Fred DiMatteo, and will go in Fred’s gyrocopter or whatever that airframe thing he is building.—Jonathan Kirshtein
- I just received the AONE newsletter! :) Cheers! This is exciting! Tell me, is that photo really what I think it is—a boxer engine??? I thought Suds and 33s never made it to America! Wow!—Paul Yeoh, Singapore and now Babson College
- Here is my stab at this: It’s either an Alfa Marine engine (I can see the PVC pipes) or a generator engine.—Stephan de Pénasse
- As was often the case, the photo depicts an Alfa Sud flat four engine long after the rest of the car rusted away. The Canadian government, finding literally thousands of these fine engines left on roadsides surrounded by their crumbling shells, have put them to good use as emergency generators for government office facilities, power plants for provincial water safety craft and, in this case, donated them to aspiring small business persons. This example powers the freezer unit for a rare (the "season" is only 65-70 days long) mobile ice cream vendor marketed as "Mister Freezie Wheels." Best regards, gmack, Minneapolis, MN
- 1. It’s a Sud engine; 2. Fred DiMatteo; 3. Experimental airplane that Fred is building.—Andy Kress
- Aw, what the hell! I’ll tell you anyway—I need the umbrella. It is an Alfa Boxer motor, owned by Father Fred DiMatteo, and it sits in a homemade gyrocopter, which currently sits in a garage in Fort Myers, FL.—Peter DiMatteo
Well, we had three AONE umbrellas to give away and three correct answers, so they go Jonathan Kirshtein, Andy Kress, and Peter DiMatteo. Peter’s umbrella, of course, doesn’t open and, even if it did, would leak like a sieve... —Ed.