Castle Hill 2002

‘Twas another record turnout for this year’s Eighth Annual Castle Hill Concours d’Elegance held on September 22nd. It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day—almost too hot—and there were so many cars on display that they overflowed onto an adjacent field. It was difficult to guess how many cars there were in total—300-400? More? It was definitely a fantastic assortment, and many cases of sensory overload were reported.

Early in the morning, about eight pre-1973 Alfas (well, OK, there was a little cheating regarding the model year claims) assembled at Glynn Motorsports in Rowley, MA. (Thanks, Mike Wrigley, for opening the doors and giving us access to the facilities!) There, we were joined by a couple of Lesser Marques for a caravan over to Castle Hill in Ipswich. Alas, for the stretch of road on which we could have made some exuberant speed, we fell in behind a big, old Hudson and that was the end of that. But the caravan did allow us to all park together when we got there, and we then spotted many more Alfas scattered about the concours, including three priceless classics in the invitation-only area.

For those of you who’ve never been to a Castle Hill concours, you owe it to yourselves to do so next year—it’s the best within 3000 miles!

Oscar Davis’s drop-dead gorgeous black 1938 Alfa 2900B deservedly won the Best of Show award at Castle Hill this year. The problem is that they can’t find Oscar anywhere and the car needs to be brought down to the Casino for the award. In fact, they were very close to not giving it Best of Show. Don Koleman of Competition Motors jumps in, gets the car started, and starts to bring it down the hill for the awards ceremony when it promptly stalls after hitting the incline. (It had been giving problems earlier in the day as well.)

Don pops the hood and quickly sees that the fuel bowls on the floats aren’t filling. As it would turn out, the gas tanks are dry! I’m standing there with Don and concur that the car has no gas, so after about fifteen minutes of waiting, a couple of Trustee workers show up with the gas can and fill it up. It still won’t start since the battery is now essentially flat. Now the question is: How will it get into the courtyard of the Casino to receive its award? Well, they tow it in. As painful as it is to watch, an ATV tows the car through the presentation so that it can receive its recognition.

Ironically, just after the presentation, they put a jumper battery on the car and it starts right up! Now for the photo session... They want to get numerous shots of the car in front of the ocean, so the person in charge of transporting the car to the show has to drive it down to the oceanfront. Of course, I generously offer to "hold" everything in the passenger seat while he drives it to the area where the car will be photographed.

Into the Alfa I jump and it was a genuine thrill to be sitting in a real 8C2900B. It really is hard to describe… It is such an elegant car, but you know that underneath the body is basically a Grand Prix race car! Off we go, down to the ocean and across the open fields. To cut to the chase: this is no Land Rover. Although these were mowed fields, it really was a rough ride. And, of course, the gearing was all wrong for the application. It was a fine balance between too little power and speed, resulting in a stalled car and knocked-out fillings.

I have to give the driver credit—he really did keep it fairly smooth, when you consider that he was driving a pre-war supercar across the Lower Allee at Castle Hill. After talking with him for a while, I discovered that he really didn’t know the history of the 8C2900 Alfas. In fact, he had only driven the car on and off the truck that weekend! I think after I enlightened him with enough details that he has a new appreciation for the car. I had to leave shortly after that, but I’ve concluded that ride mooching is an art unto itself—only pick the best!

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	Our caravan lines up on the path leading to the Grand Allee, ready to make our Grand Entrance Vi Pratt photo
	A view of the castle aken from the rise of the Grand Allee Dave Pratt photo
	Another view of the 1939 Alfa 6C2500 pictured on the front cover of this issue Dave Pratt photo
	A Classic 1932 Alfa 8C2300 Monza Grand Prix racer Dave Pratt photo
	These are all vintage Maseratis, displayed on the main lawn Dave Pratt photo
	The lineup of AONE Alfas on the Grand Allee, banner proudly waving in the background Dave Pratt photo
	Another shot of the AONE lineup Dave Pratt photo
	Several shots of Oscar Davis’s Best of Show award-winning 2900B Steve Silverstein and Dave Pratt photos