‘Twas a misty morning to which we awoke on the day of the First Actual AONE Blues’n’Brews Cruise. Still, we always have enough die-hards in our club to make for a fun event!

Alfas began pulling into our reserved parking area across the street from Kimball Farm in Westford, MA around 10:30, and we got a chance to hobnob and sip coffee (sometimes underneath umbrellas, sometimes not). While there was a nice assortment of fine-looking Alfa models in participation (164s, GTVs, round- and kamm-tail Spiders), the debut appearance at an AONE event of Rod Burdick’s beautiful, red, freshly restored 1965 Giulia Sprint Speciale was a particular treat. Like many cars, this Alfa model looks so much better in the flesh than in photos. And Rod’s example looks like it just came off the showroom floor. Congrats, Rod—she’s a stunner!

Soon, event organizer and tourmaster Kevin Murphy gathered the troops for a drivers’ meeting and handed out dash plaques commemorating the event. We were given the instructions for the journey and a map, and then headed out spaced at three-minute intervals. The cruise itself was mostly through mist and fog, but was a very pleasant ride, passing through some scenic countryside, with foliage just on the brink of bursting out in color. 

The competitive aspect was that everybody had to try to average 40 MPH for the whole trip, based on the car’s odometer and Kevin’s clock. (And everybody had to stop and buy a pumpkin somewhere along the way, or else they were disqualified.) Alas, three miles into the trek, this writer’s GTV’s speedometer cable broke, and I had no odometer. So we came in dead last by default, but got a lot of amused sympathy from the group upon our return. It was nice having our own private parking lot, and we got to kibitz about the tour while Kevin tallied up the results. And here they are!

First Place—at 40.19 MPH!—AONE polo shirt
    Greg & Andrea Stidsen—’74 GTV

Second Place—AONE umbrella
    Richard Nicolai & family—’93 164L

Third Place—AONE coffee mugs
    Rod Burdick & Dottie Williston—’65 SS

Best Sunglasses
    Scott & Susan Boyer ’91—164L

Top Down Award
    Dan Nicholes & Len Cannizzaro—’67 Duetto

Next To Dead Last (Excuse: Driving an Acura)
    Peter Walker & Meg Anderson—Lesser Car

Dead Last (Excuse: Broken odometer)
    Dave & Vi Pratt—’74 GTV

(Len Cannizzaro showed up without an Alfa and rode with Dan Nicholes. Our sympathies go out to Len, whose lovely ’63 Giulia Spider was sideswiped from front to rear at the Dedham antique car show back in July—by a wheelchair.)

After the awards ceremony, most of us went across the street to Kimball Farm for the Second Annual Central Massachusetts Blues’n’Brews Festival. There was a big crowd there, since it had gotten a lot of advance publicity, but surprisingly the lines for food and beer weren’t long at all. The audio system’s main amplifier got rained on earlier and had failed, and the backup one was weak, so the sound quality left a little to be desired, but the blues acts were really good, as was the food and the offerings from the many area microbreweries that were providing samples of their wares. The weather improved gradually throughout the day and was sunny and clear by mid-afternoon, making for a pleasant time for all.