o this year we thought we were being smart. For the last several Fall Tech Sessions at Glynn Motorsports, we’d scheduled them for Saturdays in November, an iffy proposition at best. But we’d been getting consistently warm, sunny weather of late and our turnouts have been terrific. This time, we moved it back to October 23rd, figuring we’d do even better. Wrong. It was overcast all day, and the temps didn’t even make it out of the 40s. Oh, well.

Nonplussed, we still had a nice turnout of somewhere between 30 and 40 people, and many even arrived with their tops down (albeit warmly dressed). It’s always pretty neat to watch the parking lot fill up with Alfas of every color and description (okay, the predominant color was red) arriving from every direction from all over New England. Also always neat is to see a number of new faces commingled with the familiar ones. One of the things that keeps our club fun is to welcome new members to the fold—converts—pilgrims who have seen the light!

As usual, there were several interesting cars in Paul’s shop over which we kibitzed or drooled, sometimes simultaneously. (However, that statue depicting a motionless, suspensionless Maserati Bora high in the air is getting a little old.) The number of really nice 40-to-50-year-old Giuliettas and Giulias owned by our members pleases the eye and warms the heart. And the diversity of the models that Alfa produced over the years (and that we bring to club events) also helps to keep the interest level high.

At some point, the group gathered in the center of the shop, where Mr. Glynn held court. We all got to ask questions of our learned Alfa sage, and exchange tips and experiences amongst ourselves. Topics included brakes, carbs, syncros, head gaskets, election politics, and existentialism.

Thanks to Peter Walker, with an assist from Myron Barnett, we didn’t want in the ingestibles department either. Coffee, bagels, and muffins greeted us on our arrival and kept us content throughout the morning. Around noon, some excellent assorted roll-up sandwiches, plus chips and salsa, showed up for our gustatory gratification. Because we’d planned for the larger warm-weather crowd, the Glynn Motorsports staff was the beneficiary of about a week’s worth of lunches.