picture-perfect day was the reward for the Alfisti who set their alarm clocks on Sunday, June 5th for our run down to a classic car show being held on the grounds of the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT. This meant gathering at our rendezvous point in Sturbridge, MA at 8am. Even at that hour and with everyone traveling a respectable distance, most of the Spiders arrived with their tops down, an indicator of the temperatures we were in for later in the day.

Seven macchina gathered from every possible direction in the parking lot of the Oxhead Tavern, where we chatted and sipped coffee for a while until it was time to shove off. Rod Burdick (North Smithfield, RI) graced our group with his beautiful Giulia Sprint Speciale; we had three (count ‘em!) red 1990’s Spiders: those of John Paradiso (Northampton, MA), Ken Greene and Millie Archer (North Kingstown, RI), and Mark Ziburis (Windsor, CT—he drove up and was headed back home!); Jim and Maria Davis (Franklin, MA) in their cream ’83 Spider; a gent whose name unfortunately didn’t get recorded who joined us in his Fiat 124 Spider; and Dave and Vi Pratt (Dedham, MA) in their ’61 Giulietta.

When it was time to leave, maps and directions were handed out, and we decided that, since there were just seven of us, we’d try to stick together as a group. So off we went on a 42-mile tour down into Connecticut, traveling entirely on sparsely trafficked secondary roads in the northeastern corner of the state. Especially for the first 30 miles or so, it was a most enjoyable drive, passing farms and lakes and villages with very few other Sunday-morning drivers to contend with.

We ultimately arrived en masse at the New England Air Museum for the 19th edition of the Connecticut Council of Car Clubs Auto Show & Aircraft Exhibit, and were directed toward a section of the lawn reserved for Italian cars. Here, we joined a number of other Fiat Spiders already in place (a note from Fiat Lancia Unlimited was how we learned of the event). Adding to our Alfa contingent on the scene was Terry Rushbrook (Longmeadow, MA) in his red GTV. Also joining the Italian section were a Fiat 850 Spider and 1100 Coupe, and a Ferrari 348GTB (red, of course).

But this was a general classic car show, and there were well over 200 cars in total, mostly American antiques, muscle cars, and hot rods, with a smattering of various European cars to keep it interesting. We found ourselves spending a bunch of time in the Italian car area talking Italian cars, but also wandering off from time to time to take in the other iron on display. Our $5-per-carload entry fee also got us into the museum, which is a really nifty, very large display of iron capable of lifting off the ground.

A DJ was on hand spinning automotive-related oldies, and a victuals vendor proffered chili dogs for lunch. Yum! As the day wore on, the temps continued to rise into the 90s. Fortunately, the show was on grass rather than asphalt, and we were also able to seek shelter from the sun beneath any number of airplane wings scattered around the field, a perquisite that you don’t find at most car shows!

As the afternoon spun down, we gradually left the premises, everyone heading off in our diverse directions home. We all agreed that it was a most enjoyable day—a romp through some back roads with a bunch of Italian cars, an interesting and fun car show, hanging out with like-minded car buffs, a great aircraft museum, summer-like blue skies, chili dogs—it don’t get much better than that!