This is an article that hardly needs to be written. That’s because most of you were at Tutto Italiano on August 6th, and you know what an awesome show this year’s Italian Car Day was for yourselves!

In real estate, it’s “Location, Location, Location”. For sports car shows, it’s “Weather, Weather, Weather”. So, given the forecast for sun and temps in the high 70s, the success of this year’s extravaganza was pretty much a slam dunk. Around 9am, Italian sports cars of every marque and hue began rolling onto the grounds of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA, filling the air with the music of their high-revving exhaust notes (and filling the air with their high-octane exhaust fumes, in a few cases).

Our Alfa Romeos were given half of the main lawn, and we needed it! We counted over 60 Alfas, and there was a huge additional showing of Alfisti who parked on the street. What a great turnout! Oh, yes—there were other Italian cars there as well; some of the smaller marques (Fiat, Pantera) were also on the main lawn; Lamborghinis and Maseratis were parked up the hillside; and the numerous Ferraris were at the top of the hill. There was also a special section of extra-significant cars arranged near the Museum entrance that included Ven Fonte’s 6C2500, the Sprint Zagatos of Bob Russell and Richard Meyer, Rod Burdick’s Sprint Speciale, and Stefan Gavell’s Junior Zagato—all fabulous examples of their eras. Over 220 Italian beauties in all! It’s too bad that we had to be spread out so much, but with so many cars what else could we do? Not a bad problem to have…

To many of the participants, the purpose of a concorso is to have their cars judged and compared with others in their classes. (To everybody, another purpose is simply to see and hear so many beautiful Italian cars all gathered in one place!) Originality, condition, presentation, and patina all play important roles in the judging process. Because there were so many Alfas on the field this year, the various winners of their classes can feel especially proud of their vehicles, since the competition was stiffer than usual. The results of the judging in the Alfa classes, as well as for the Alfas in the Special Interest categories, are shown below. Congratulations to you all!

Besides the cars, there were a lot more other attractions to round out the day. There were food concessions; parts, literature, and automobilia vendors; a VIP luncheon; a fashion show featuring Italian clothing; various activities for the kids; entertainment; and much more. AONE was highly visible with our 10’x20’ canopy festooned with banners and flags, from where we sold our various club paraphernalia and welcomed several new members. At noon, all of the Italian cars revved their engines in unison to celebrate the day—click here to see and hear the scene as a 1.6MB WMV video clip. “Sensory overload” is probably the best way to describe the entire day’s experience.

Many thanks to Myron Barnett for admirably carrying out his role as Head Alfa Judge. Tutto Italiano can only continue to be a success if there are people willing to put in a little effort throughout the year to make it happen. There was already a planning meeting at Larz Anderson in August for next year’s event, which we announced to you all via email. Unfortunately, no Alfa people attended. If we don’t get some of our members to pitch in, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Alfas were deservedly banished back to the lower field! Contact Elln Hagney at the Museum (hagney@mot.org) to see how you can help. Let’s makes sure that future Tutto Italianos are as terrific as this one was!

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