Report on the 2025 Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club Convention

By Greg Stidsen

THIS YEAR’S CONVENTION was held about an hour outside of Chicago in a nice little town called Crystal Lake (the lake was actually kind of murky). AROC was founded in Chicago in 1958; thus the title for this year’s event (AONE was formed in 1971). The usual activities were all available: Gimmick Rally, Autocross, Time Trials, Tech Session, Moonlight Car Show, and Concorso d’Eleganza. This was topped off with a Saturday night banquet — more on that in a minute.

AONE was represented by John and Roberta Rowntree, who drove their 164L all the way from New Hampshire; Steve Tannenbaum, with friend Peter Askin of the NY chapter, trailered Peter’s Giulia Ti Super; and Greg and Andrea Stidsen flew out for the event. The Autocross was co-sponsored with a local Miata club, and experienced autocross piloti praised the event as being one of the best they had participated in. The track day was held at Blackhawk Farms, which was a very nice track reminiscent of Thompson Speedway here in Connecticut. Meanwhile, Andrea and Roberta attended a non-automotive event: a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House and the Anderson Japanese Gardens.  

Greg attended the AROC Board Meeting, where he was introduced by Frank LaSala and gave a brief speech updating the board on AONE activities. A new Nevada Chapter was also introduced and approved, and next year’s Convention was announced. The Utah Bonneville chapter will sponsor next year’s convention in Ogden, Utah. They have a lot of fresh energy and great ideas for the next convention. We’ll be hearing more about this in Alfa Owner in the upcoming months.

The new President of Alfa Romeo North America was scheduled to speak at the banquet but called in sick. Not a good omen! She sent two underlings in her place, but they were silent and quickly disappeared when the meal concluded.  

The other speakers were automotive historians David Cooper and Michele Casiraghi, and this proved to be quite interesting. Michele traveled all the way from Milano to speak at our event. The thesis of his new book is that ALFA Romeo was not really a car company until after WWII! This revelation is based on extensive research. ALFA made all kinds of vehicles, mostly trucks and buses along with a few very expensive cars. They were also a major supplier of engines for aircraft, boats, and trains. Less than 10% of their revenue was derived from automobiles. Who knew?

But the Concorso d’Eleganza was all about Alfa Romeo cars, and there were some beautiful Alfas displayed on the lawn of the hotel in a shady dell. The oldest cars were from the 1950s, so there were no prewar Alfas and I don’t recall any early 1900s, 2000s, or 2600s on the field. There were some beautiful Giuliettas and Sprint Speciales fresh from restoration. There was also a nice Zagato Junior and a rash of Spiders and GTVs, including a just-finished Busso conversion and a genuine Alfaholics GTAr which was absolutely a gorgeous work of art. There were a couple of Alfettas and a Twin Spark Milano. Giulias were well represented, including Peter Askin’s very original Giulia Ti Super.  And, of course, 4Cs, Giulias, Stelvios, and a Tonale. There was even a 1951 Alfa Matta with a ‘For Sale’ sign ($60,000 OBO).

You can see photos from the convention here.