By John Rowntree
Photos by Luis & Lisa Colum, RJ Horwitz, Paul Hanson, Greg Stidsen, and John

We planned this event hoping to engage with our members who are ‘away’ out in Maine, where it can be difficult for them to travel to our regular event locations. Four AONE members from Maine were willing to help with the event planning and logistics, making new friends before the event even began.

Spreading activities over three days in New England is usually a good idea; with frequent weather changes, we get to experience a variety of the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

We gathered for lunch at Gibb’s Garage in Portsmouth, NH, and then set off for a coastal tour, stopping at the iconic Nubble Light in York Beach. At this early point, we had two cars with some issues. Jack Himmelsbach had an unlinked shift linkage in his ’79 Lancia Beta. After three Fiats found him and a shop to do a repair, he decided to limp home to Vermont. At nearly the same time, the ’71 Berlina of Mark Patterson & Ruth Slocum experienced an oil pressure issue and intermittent electrical glitches. They decided to limp to Brunswick, eat early, and head home to Cape Cod early on Saturday. 

The remainder of the group needed to get around Portland and Friday afternoon traffic by heading inland and journeying 85 miles up and over to the east to Freeport and ending in Brunswick, following a route led by Dave Burcher and prepared by Dave with the help of Sam Surprise. We almost made it to the end before the rain started. Everyone split up to check in to their hotels. 

We gathered for Friday dinner at Pepper’s Landing in Brunswick, adding three more local AONE members. These three locals had never met each other. By the end of dinner, the skies had opened up with heavy rain.

We gathered on Saturday morning in the parking lot of our dinner spot. Two more AONE members joined us to replace two of the Friday diners who had other plans. Our morning tour was led by nearby residents Rob & Phyllis Glenn. We travelled south on the two peninsulas of Harpswell. We had three scenic stops for photos and conversation. The first was in fog, the second was less foggy but the third (less than two miles further south) greeted us with heavy rain and a Gift Shop at Land’s End. We ended the morning tour in Woolwich with lunch at The Taste of Maine. 

After lunch, we travelled in the rain on an inland route chosen by our Fiat Club partners, Luis and Lisa Colom, to reach Belfast and connect to US1, avoiding all of the slowness and traffic of the mid-Maine coast. It was not going to stop raining and we were quite later than our original plan, so we decided to head directly to our Saturday night hotel in Ellsworth and dine nearby. Paul Cammaroto and his son Dom met us and guided us to their favorite local Mexican restaurant, Café Jalisco. 

The weather turned beautifully partly cloudy by Sunday morning. Paul and Dom arrived in the Rosso GTV, and long-time member Bill Anderson came in his Milano. Our two-hour morning tour took us east to do a loop of the Schoodic Peninsula before we headed back to cross the bridge to Mount Desert Island. Our ride ended at the Seal Cove Auto Museum, where Paul had arranged a catered BBQ lunch. We used the scenery and favorable weather for a last photo opportunity and tour of the museum. 

Maine Tour Participants

Mark Patterson & Ruth Slocum – 1971 Berlina
Dave Burcher – 1984 Spider
Greg & Andrea Stidsen – 2017 Giulia Ti Sport
John & Roberta Rowntree – 1992 164L
R.J. Horwitz – ’83 GTV6
Anthony & Alessandro (AJ) Vicari – 2017 Giulia
Bob Umberger – 2024 Tonale
Sam Surprise – 1987 Spider
Rob Glenn – 1972 Spider
Rob & Phyllis Glenn – 2024 Giulia Q4
Bill Anderson – 1988 Milano
Paul & Dom Cammaroto – 1974 GTV

Plus Six Fiats and a Lancia