[alfa] Hillsborough Concours

[John Cecil <jcecil@xxxxxxx>]

I was accepted as one of the 46 Alfas on display at the Hillsborough 
Concours and I thought that those that could not attend might like a 
summary of this outstanding assemblage of Alfa Romeo automobiles. We 
started the event with a great tour from Pacifica and Devils Slide to 
San Gregorio Beach south bound on California's famous Hwy 1. There, we 
stopped for photos and a rest stop. After visiting each other and 
checking out the cars on the tour, we went south to Pescadero and then 
up Pescadoro Creek Rd. to La Honda and up to Sky Londa. Then N. on 
Skyline to Hwy 92 and Hillsborough where we stopped an elegant estate 
for a catered Italian lunch. The next event was a hosted cocktail 
party, black tie optional, at the Candy Store in Burlingame. Some very 
nice cars on display there including a Doble steam car, a Delahaye 
roadster, and a 6C2500 Alfa.
We arrived at the Concours early and set up the Alfa, doing the last 
inspections, checking light operation, final polishing, cleaning the 
tire treads, etc. All appeared to be a go. When the judges arrived, we 
were the first in our class to be judged and the assistant judges made 
a few protocol errors, i.e., opening the door of the car and releasing 
the hood. The senior judge took the assistants aside and explained the 
proper judging decorum. The judging went well until... "Would you 
please start the car Sir?" And ... I flooded the thing! A word about 
the Spica mechanical F.I. system used on the Alfas of this era. When 
hot, the car starts instantly. When cold, it starts instantly, but when 
luke warm, it tends to be a little rich and is very easy to flood. The 
drill is to crank it for 1-3 seconds with NO throttle. Again, crank 2-3 
seconds until the engine fires and at that instant depress the throttle 
just a bit and the car will start immediately. I knew I had screwed up 
as I hit the throttle on the first crank before the engine had fired.  
I had a real shot at third until that little fiasco. Anyway, it still 
was a real honor to be selected at Hillsborough as I was one of only 
two "roundtails" shown. The other was a '67 Duetto and mine was a 1750 
Spider. I was told by Steve Barber, one of the selection committee, 
that many Duetto spiders had applied but only two were accepted.
There were some great cars at the concours. John Mozart's incredible  
1937 8C2900B, the peoples choice, which is a former best in show at 
Pebble Beach, was shown. Bruce Trenery's 1932 8C2600 Monza Spider, Dave 
Love's 1931 6C1750 G.S. Zagato Spider, Matt McClenahan's 1930 6C1750 
4th Series Zagato Spider, Lawrence Frye's 1939 6C2500 S.S. Spider and 
Marnix Dillenius's Tubulare Zagato were just a few of the 46 Alfa Romeo 
entries. John Joss announced the concours and conducted an entertaining 
interview with George Graves, who gave the attendees and visitors an 
excellent tutorial on the history of Alfa Romeo and much useful 
information on the more spectacular of the Alfas on exhibit.
This was a wonderful event, and all cars shown were winners. As I said 
previously, It was a real honor to be accepted and I would hope to 
return next year, if at all possible.

John Cecil
<jcecil@domain.elided>
<jcecil66@domain.elided>
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