[alfa] A Great Day

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had one of those rare days that reinforce one's belief that its great 
to be alive. If you don't want to read about it, just bail.

I live in what is euphemistically known as "Silicon Valley" California, 
near San Francisco. While the rest of the country is enjoying ol' man 
winter, this day dawned with clear skies and temperatures that 
eventually reached the high sixties. Having spent the earlier part of 
the week working on putting the next issue of the magazine I publish to 
bed, I decided that I owed myself a fun day. I slipped behind the wheel 
of my black 3.0 liter Alfa Romeo GTV-6, and twisted the key. I was 
rewarded by the instant explosion of a thoroughbred engine coming to 
life. I warmed her up some ("her" name is Sophia, BTW), and pulled out 
into traffic.

Accelerating gingerly and short-shifting (engine's still somewhat 
cold), I drove toward the freeway on-ramp near my home, once there 
(with the engine now fully up to temperature) I punched the accelerator 
to the floor. The magnificent V-6 screamed toward it's 7250 rpm 
red-line and and I shifted to second. By now I was up to merging speed 
and cleanly integrated Sophia with the post-rush-hour flow of traffic. 
I headed down I-85 toward the Big Basin Way exit occasionally touching 
100 mph in the light mid-morning traffic. I drove slowly through the 
little village of Saratoga, nestled at the foot of the Santa Cruz 
mountains. Also known as Highway-9, this two-lane road twists and turns 
its way to the summit of "Skyline Drive" and then continues through the 
mountains, through Scott's Valley, and ends at CA Highway-1, the justly 
famous "Pacific Coast Highway" at the resort city of Santa Cruz.

Climbing up from Saratoga, was a driver's dream come true. There was 
little or no traffic this morning and I was able to use the Alfa as it 
was designed to be used. Pouring on the coal, and using all the road 
(where judicious) I would point at the apex of a turn, give the car a 
twist of opposite lock to destabilize the back end, and then turn-in 
smartly while executing a double-clutched downshift from 4th to 3rd and 
then stabbing the accelerator as soon as the nose is pointed correctly. 
The back end comes around perfectly, caught with the nose pointing at 
the exit of the turn by a another quick flick of opposite lock. The 
smile on my face could be seen for miles - a perfectly executed turn. 
After about 60 more of those (some more perfect than others), I found 
myself on the Pacific Coast Highway heading north. It was clear and the 
temperature was comfortable. I had the windows down, the sunroof open - 
all the better to hear that magnificent V-6 (experts agree that except 
for the Columbo-designed Ferrari V-12, no other passenger car engine 
sounds as sexy as the Alfa Romeo V-6); in fact, I kept it 3rd gear all 
the way up highway 1 just so I could more clearly hear it sing - whatta 
sound! Alas, at Half-Moon Bay, I had to turn back inland and back 
across the mountains to the Valley again. Highway 92 is a very crowded 
road, and not much fun to drive. Luckily its only six miles from 
Half-Moon Bay to Interstate 280, which I took back home.

After 138 unnecessary miles and about 3 hours of my day, Sophia was 
back snug in her garage and I felt like a million bucks! I still do. 
The car had it's "Italian tuneup" and ran perfectly (as always In spite 
of it being almost 19 years old).

Just thought I would share a rare day with my fellow Alfisti. Boy, life 
is great!


George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0 'S'
(CA Lic# 'TIPO116')
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