Thursday, February 20, 2020

The Hunt for Loren Brucker's Vintage Alfa Romeo


Thursday, 20 February, 2020

The day started with a long overdue walk into our village for, in order, a cappuccino and a brioche at Marabelli's, a loaf of fresh baked bread at the Ducale and . . .

. . . selected cuts of choice meats at Tonino's

The two men on the left of this poster are the usual frontmen at Tonino's. They are both outgoing, helpful and personable.

As for the meat and cheeses that they sell, WOW!

On the walk back to the Villa Skorpion II
I noted several small wildflowers blooming
in someone's yard

It was a crisp, gorgeous day
for a wee stretch of the legs

Shopping needs accomplished, I decided to go for a drive to see a new site today located in a suburb of northern Milan called Arese.

As luck would have it though, I was hungry.

I longed for something, for once, that was not Italian.

I knew of a spot in Legnano that was right on the way to Arese.

100 Montaditos is basically a Spanish
fast-food style tapas restaurant
based on the McDonald's model

Five different Montadito mini-sanwiches,
an order of patatas braves and
a Tinto de Verano worked for me!

As to the actual site of today's road trip, we need to first travel back in time to Seattle, Washington in August of 1966, my first football season at the University of Washington after transferring from Glendale College.

It was then that I met a Husky Defensive Back named Loren Brucker who would become my college roommate and a lifelong friend.

Loren hailed from Ontario, California and his red sports car was a bit of an unusual choice in the wet Pacific Northwest It was a stylish two-seater convertible made by Italy' famed Alfa Romeo automobile factory.

Or maybe it was a Fiat . . .

With many fond memories of drives in that sports car, I headed boldly to . . .

The Alfa Romeo Museum

Apparently, during WWII Alfa Romeo
also made aircraft engines

The interesting Alfa Romeo logo

The Alfa part of the company name is an acronym for Anonima Lombardia Fabbrica Automobil. The Romeo portion comes from the surname of the 1910 founded company's original CEO, Nicola Romeo.

It was time to enter a cavalcade of cars of all shapes, sizes ad mostly the color red.

From the 1910s and quite sporty!

GREAT horn!

Another 1910 roadster

From 1911, is this really
the famed Hannibal 8?

Not one but TWO logo medallions

I wonder, why the red headlights
on the 1932 model?

Lots of history in this hall

A 1970 hardtop sports car

This 2007 edition looks GREAT
in my opinion

The same car's headlight assembly
as seen from above

This 1931 is a classic look,
don't you agree?

A 1913 Alfa Romeo family van?

I want one of these!

1952 brought us this racing machine
from the Alfa Romeo company

In 1968 Alfa Romeo discovered
the color green

I went back to the 1913 aerodynamic
van for another look

A golden horn against the silver colored van was pleasing to my eye as was the red wheel.

In the 1930s Alfa Romeo
started making some beautiful
two door sedans

I'm liking this Tiffany Blue model

This one looks a lot like
Loren's old car

The next hall featured red model's from Alfa Romeo's storied racing history.

A 1914 race car,
AWESOME!

I bet it had lots of speed
for its 1923 competitors

The Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio

The green four leaf clover or Quadrifoglio, is the revered Alfa Romeo symbol for the company's sporting spirit in the world of automobile racing.

A long history on continuous
racing success

Now, THAT'S a tail pipe!

A SLEEK 1926 version

By 1936 the race cars got
a bit smaller but faster

Ferrari and Alfa Romeo
combined their efforts at
some point, I guess

Modern day speedsters

Alfa Romeo has always used
Milan's royal Sforza family's
serpent giving birth to a man crest
as part of their logo

The Alfa Romeo Museum was well worth the visit.

I didn't see a car that I believed to be a match with Loren's car, so, maybe it was a Fiat after all.

I know 100% that it was an Italian car at least.

Near the Alfa Romeo Museum there is a HUGE shopping Mall.

I stopped in for a look.

Of course, Mickey Mouse
was in the Mall

The view of a Mall wine store/restaurant
from the top of an escalator

It's Thursday, so we had three practices in the evening.

The Women's flag team mixed with
the U15 flag team for a scrimmage

Our Offensive Line did a
good job pass blocking tonight

Our Defense played great tonight but our Offense continues to be inconsistent.

With our season opener just nine days away, things have got to get better quickly.

2 comments:

David said...

Was Loren's car really unreliable? Because while Alfas can be rather labor intensive, in the US, Fiat is said to be an acronym for "Fix It Again, Tony."

George said...

David,
It must have been a Fiat then because I do recall it as being a bit unreliable.