Atlanta's Italian Car Day 2014

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bump..... Reminder..... THe Atlanta Italian Car Day show is this Saturday, the 8th. Weather looks good, a tad cool in the A.M. but going into the 60's.
This is the day y'all wanted, so be there!

Details at: HOME-Atlanta Italian Car Day

 

I hear that 10 Aventador's will be there, so you boys and girls need to bring those little cars called FERRARI. Perfect weather, what else do you want. Well...... a free detail would be good, but we will see.
Best of Luck and we will be knocking on your door early if you are not there.
I would like to see at least 20 of the Ferrari things.......
I understand that some of the late arriving Ferrari's will be parked out on the pavement because so many LAMBO's will be there to knock your car to the curb. So don't be pushed outside the show lot, like this Lambo. Get there early and in force.

You need a written excuse from 2 doctors and one mental health worker if you are not there
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Just wondering if the LaF that FoA recently sold will be there? If so, it might be worth a trip for me!

 

I think that all of us who were in attendance had a good time. It was a bit chilly at the start but warmed up nicely by lunchtime. I arrived at about 8:55 expecting to find a long line of cars waiting to enter (like last year) but was pleasantly surprised to see that cars were already being admitted and there was no wait at all. (John Denton had the honor of being first arrival, but considering the distance he had to come, that was no surprise.) And this year credit cards were accepted for payment for the first time. Thanks, John M.!

The 10 Aventadors never showed up, though we had two (which took 1st and 3rd in the marque) and a nice selection of Lambos, though the familiar indigo Urracco (which took 2nd) was the only older model present. There were at least 20 Ferraris, though the only older models were Alan Boe's silver 250 GTE (which took 1st in marque and, ultimately, Best in Show) and Jack Dowling's Dino 246 (which took 2nd). The much-publicized BB512MM, which looked absolutely showroom-new, took 3rd. A modest entry of Maseratis was topped by Ivan Ruiz' gold-colored Bora, which still had the original luggage. In fact the car was entirely original in nearly all respects.

Surprisingly, I think that we had more cars on the "exotic" side of the fountain than on the Fiat/Alfa Romeo/Lancia side, and they had more room than before because the beach volleyball pit over there had been removed. In fact, there was only one Lancia, a lovely Fulvia Sport. Other categories with only one entrant were Pantera and Motorcycle (a late-model Ducati).

Perhaps the most interesting car was a one-off Bizzarrini with a roofline resembling a 250 LM and a Lamborghini V-12 under the hood. I found out later that this hybrid was actually built on a Lamborghini 400GT chassis! It naturally won the award in the Other category (for marques not otherwise catered to) and the Modified category. (The only other Other entry was a Cadillac Allante, which gained entrance thanks to its Pininfarina styling, which actually made it look quite at home.)

Several non-entrants parked outside the park at times included Rick Russo's Aston Martin (Rick noting that it was the first time he could remember that he didn't have an Italian car to enter), a couple of Porsche 928s and a DeLorean.

I'll be posting some photos a bit later. Due to recent computer issues, I need to reload my photo processing software, and I'm not sure when that will be.

 

A DeLorean huh? Hmmmmm.... wasn't me this time. I wonder who it was.

 

Great writeup Jim, and yes it was a fabulous event. Me and the 328 did the 3 hour drive in complete comfort, drama free. Did some shopping for my wife while there, and was well received when I returned. Take note.

The venue is just superb, very scenic, pleasant. As usual met some fun people, swapped stories and cards. Fun to see the younger folks there. A 14 year old told me I was driving his 'dream car'. Made my day.

Yes, Monte's (SuicideDoors) BBi made me miss mine all the more and was a sight to behold. Sorry I missed it firing up! Great day, great people, great cars. What else to say?

 

I finally got Photoimpact up and working again, so here goes. I didn't shoot each and every car, so I apologize if yours doesn't appear. And look for familiar faces in the background. More to come later.
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How did the Etype look?

 

Here are some more, including the Urracco (whose color never quite photographs correctly) and the unique Bizzarrini-Lamborghini, which, by the way, is a targa, something I didn't mention before. It must be fun keeping those six Webers all happy!
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Here's the last batch. As you can see, I did go over to the other side and tour the "popularly-priced" marques, starting with the lovely Lancia Fulvia. You'll note the Fiat with the unique "chameleon" paint job, which in this photo even looks purplish at the front but more copper-colored toward the rear. The color is really emerald green! Unfortunately, it has been at some point touched up with ordinary paint, which simply doesn't work here.

I also snapped some of the more interesting license plates; I found the Mercy Flight plate on the blue Murcielago of particular interest. In the end, I've caught the Lamborghini boys posing with their hardware, which included both the Kid's Choice and People's Choice awards, and Alan Boe posing with the Best in Show award for his ever-handsome 250 GTE.

While we lucked out with the weather, if you remember how cold and nasty it was the preceding Saturday, I hope the show can go back to October next year, in part so that it wouldn't conflict with the model car show in Smyrna (which I understand was very well attended).
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I have to say I was impressed with two things during Italian Car Day 2014.
First was the weather, and the second was that Jack got there early with the Dino. I mean this man was like the 3rd Ferrari on the ground. Did he not sleep the night before.
He won 2nd with the Dino, and also won in the drawing some super great ABARTH gear. Thank you again Jack for donating your winnings to me. You will see them on Ebay soon with a much increased price.............
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I really loved the Alfa GTV6. And would love to have one , but I am afraid of it being an Alfa and needing work that I don't know how to do. My brother had a 1971 Alfa 1750 I think. It ran, but not something you would take across the state of ........ well maybe the county line from Towns county to Blairsville.
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The Dino was just fun to shoot, Has some classic rolls.
Funny thing was Jack wanted to do an even trade with Julie on her 1957 Limited Edition Fiat. But we could not come to terms......... thus Jack had to ride back home in his off brand Dino...
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The day was warm, cars were great. Still like the Alfa. And even got a shot of Jim's 328 looking smart as usual.
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When it is cold..... most likely next week, we can all look back and see the warm blue skies from the show. And start making plans to hit Cavallino in Jan down in Palm Beach where the temp is 83 degrees in January.
I do have to say I loved seeing the 308GT4. We had a white one with red interior we bought in 1975 from John Apen. It was a really great driving car, just a bit ugly design, but it grows on you. I still think it would be a fun Ferrari to have. It makes more of a passion statement and love of the brand than the 360's.
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Judging by the pictures, I'm guessing the LaFerrari was not in attendance?

 

I understand that that car is now in Kentucky.

The chance of a supercar at a show like this is rather slim. The only time I can remember such cars at ICD was one year at Kurt's when the late Ed Wettach brought over the F50 and the Enzo, but that was not repeated.