The date for the event was Sunday 7th August and all tickets had to be booked in advance. I was feeling a little more confident about this event, as the previous month the AROC magazine had published a lengthy article about the Green Machine, totalling 9 pages, including photographs. I hoped that this would attract fewer negative comments on the day, but as it turned out, I should have paid more attention to the preparation of the car, instead of worrying about what people might think of it!
The reasons for this turned out to be twofold – firstly, the distance to Bicester Heritage was twice the distance I had driven in the car since getting back on the road in 2019, and resulted in the unwelcome return of a problem with my hydraulic throttle that had not manifested itself until now – prolonged heat soak in the engine bay causes the working fluid (ATF – it is an American device after all) to expand and open the throttles, even with my foot off the pedal. Only releasing the bleed valve when hot fixes the problem, something that I neglected to do once I got to Bicester
The second reason was the weather – the forecast was for clear skies and 27 degree temperatures. It was going to be a hot one! More about that later.
Google told me that traffic would be light at 9:30 am so I should drive through the centre of Bicester to the Heritage site on the North side of town. This was a mistake, as my recently-calibrated tachometer was recording an engine idle of 3,000 rpm! Even worse, the queue to get onto the site was a lengthy one, and with no airflow to the engine the temperature started to climb, making the throttle problem worse. I cracked open the canopy, switched on the radiator fans and tried to look as nonchalant as possible while the engine screamed...
Current AROC chairman John Griffiths was on hand to greet me in person, and directed me to the “Alfa Specials” area, just behind the old airfield control tower. Fortunately the large crowd of curious onlookers that immediately gathered around the car all thought that the throttle shenanigans were part of the act, with many commenting how great the engine sounded. If only they knew!
Anyway, once parked I was able to survey my surroundings. The line-up was not what I was expecting. The term “specials” is usually reserved for “bitsa” cars made up of vintage and post-war parts. Or just vintage Alfas, although sadly there were none that chose to venture out in the heat. Instead, the Green Machine was flanked by a lovely silver Junior Zagato on one side, and a metallic red 8C (a daily driver, apparently) on the other...
It looks empty but I had to wait for ages to get a clear shot! Next to the 8C was a modern Giulia in GTAm specification, and that was the entirety of the “Alfa Specials”.
2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Alfasud, a car I have never driven, but of course have a enormous affinity for, having used a significant proportion of one during the construction of the Green Machine. The intent was to gather at least 50 of these pretty saloons, plus the coupe Sprint, early versions of which were also badged as an Alfasud, at the event. In the end there were 64 cars! I understand that this was a record turn out for this model, so well done all you Alfasud owners. As you can imagine, my photographs concentrated primarily on these worthy little cars, but there were some notable additions in the form of two Arnas (OK, one Arna and one Nissan Cherry Europe, both of which used the Alfasud engine and running gear in a Japanese bodyshell), and I believe a total of four Alfa 33s, the successor to the Alfasud.
Superb early Ti ‘Sud…
A brace of road-racers (the one in the foreground looks particularly well prepared)
I finally got to meet Keith and his timewarp Ti. It was stunning, inside and out. I particularly like the fluted dash top. Having spent the best part of 7 years designing the dashboard in the Green Machine, I pay a lot of attention to such things these days
The colour-matched Revos on this white Sprint did it for me
I have never had a lot of luck snapping white cars in bright sunlight, but the graphics capabilities of Ubuntu Studio far exceed those of my (very) old copy of Photoshop 4.0. Even so, the harsh lighting continued to present problems throughout the day…
Moving away from the taxiway apron where my Nova and the Alfasuds were baking, I found this eclectic selection sheltering under some trees. The convertible is an Alfa 2600 (the similar Giulietta Spider did not have the chrome intake slot on the bonnet… I think). I’m on safer ground with the Junior Zagato (nice colour, by the way).
In my view still one of the ugliest cars ever, but I do like the little square headlights (I don’t mind the Bugatti Chiron for the same reason), and with this many examples of the SZ all in a line it was an opportunity that was too good to miss…
This is the Giulia 105 area, which benefitted greatly from the trees that line this part of the site. The car on the left was taking its time to cool off, and later we could see why – it had a GTV6 engine conversion
There's more...
Lauren