Celebration, Florida, 7 November, 2009
The delightful small town of Celebration, close to Kissimmee and all
the major tourist attractions of the Orlando area, is the complete
antithesis to the glitz of these venues. Its town centre lakeside setting
exudes an air of tranquillity, discreet wealth and finesse, with its
boutiques, cafes and restaurants, together with a fine art deco style
cinema. On 07 November 2009 it hosted the Mid Florida Chapter of
the Alfa Romeo Owners Club USA, who held a car show on Water
Street, with its pastiche of pastel hued buildings providing a nice
backdrop to the proceedings.
Considering that the marque hasn't been sold in the USA for a
number of years, although its return is imminent, there is still a strong
and enthusiastic following. The club gathered a fine selection of
mainly sixties and seventies Alfa Romeos, together with a selection of
other rarely seen Italian models in the USA, like a Lancia Beta Monte
Carlo, an Abarth tuned Fiat 500, a Fiat 124 Spider and a Fiat
Bianchini. The Alfa Romeo contingent included a variety of Guilias,
Guiliettas, including a beautifully presented SS variant, Duettos, both
original “cigar tube” and later Kamm tail variants, even a very rare in
the USA 164 model, and a pair of Montreals, one of which
appropriately wore a Canadian Montreal Expo 67 licence plate. One of
the Duettos was a restoration case, and carried a tongue in cheek
hand written sign on the nose, “Optional factory towing accessory”,
with below it a gnarled piece of old rope! Altogether, an interesting
display of classic Italian machinery, basking in Florida's always
welcome warm November sun.
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