9.19.03

It is with great shame that I announce that virtually no progress has been made on the Alfa since the beginning of the summer.  The last time I wrote I had been cutting up an old CS body and hauling it off to the recycler.  That job is done and the space that it gave us was available for only a brief amount of time. 

I had moved the Alfa to the garage in hopes of stripping the body but soon two new projects loomed on the horizon, one for the house, the other for income.  The house project is the construction of a retaining wall for our front yard and it's quite a task.  All told the wall will be over 40 feet long, involve one 90 degree corner and a nearly 180 degree bend.  It will be 4 feet tall and constructed of interlocking cinder blocks.  As with many things the bulk of the work is preparation, and with retaining walls preparation involves digging......lots of digging.  That project along with my continued studies have robbed the Alfa of attention. 

Additionally, I've taken on a project to put together a friend's BMW CSL.  Despite the guilt felt over not working on the Alfa I'm hoping some of the funds from the CSL job will help me to acquire some tools (such as a welder) and parts for the Alfa so in the long run it is good for the Alfa.  It just makes the Alfa's restoration a longer run. 

A month ago we made our annual 40 mile trek south to Laguna Seca for the Historic races and also to the Concorso Italiano.  There were lots of pretty Alfas, Ferraris and other Italian marques there as usual.  Since I have no pictures of our Alfa that are of interest, I included a couple from the show for you to appreciate.  The yellow Fiat 500 belongs to my father Joe.  This show was the maiden voyage for the little car following a 2 year restoration.  Cute ain't it?

Ciao!

TJ