Best of France and Italy 2012

[ishtvan47]

Who's going? Looking forward to bringing my '80 FI and meeting more SoCal Fiat owners.

http://www.franceanditaly.com/

[Danno]

I was thinking Shawn Folkerts said he'd be there. Maybe Dave Voss as well? They will probably be in something other than spiders, though, so look for a 124 coupe, or maybe one of their two new 128 sedans.

[Razooli]

I'll be there ...

[fishboy]

I am registered! See you all there.

[rlux4]

Had dinner last night at Alvon and Maureen's house with the Folkerts. They're going to be there, but Dave Voss has had a bunch of illness at home so he had to cancel. There will be the group from central California here also. I'll be there. I had to miss it last year and really was bummed.
Ron

[So Cal Mark]

I'll be there and I've arranged the RomeoFerrari Abarth from the SEMA show to attend also

[Razooli]

I'll be there and I've arranged the RomeoFerrari Abarth from the SEMA show to attend also

Are you going to have a bunch of Fiat goodies there for us to peruse?

[So Cal Mark]

only a few, BFI staff went beserk 2 yrs ago when I brought a truckload of goodies

[jimincalif]

I remember that. That BFI lady was downright unpleasant.

[So Cal Mark]

yeah, it was odd especially since I paid to be a vendor. She even walked up to my wife and called her a "bitch", despite the fact my wife hadn't even said a word. My wife doesn't attend many events, so she had a pretty jaded perception of the Fiat community

[Trifle]

I was at the show today and, among other things, met Mark Allison and had a nice chat. Also met some other owners who were all nice and very helpful with my newbie questions. As far as cars go, there was a poor little Fiat 850 Moretti that was all alone but looked so interesting. What a tiny, uniquely styled car. I have to say that the south half of the show area -- away from the snobby Ferraris -- was a lot more fun!

[rlux4]

This year had the best weather ever! It was a gorgeous day with a large turn out. The cars go out beyond what this pic can show;

Here's another car that Shaun Folkerts has rescued from the crusher.

As usual there's a great story that goes along with the car. It sat for 40 years in a garage and when the owner died it fell to his stepson to clear out his stuff. Not knowing anything about Fiats, he got ahold of a wrecking yard and was offered $500 for the car. Someone heard about it and got ahold of Shaun, who bought it, and came out to central California with his wife and daughter to pick it up. They drove it down to So Cal for BFI and had engine trouble. He found a decent engine for it on the fourth try. At one point of his trip he was doing his usual walk around at a stop when he saw the crank pulley nut laying on the ground under the car! From here he drives to Phoenix where he's picking up another rescued car. I gotta get out to Pennsylvania one day to tour Garagemahal.
There will be others who will post more pictures, but here's a couple that are pretty neat.
A 1912(?) Fiat;

And an interesting Bugatti;

And the best thing about the day, I got a new steering wheel!

There's always stuff for sale at the show and some guy had a very few items with this Momo wheel, new, in the box on his table. I was happy as a pig in.... well, I was happy to get it. My old original wheel was downright embarrassing.
Ron

[Danno]

Shaun's was one of two Fiat's rescued from that owner. Dave Voss has been working on the other. Was it at the show, too?

(edit: Dave's was apparently from a different owner, but rescued at the same time from a nearby location. My bad, see Shaun's story below)

[rlux4]

Not that I know of Dan. Dave had to pass on making the trip to the show because of illness in the family, and Shaun had his hands full just getting this 128 here. They had luggage, parts, their daughter, the spare and four tires and wheels in the car! I've got the tires and wheels at my place until he leaves SoCal to drive to Phoenix so they can have a little wiggle room in the car while they're in the area. He's trying to get ahold of a guy in my area (70 miles NE of LA) to look at a field full of Fiats that are slowly sinking into the sand here in the desert.
Ron

[Danno]

Shaun just posted this on facebook. I think he might have had this taped to the car at the show...