Hemmings to celebrate Fiat 124 Spider's 50th anniversary at Saratoga Springs

[KevAndAndi]

Cutting and pasting this announcement I saw on Facebook, in case there are any folks interested in attending; I am a definite maybe:

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2016 ... versaries/

The Fiat 124 Sport Spider and the Alfa Romeo Spider, two Italian twin-cam beauties introduced 50 years ago this year, will be among the special classes at the 11th annual Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car Show, scheduled for Saturday, August 6, at the Saratoga Automobile Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York. They join Jaguar (pre-1992), Porsche 356, Toyota sports cars and GTs (pre-1992), and BMW Motorcycles (pre-1992) as this year’s special judged classes. That’s in addition to our customary classes: pre-1992 sports cars, GTs and exotics from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Sweden; other imports; Driveable Dreams, or preservation cars; and modern (1992 and later) exotic cars.

Of the two Italian spiders, the Alfa Romeo was the first to arrive on the scene, unveiled in Geneva in March 1966. Styled by Pininfarina – the last car that Battista Pininfarina had a hand in, in fact – the Spider would go through four series before ceasing production in 1993. The Fiat, first shown in Turin in November 1966, was also a Pininfarina product, styled by Tom Tjaarda. It remained in production until 1985, marketed as a Pininfarina Spider Azzura for its final three years.

Come on out, and enjoy the company of fellow enthusiasts. Enter your car, and you might see its photo in the magazine, or bring a trophy home with you. To register, visit our website, or contact Trisha Grande at tgrande@hemmings.com, or 800-227-4373. Admission is $15 for judged vehicles; vehicles not eligible for awards will be admitted for $10. Registration on the day of the show begins at 8 a.m.; the show begins at 9 a.m., with awards scheduled for 2 p.m. The first 300 entrants will receive a commemorative magnet. As always, spectators will be admitted at no charge.

[AriK]

As if I did not get enough with the drive to and from Detroit last week, I showed up to the Saratoga Auto museum in N.Y. after several hours of driving from Canada. I figured that it would be a convenient opportunity to hook up with the New Jersey group as it's likely the furthest north they'd travel. Ditto for me, journeying just as far south.
What a great group, Doug, Dave, George, Brady among so many others that create this wonderful group, I enjoyed meeting them and the cars they drive. These are my momentos:


















































John & Leslie Logan (Midwest124) travelled over 9 hours from Ohio.









Last but not least, Vincent G. with his lovely wife Karen from Pensylvania. This car drives everywhere, Pittsburgh & Detroit Freakouts, auto crossing and seen in many other event photos as well.
Vincent & Karen were stranded 1 hour out of Saratoga Springs when loose distributor rotor screws came apart and blew up his distr cap. After getting towed to a safe place, a fellow Spider enthusiast with parts left the exhibition from Saratoga and rescued them. They finally rolled in during the early afternoon.




Not only is it wise to carry a spare cap and rotor, Vincent's rotor screws got lost in the carnage. Thanks to John Logan who was equipped with them in his stash, they were sent out with the rescue team.




TIP:
Wouldn't you know it the incident spooked me during my 200 mile ride home along with the fact that I had a dead cell phone (too much picture taking as you can see). With the advice of David (spider2081), I replaced the flat washers with star washers that can bite into the rotor and into the screw itself. Always throw a rag over the crossmember since the pit of despair can swallow dropped items.
Our Fiats are as dependable as the little bits that hold them together.




...and the winners for 1st and 2nd place Fiats:

[spiderdan]

Tx for sharing the pics Ari
Looked like a good time.

You do get around don't you!

[AriK]

There were cars other than Fiats, here are some of the winners in their respective classes:

















Other non winners...



















BEST OF SHOW...

[AriK]

Tx for sharing the pics Ari
Looked like a good time.

You do get around don't you!

I had a blast actually. On the way back i was able to switch back and forth to from Highway 87 to route 9 and enjoy the twisties through the Adirondack mountains.
It's been a testy couple of weeks for my Spider with the high volume of mileage.
I think i will return to DuCeditor's Drivers-Diddlers post and revoke "collector" for "driver".

[DUCeditor]

Thanks for posting all those pix! Gave us stay-at-homes just a bit of the flavor.

-Don

[Exit98]

What a pleasant surprise when Ari arrived on the show field late Saturday morning. The last time we met was at last year’s Pittburgh FFO. Ari might just be the most enthusiastic Fiat owner I’ve ever met.

He chatted us all up and took pictures of all the cars. I just wish he could have stayed over and joined our group for dinner Saturday evening.

The venue was beautiful and after a brief morning shower the day turned sunny and hot.

We caravaned 7 cars up Friday morning from NJ/PA. It was a nice ride although Ralph had to replace a coil and rebuild a distributor on a newly restored 1970 along the side of the road. Later at the hotel he quickly fixed a poorly running EFI. Two more cars showed up that evening and another Saturday morning so we turned out 10 cars in total.

I don’t know what we would do without Ralph to keep us on the road. He had to leave at 5:00 AM Sunday morning for the 250 mile trip to get home in time to meet his wife and two sons as they were all flying off to Italy that afternoon. How’s that for guts and determination? He made the flight.

As an aside, one of our group commented later; "Hemming’s promotes 50 years of the Fiat Spider and absolutely no representation from Fiat Club of America." True and kind of sad.

[AriK]

Thanks for the kind words Doug. And thank you for taking the time to introduce me to all the fellas.
How can i forget to mention Ralph (lanciahf), his posts come up often in the archives.
I attended Saratoga because of a spur of the moment decision. The deciding factor was whether i would hit rain. I avoid rain at all costs with this car, for one reason, i feel so claustrophobic when the top is up and, two, i tend to avoid getting the car wet (i only wash it before an event or meet). I watched the radar and pretty much followed a drying highway 87.
I would never have expected any ignorance from Fiat Club of America for Fiat 124 Spider's 50th anniversary. Everybody must still be asleep and recuperating from last week's highly distinguished convention. Had i spoken to Bobb Rayner about this he would have planned for the Logans to display a banner at the very least. John and Leslie are always volunteering their time at the FFOs, they would be perfect candidates for representatives.
Heck, even myself, although a little late to the show i would have been happy to toss up a banner and hand out Fiat Club business cards. It would have been so easy. I've conversed with Bobb on multiple occasions in relation to increasing awareness for Fiat Club of America, even in Canada, namely Montreal.
At the time i was more focused on getting myself through 13 hours of getting myself back from Detroit. Saratoga was my last vision in forethought.
Unfortunately the undertaking fell through the cracks.
It would have been so easy.