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| Articles: MOFLO Euro Fiesta Visitor to Norman Csaba Vandor Michael Shay Les Anderson's 124 Sedan |
Full Versions of Most Graphics In This Issue Are Available by Clicking on the Graphic |
Information: New Members Coming Events Next Meeting |
July 2001MOFLO
Roamin' Chariots and others met
at the Lake of the Ozarks for the 2nd annual MOFLO event. The
2-day weekend was highlighted by a tech session on dirty gas and
picnic by the lake in the state park. Folks came from Colorado,
Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa and Kansas. All attendees from last
year returned and the event has grown four fold.
| Bill Ackland -Charles City
Iowa Jay Keim - Lawrence Kansas Mike and Laura Fugate- Allen and Lynn Loftland - Witchita, Kansas Christian Loftland- Kansas |
Pete and Maria Angel- Colorado Todd Roberts- Oklahoma Delmer Teet Oklahoma Ron Conlon Oklahoma Mike and Theresa Greer Oklahoma |
Matt Ludwig
Kansas Ken Dickson Missouri Roger Grantham - Missouri Kent Elder Kansas |
 Beauty Shot of the Participants |
 Keim and Grantham Scorpions |
 |
 Alan Lofland - Open For Business |
Ron and Delmer took his Brown Spider on Thursday after recharging the A/C and finding the system could work. Ron's red Spider was suffering from a very loose tie rod end and was left in the stable. The A/C was satisfactory and made for a pleasant ride as well as the company of a co-driver. Thursday evening was spent in a restaurant dodging a noisy thunderstorm.
Lake of the Ozarks is a resort area and quite a busy place. Shops and restaurants abound and go-carts are common. The lake is an enormous Chinese dragon shaped affair that snakes through a large part of the state. It is close to Springfield Missouri in hilly and forested country. This was very pleasant after Oklahoma prairie heat.
 Flying the flag Bill Ackland |
 The black Spider's reaction to bad gas. |
On Friday we shopped a bit and picked up some beer to greet the arrivals that drifted in starting about 2pm. Bill Ackland from Iowa got in first and started to unwind as he showed us his autocross prepared spider and told of the plans for it. Soon most of the crew had arrived but Allen, Lynn, Christian, Pete and Maria were slow due to some bad gas and one car needing a tow. Two Scorpions, Grantham's and Keim's, arrived to keep Delmer happy and interested. We spend the rest of the evening after dinner troubleshooting the "Black" and learning all about Crane ignition and dual carburetors. Others prepped their cars for show. Pete and I fussed with a leaky head gasket and sipped on brews. New friendships were forged and faces put to names.
Saturday dawned in glorious sunshine. Pete's head
got torqued down and Allen found fuel filters for his Spiders,
which cleared up the problem. More car cleaning was initiated,
then off to a grocery store and the lake for the BBQ and show
of cars. It was a fine sight to see all the Fiats and Lancias
under the mantle of the oak trees and cruising in the town. We
were met at midday by Kent at the motel in his fresh painted Spider.
It is the same color as Ron's in brilliant red #152 and looked
so virginal. This is the color that I call "whore's lipstick"
so maybe virginal is not quite appropriate.
We were too mellow to attempt the go-carts by evensong so dined and drifted off to beds after evening chats around the cars. Sunday was getting ready for the long drives. Pete left early and a few of us discussed plans for next year. That will include a cruise and tour as well as some kind of show/tour and a featured model. It will be fun to see how many Scorpions we can get in one place.
Euro 2001 A Taste of Addison
Roamin' Chariots went to Texas for the MAFFIA auto show. All cars drove well. Allen, myself, John and Delmer drove down attesting to the reliability of these cars. Allen with his Spider, John with the X1/9 and Delmer with the Scorpion won prizes. Dave Craig showed up to view the iron as well. He apparently has upgraded his fleet of cars to add a Spider to the Mondial. He got it for his wife but I bet he will enjoy it, too. We stuck signs on the cars naming the club and got mention and noticed during the awards. Oscar Robinson was there with his Abarth 1300 and also took a prize as well as delivering some parts to the members from Vick Autosport.
Visitor to Norman
Late in May, before MOFLO, I received
an e-mail from an FLU member from Charleston Carolina. Joe Miele
is a self described Fiat freak and Mirafiori and FLU member with
a couple of Spiders. We soon had a plan for him to join me with
the a-arm and ball joint work that I had to do. I picked him
up from the hotel early on Saturday and went over to Delmer's
place to get down and dirtyand we did! He put in a solid day
and was the equal of any task that he took on. I feel that this
car stuff is fine way to build a friendship while tackling a difficult
task. While we worked, first Ivan showed in his 97 red Alfa Spider
and if that wasn't enough then John came over with the black beauty
X1/9. For dessert we walked over to see what Jim was restoring
that day. He had the Abarth 1000 OT and several Lancias to view
as well as others (Abarth 750 double bubble) being tended in the
garden. . I did not orchestrate this but take credit anyway (ha).
Who said that the Internet would make in-the-flesh
friendships passé? He left after inviting me for a snack
at his hotel and a promise to meet later in July.
This we did on Sunday July 22. What a fine day for Fiat/Lancia in Norman even though FFO was on in Buffalo. We saw a superb 850 Coupe, visited Delmer to show the Scorpion, showed off John's X1/9, visited Jim who always can show something different and exotic and saw Les's 1965 124 sedan. We ended the afternoon with a beer at Joe's hotel. It was blazing hot.
Csaba Vandor
Csaba has a job on a rally team
in the east and will not be able to complete his term as president
of the Roamin'Chariots. We wish him all the best and hope he
will keep in touch. His expertise was a major rallying point
for this great group of enthusiasts. We will miss him.
Michael Shay
"There is an 850 Coupe in Norman."
I was told and I found Mike who joined us on a Sunday to do some
Fiating. Here are pictures of his 1966 850 Coupe. It has 14,000
miles and is museum quality. It is the best Coupe in the USA
or maybe anywhere everything being original from the show room
floor. It blew me away. He also has a racer project and another
coupe (for sale). He travels for a living so the car will get
stored and used infrequently as it should for this kind of time
capsule. I drove it and what a blast! Thanks Mike.
 |
 Mike Shay''s 850 Coupe |
 |
Ivan Torabi has a new 1997 Alfa Spider that was imported from Europe this spring. It is a sweet ride that can make the blood boil. |
 Ivan's 1997 Alfa Spider |
|
When I arrived in Norman in 1967 to work on my doctorate, I was newly divorced, penniless, and without wheels. I had a job as a graduate assistant and for a while I lived with my major professor and rode a bicycle to the campus.
One day I made the rounds of the auto dealers looking for some inexpensive car. Not a chance. But a week or so later I did receive a call from Tom Bianchi at Reynolds Ford. He had a car to show me. It was on a Friday in late October, pitch dark and raining when I met him outside my office. I started to get in the car on the driver's side, and Tom said, 'No, the other side." Only then did I discover it was a right hand drive car. An oil engineer returning from Malta bought it in England and had it shipped over here by the company. Then he was transferred to Libya. He traded it in on a larger Ford.
 |
 Les Anderson and the 1965 124 Sedan |
 Joe |
I thanked the salesman and promised to let him know in a day or so. That night my major professor had invited me to a pre-football game party. So I did a little survey of the guests as to whether they would buy such a car. The result was about 50/50. Some were surprised I would even consider it due to inability to get parts, though there was a Buick/Fiat dealer in town. So I wasn't worried...little did I know that Fiat would abandon the American market altogether.
On Monday at the office I asked around again, as I was still undecided. The Dean's secretary said she would certainly buy it and asked where it was. I asked her why and she said "Snob appeal." That did it for me, I borrowed half the $1,000 price from my mother and made the deal. The car had only 1800 miles on it at the time. I certainly got lots of attention with the car. In fact, I saw Dick Reynolds just a few weeks ago and he asked whether I still had the car.
Over the next few years I got married and moved to east Norman. Driving Alameda street in a right hand drive car became quite a challenge, in fact, driving anywhere in east Norman was a challenge, narrow roads, full of potholes and no passing. By the time you could pull out to see around the pick-up truck in front, you were dead if another car was coming over the hill. So I left it parked out on the acreage, where the inside deteriorated and it fell into mechanical disrepair. However, when we moved into town in 1985, I had it towed in. I subsequently consigned it to several garages to be fixed, but nobody could get it running well enough to use on a continuing basis. I did get it to a shop where it got a new paint job and some new seat covers. I had eternal hopes and great love for this car.
I kept it in the driveway on Chateau Drive until last year my wife gave me an ultimatum... get it running or get rid of it. That's when I went on the Internet with the intention of selling it. Instead I met Ron, learned about the Roamin' Chariots, and was encouraged to get it back on the road, which is where we are today... trying to get it back on the road.
New Members
Joel Abbott from Norman with an
X1/9
Jimmy Guthrie from Noble OK with a Pininfarina Spider
Michael Shay from Norman and cruise ships with the best 850 Coupe
in the USA.
Danny DeWald from Burlington, Kansas with a 76 Scorpion
Coming events:
BBQ at Allen Loftland July 28 in
Wichita
Nov 4, Automobili Italiano in Dallas area. Roamin' Chariots hope
to make a big showing here.
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