Well guys I'm going to hop the pond at the end of September. Gonna reunite with my mother's side of the family. I have'nt been to Italy since I was 11 years old in 1972. At that time there were a whole bunch of little Fiats running around like the ones pictured below. My question is, is there anyone who has been to Florence recently? Are there any "autocentric" sights that should be on my must see list? Is there an Italian hot rod contingent? I've seen a ton of stuff from England, Norway, Finland and Germany, what about my "pisano's".
Italians are not much into american cars as far as I know, but why not google a little...., "machine americane" or "auto americane" or "club machine americane" What part of Italy are you going ? I wnet 15 years ago to zacanoppoli near tropea (Calabria) where my grandparents were from.
Car guys in Italy? Are you kidding? Hell yes, it's in the blood! Just last week I sent a racing radiator to a fellow Corvette aficionado in the land of my lineage. Hey Beppe, I hope it arrives soon! We are all also natural born race drivers. Now get outa' my way, I'm coming through! And yes, speaking from my 4 plus year Corvette addiction and related forum experiences, there are plenty of Corvette and other American car lovers there.
Of course Italy is a car nuts country but I think Henry's talking about American cars/hot rods in Italy
wow those are some nice cinquecentos. I didn't live in Florence, but In the ****-hole farm town I did live in, there were several Ferrari's and Lamborghinis cruising around on any weekend. I remember a place in Rome that specialized in selling american cars. There was a maroon C4 Vette there for a long time. Kept thinking how huge it looked over there.
Try to make it to this if you can.. might be interesting http://www.cl***icrallies.com/blog/...for-car-enthusiasts-Firenze-Fiesole-2007.html
Dude, forget american cars, go see some different ****. A lot of cool foreign cars out there, especially Italian. Go see where they make ferraris & whatever. You've got all the time in the world so see our stuff when you get back.
Oh definately, I'm looking forward to seeing some different stuff, both on four wheels and two wheels. Ferrari, Alfa- Romeo, Maserati, Lamborghini, Fiat and bikes there's Moto- Guzzi, Ducati, Aprilia, Benelli and of course theworld renownd Vespas. Oh yeah I'm fully aware of the Italian love affair with all things fast and beautiful I just want to make sure I don't stray too far O/T in this thread for the HAMB. When I was there just as a kid even it made such an impression on me I never forgot. One cool thing was my cousin taking me on the grand tour of beautiful Florence, two up on an original Vespa. To an 11 year old kid that was awesome, I felt older and free. I'll primarily be in Florence, but we'll try to get to Rome and Pisa. The thing behind this trip is kinda important to me. I lost my mother 6 years ago and my dad 1 year ago. They met in Italy in 1951. My dad vowed to come back to Italy and marry the love of his life which he did as soon as he could save enough money to do so. Their's was a love for the ages. When they p***ed so did our links to the Italian side of our family. I can't let too much time go by, I've gotta keep the family together even though there's a blasted ocean between us. A wedding has come and it's gonna be a perfect time to bring my wife and sons to meet the relatives they've only heard about. Can't wait.
Thats true, you got all the american stuff right out of your door. Just rent a couple of Ferraris/Lambos and get your cousins/aunts/uncles for a ride..... Good luck on your trip !!
Not cars, but this place has some very, very historic aircraft. http://aeroweb.lucia.it/en/museums/vigna.htm
Well guys you'll get a respite from my diatribe for the next 10 days. I'm heading out in the morning. Now don't go getting all teary eyed I'll be back soon with renewed vigor, and a whole bunch more BS to spew. Take care!
My neighbor,when I lived in Downey,Ray Walker,built a Fiat 600 with a 2233cc,turbo motor. 11sec car that weighed less than a VW,street legal! Same car in that first pic. He said their are lots of "hybrid" Fiats in Italy.
Hello greetings from Italy ! American cars are really scarce here, lots of Jeeps, some late Chryslers and Blazers, but not much else. Very few cl***ic cars on the road , most likely you can see some late model Corvettes. Very few rods, very big trouble to get them registered. I live in Milano, we hold a cruise night every last friday night of the month , and turn out is about 30/40 cars, not bad at all. But only in Milano we have so many cars, other parts of our country has nothing at all. You can check out www.usacarsforum.it to see some pics of meetings all around our country. Should you decide to come to Milano, can drive you around and show some cars that belong to my friends, and also some nice cars under resto, plus a rod/custom builder about 50 km from me, where I am doing my 35 Ford 3 wndow, plus my american car collection of 30+ cars. Contact me at mopar@iol.it
Ciao! Adventurer! I'll be in Milano Tuesday morning. Would love to meet you but we are headed to Firenze as soon as we get there. My cousins are devout fans of la Fiorantina and we will be watching a match between them and Roma Tuesday evening. I will keep your info and stay in touch. Good luck with that `35 Ford. You should post some pics of it. In addition let me know if you need things for it, I'm hooked up with a bunch of early Ford guys here and between us we have a pretty good amount of stuff. Take care and grazia! Michele'
Hello Michele you will arrive at Malpensa airport, and it's about one hour drive from Milano. Seems your timeplan is very tight....maybe when you are coming back we could meet. As for the early Ford stuff, will surely need for the 35 and the 39 coupe I just bought from ebay. With the dollar / euro rate, I have to buy whatever I can afford, before things change. Have a nice trip Antonello
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