The month of May was cruel to us in the collector car hobby, as cool, wet weather caused postponements and cancellations of various events. In some cases, events proceeded regardless, with disappointing results. A few months back, the NJ Chapter of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club (NJ-AROC) reached out to the folks who put on the Somerville, NJ Friday night cruise nights. The organizers will reserve parking in one section for car clubs, and our Alfa club did this last year. Because the date is chosen in advance, it becomes a “rain or shine” event, and the weather forecast for May 30, our assigned date, was iffy. I actually didn’t make the decision to attend until several hours prior to the 5 p.m. start time.
Several club members were already there when I arrived a few minutes past five, and we immediately noticed that there were no “Reserved for Alfa Club” signs in place, as there were last year. As parking spots opened up, we placed a folding chair to hold the spot for the next Alfa to arrive. That was working well until a Somerville cop stopped and told us “you can’t hold parking spots!” I was about to exchange a few friendly words with the officer when a Cruise Night representative approached the black-and-white Ford Explorer and explained that he was late in posting the Reserved Parking signs, which seemed to smooth things over for the patrol officer.
Despite the threatening weather (which held off for the entire evening), we had a nice turnout of about a dozen Alfas, dominated by Spiders, and also cars from the modern Giulia, Stelvio, and Tonale lineup. The camaraderie in our group is strong, and we enjoyed the evening chatting among ourselves as well as the passers-by who took note of our Italian macchine. (One woman walked up to my Junior and asked me, “is that a Volvo?”) Bill ordered pizza from Alfonso’s, generously paid for by the Chapter, and by 7:30 p.m., with darkening skies overhead, several of us (including me) headed home. It was wonderful to hang with fellow Alfisti, and we already have a date in August to return to Somerville.
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