Last week, I drove to Ottawa, Canada, with a college buddy of mine to see a jazz band we like. During the ride, we reminisced about our fifty-two-year friendship. That’s a long time, but I have high school friends I’ve known longer. I’m in regular touch with at least a half-dozen of my high-school classmates, some of whom I’ve known for fifty-eight years. Many other friends I met during my years with Volvo, where I started working forty years ago. I have been blessed to have such long-term friends.

I’ve also been privileged to have made new friends later in life. My friend Pete, from whom I bought my Alfa, didn’t enter my life until 2001 (still a while ago, I realize). Belonging to several car clubs as I do, I keep meeting new people, and given our common interests, a bond can quickly form.

The New Jersey Chapter of the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club (NJ-AROC) is full of some of the friendliest, most down-to-earth people that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I joined the club soon after buying my Alfa in 2013, and every breakfast meet, tour, and cruise night has been delightful. I heard a saying many years ago about automotive events: “You show up for the cars; you stay for the people.” It sounds hackneyed, but I have repeatedly experienced it. Without the owners and the enthusiasts, it’s just a bunch of automobiles. The people make the experience.

Our little Alfa club has seen a steady influx of new members, partly because Alfa Romeo is currently selling new models in our market again. Some folks have purchased new (or slightly used) Giulias, Stelvios, Tonales, and 4Cs, they catch wind of our club, and they join. One such person was Al Lanza, who bought a used Giulia sedan and signed up with AROC. Looking at my photos of previous events, it looks like Al came into our ranks early in 2025, and he immediately fit right in. He had both a Giulia and a Stelvio, and typical Alfista that he was, he showed more interest in talking about others’ cars than he did in talking about his own. When we first met, Al and I hit it off, and we often spoke about upcoming events that appealed to us.

The Carlisle, PA, Import Show was just two weeks ago, and Al drove out to join us. The NJ Chapter had six members in attendance, including spouses, and we all stayed in the same hotel, had breakfast and dinner together, and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. I commemorated the trip with a group photo along with individual shots of the guys with their cars. Just before Al and I parted company for the weekend, we spoke about our mutual interest in an upcoming tour hosted by the Delaware Valley Chapter. I was looking forward to seeing him there.

Earlier this week, I got an email that stopped me cold. It said that Al had passed away. I had to read it several times because I didn’t believe it the first time I read it. I had just seen him. He was happy. One of his sons and several of his grandsons had visited him on the showfield at Carlisle. When the news finally sunk in, I was so saddened to lose a friend. Here was someone that I had known for a little more than a year, and now he was gone. Al had become widowed several years ago. He leaves behind four children and several grandchildren.

I keep learning life lessons, and one of them is, it doesn’t matter how recently someone becomes a friend; when they pass on, the sadness and emptiness are the same. Al, it was great to know you. I’m honored to be able to say that we were friends.

Entire blog post content copyright © 2026 Richard A. Reina. Text and photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.