Last weekend, I went to my favorite scooter/motorcycle/car show. It is the Alameda Italian Day show. It is a decidedly low-key affair. Essentially, the show takes over a football field at an Alameda middle school, and people just park their vehicles and walk around. Unlike many concourse events, this show has no awards and no attitude. You park your $500,000 60's Ferrari next to that $1500 Fiat with rusty floors, and both of you share a glass of chianti. The San Francisco Bay Area is full of interesting cars, and a lot of them show up to this.
There are also neat scooters and motorcycles in attendance. I rode over with some of my friends with a large group of scooters. We had one Lambretta break down on the way, so we were only a small group that arrived. The scooter star of the show was the Vespa GS VS1, pictured above. The VS1 is extremely rare, even in Europe. In the US, there must only be a handful of them. This one was driven to the show, and is in good, but not perfect condition. Kudos to Tony G. for bringing it. He's brought some very interesting scooters to this show in past years, and this was no exception. I think I'll get to see his collection, one scooter at a time at this show!
I'm a sucker for the 60's Alfa Spider. The one above was simply stunning in gray. Now, where's that $30,000 I need to buy one?
More photos of scooters and cars below the jump...
Here are some detail shots from the GS VS1. He had the in-line spare tire accessory on it. What is more, he had the very rare accessory spare gas tank. Now, a version of this tank has been reproduced, but not this one. This tank works only with the 10" four lug wheel that was unique to the GS VS1-4. Not only that, but this tank has a cut out at the top which allows it to work with this spare setup. Really cool!
This is a detail shot of the other side of the spare and tank to see how it all attaches. From this side you can see the attention to detail... the tire is a vintage "Ceat" brand.
This photo shows the handlebars and the unique cable system on the VS1. This is a sort of hybrid of the enclosed headset of the later scoots and the exposed cables of the handlebar "faro basso" Vespas. This strange set up was used only on the VS1, and was later abandoned for a fully enclosed headset, which was a much more elegant design. Note also the large square speedometer which was used up to the VS4.
There was also a nice Lambretta LD at the show.
I sure like the accessories that were available for the LD. Somehow these chrome doo-dads look better on the Lambrettas than on the Vespas. In my opinion, the LD looks better with some chrome accessories, while I like the look of the Vespas just plain.
This is a very rare Zagato bodied "Junior Z" Alfa Romeo. There are not many of these cars in the US, and a handful always turn up at the Alameda show. They are striking in that they look very different from the other standard Alfas, which were mostly Pinninfarina designs.
I just love this wheel. The lightweight wheel looks fabulous, and the center cap just takes the cake.
Another one of my favorite Alfa models, the Duetto Spider. This one is a '67. You don't often see them in blue, but it looks really good. Red really is the proper color for an Italian car, but variety is the spice of life, and the Duettos look great in blue or green as well.
The business end of a Ferrari. I took this picture because you can really see all the carbs lined up like little soldiers. One carb for each of twelve cylinders. When it comes time to tune them up, get out your platinum card and call the bank to increase your credit limit!