Here Come the Judges (Post #172)

The Alfatross on her way to the Arizona Concours

The Alfatross just returned from the Arizona Concours d'Elegance with another "Class Award". It has been in 3 Concours now, competing with other cars in Classes such as "Classic Coachwork by Carrozeria Zagato", "Alfa Romeo Sports Cars", and the "Art of Aerodynamics: Sportscars 1948-1960." Being neophytes, we never expected to win any recognition, so did not pay much attention to how the whole judging thing works in Concours events. But now,after this show, we are thinking that if we did, maybe we could place higher in future events. Fortunately, in the latest issue of Sportscar Market's Insider's Guide to Concours d'Elegance there was a roundtable discussion by three judges on how it works--from their perspective. Three pieces of advice stood out:  

Caveat 1--Keep discussion with the judges short and sweet. Be alert, interested, sincere, crisp and brief and thank the judges. Practice it. 

It never occurred to me to engage the judges immediately and steer the conversation, but we all noticed that the guy next to us did his "romancing the stone" routine masterfully--and his Ferrari won the class! Obviously, this was not his first rodeo. A car's personality matters--and so does that of the person representing it on the field.

Talk fast, they'll be gone in 15 minutes!

Caviat 2--Fix any issues in advance. Know how to operate the vehicle. Everything must work.  

Having been The Alfatross' steward for 53 years, I know the car intimately so for us it was a breeze. I was surprised that all three of the judges in the Guide expressed their surprise at how often entrants are woefully ignorant of how to start their own vehicle or operate basic functions like the lights, horns, or turn signals.

Yellow fog light: Asset or Liability?

Caveat 3--Be prepared to authenticate deviations from what the judges might expect.

The Alfatross has a number of features that deviate from those of its closest relatives. One that is most salient is the Marchal 640 fog light on the passenger's side. When I acquired The Alfatross 52 years ago the driving light on the driver's side was a Marchal 642 spot light, but the one on the passenger's side was a Marchal 640 fog light with a rippled lens and yellow bulb. So that is the way I restored it. Judges find this combination unsettling and are put off by the asymmetrical appearance it presents. Changing a bulb's color is a simple fix, but is it better to change your car to suit judges' notion of what is "right" in order to place better in a Concours, or is that doing your car's history an injustice, and perhaps even helping to perpetuate a misconception?

The enigmatic MM B22A coil.

A feature in the Alfatross' engine bay that judges also ask about is the presence of two ignition coils. I understand their consternation. The big Magneti Marelli B22A Superpotente ignition coil bolted vertically to the firewall and painted a bold red, is impossible to miss. Neither is the fact that it isn't even connected to the live ignition circuit. Meanwhile, the "standard" coil, a Magneti Marelli B5 mounted horizontally below it, is doing all the work. From a judge's perspective this needs some explaining!

The MM B22A coil is clearly a high-end item typically fitted to Ferraris, Maseratis, Mercedes, Alfa Romeos, etc. (I found a pair for sale on eBay for $2,500!), but I still don't know why The Alfatross has one, or which of its previous owners installed it. Best guess is that it was used when high performance was needed, as when racing or rallying, but usually held in reserve. From a judge's standpoint, this is not an acceptable explanation. A simple solution would be to remove it when the car is being shown, at least until I can verify that it is part of a racing history we have yet to discover. On the other hand, it has been on the car for at least the last 53 years so why remove it now?

The Jaeger Chronoflight and Burg Dynometer.

The Alfatross also has other unusual accessories that for some reason do not trigger negative reactions from judges. The Jaeger Chronoflite Chronometer set into the dash is one of these, along with the Burg Dynometer mounted under the dash. Both strongly hint at a racing or rallying past. 

We know that The Alfatross' 6th and 5th owners were not racers and for them the car was just a "daily driver". In any case by that time it would not have been competitive. We know nothing of its 4th owner, but its 3rd owner, Will Henderson, raced various cars at Waterford (Michigan), Nelson Ledges (Ohio), and Kent Fields (Virginia) in 1963-4. If the 1st and 2nd owners raced or rallied the car it would have been in Europe, but we still have no evidence of that.

My impression is that being a judge at a concours event is like being an umpire at a Major League game: you have to make a decision based on many disparate factors and you have to make it fast. Not everyone will agree, but someone's got to do it or the game won't work!

 

The Alfatross, a BAT, a Gull(wing) and 2 Jaguars (Post #171)

Getting instructions for placement on the field. 

The last public appearance The Alfatross made was more than 6 years ago at the 2016 Santa Fe Concorso where she won Third Place in the Alfa Romeo Class. Considering the World Class competition she was up against at the time I thought that was a pretty good showing.  A few months ago when I noticed that the theme of the 2023 Arizona Concours d'Elegance in Scottsdale, AZ, was going to be "The Art of Aerodynamics", I thought that sounded like a good fit for The Alfatross and submitted her application. 

The Art of Aerodynamics

The Alfatross is aptly named. Humans have been fiddling around seriously with aerodynamics for only a little over a century (the Wright Brothers first flight was 120 years ago).  Albatrosses have been doing it for probably hundreds of thousands of years, earning their reputation as the most legendary of birds, capable of incredible feats. The Southern Royal Albatross has the greatest wingspan of any existing bird species (up to 12 ft.!). They can glide several miles with but a single flap of their wings. Talk about aerodynamics! They are known to live more than 60 years, 80% of which they spend literally living in the air! And they mate for life. After living with The Alfatross for the last 53 years I sometimes feel like we mated for life too--and every now and then it's nice to show her off!

Preparing for a Concours event invariably entails a lot of time, effort, and some level of anxiety (imagine what your car would look like after a trailer roll-over). What the visitor sees on the show field is just the "fluffed and buffed" result, belying all the reservation-making, route planning, trailer and tow-vehicle preparation, weather monitoring, behind the scenes. It's enough to make you think twice about whether you really want to do it. And we wouldn't have without the enthusiastic support of Dave Carrell who volunteered his truck, trailer, and Big Rig driving skills.

Thanks to Dave Carrell for getting us there and back in one piece.

Scottsdale is a long way from Santa Fe. Weather in January in northern New Mexico and Arizona can be rugged, and this January was particularly sketchy, forcing us to detour south for a 1,300 mile, 18 hour round trip with snow, ice, and high winds keeping us company most of the way.  

In spite of the weather, we got to Scottsdale a day in advance on Friday where  a team of Concours volunteers efficiently unloaded The Alfatross on the street, secured her in the covered, secure parking garage and showed us where to stow the trailer in a nearby lot. As this was also the first day of Scottsdale Car Week, we spent part of the afternoon at the tumultuous Barrett-Jackson circus before making our way to the other end of the entertainment spectrum, the  Concours Reception at the Phoenix Musical Instrument Museum. I've been to a lot of museums in my life, but this is one of the most interesting, professional and delightful museums I have had the pleasure of experiencing. I highly recommend it to anyone.

One small gallery in the Phoenix Musical Instrument Museum.

The BAT 5 "Dream Car" design exercise in aerodynamics.

The next morning we were on the show field bright and early, lining up with the other cars in Class 8: the "Modern Development of the Art - Sportscars 1948-1960". There were 9 other cars in the class, including 2 Jaguars, 3 other Alfas, a Pegaso, a Lancia Aurelia and a 1958 Ferrari 250 Granturismo Ellena. One of the other Alfas was the outrageous 1953 BAT 5 car which, like The Alfatross, was built on an Alfa 1900 chassis. Sizing up the cars around us, I thought the Pegaso would take First Place, but the judges gave that honor to the Ferrari, while The Alfatross and one of the other Alfas, the 1949 Alfa 6C 2500 Cabriolet Super Sport, received "Class Awards". 

The moment of truth . . .

2023 Arizona Concours Class Award

The Fifth Arizona Concours d'Elegance

It would be hard to improve on the Fifth Arizona Concours d'Elegance, but we did have one idea: Perhaps in the future it would be possible for entrants to attach a QR code to the placard provided by the organizers that would enable visitors to quickly harvest more information about the subject car without cluttering up the show field. In the case of a car like The Alfatross, extensive documentation and hundreds of photos could be readily accessed online via a cell phone equipped with a QR code reader app. We mentioned this to our Class Host, Mr. Sherwood Parker, who liked the idea and said he would bring it up with the organizers. 

Example of QR code placement on placard.

The Arizona Concours is back after a 3-year hiatus thanks to the tireless efforts of its Directors and volunteers working in cooperation with entities such as Scottsdale Arts and the Civic Center venue. From our experience volunteering with the Santa Fe Concours we know it is no simple undertaking. We were impressed by how well it was organized and orchestrated, given that they were essentially starting over from scratch. The Alfatross enjoyed her outing and ogling, but was relieved to return to her nest no worse for wear. 

At the finish line . . . .

Long and Winding Road Part 3 (Post #170)

Is the Long and Winding Road Coming to an End?  

In less than 2 weeks The Alfatross will be on the show field at the 2023 Arizona Concours d'Elegance, in the "Sports Cars 1948-1960" class. At present, we are busy with last minute inspecting, cleaning, polishing, fidgeting over minor details and looking forward to mingling with serious car people, sharing The Alfatross' stories, and learning theirs. Among the other cars on display will be a close relative of The Alfatross, the fantastically swoopy, much celebrated 1953 Bertone Alfa Romeo known as BAT 5. If it is entered in the same class as The Alfatross, perhaps they will be meeting each other for the first time! 

This will be the 3rd time The Alfatross has entered a proper concours. Part of the reason for doing so now is to give her more public exposure along with unveiling the 2-minute video below, which we created to encapsulate the last 52 years of our relationship. 

. . . Or Just Beginning?

The Alfatross experienced her 67th birthday some time in 2022. I remember having one of those myself even longer ago, so I know what that feels like. The difference is I'm getting older every day, but (largely thanks to my efforts) she keeps getting younger. Five of her previous 6 owners are deceased and there is every reason to believe that she will survive me, too. 

People often ask "Won't it be difficult to part with your car after all this time?" The Alfatross has been with me "for better or for worse" most of my life  The most important consideration at this point is not her monetary valuation, but rather how she will be appreciated and treated in the future by her next "stewards" and what excellent adventures they will enjoy together. 

The Long and Winding Road, Part 2 (Post #169)

Peregrinations of The Alfatross ca. 1960-2022

Hit the Road (1971-1978)

One of the Alfatross’ brake lines split almost immediately and I had no idea how to make my own.  From that point on, we were gypsies. I don’t remember how I got it from Chapel Hill to Hendersonville, NC, 250 miles away, but it certainly wasn’t under its own power. My parents allowed me to store it in their garage while I figured out my next move, but made clear it was only a temporary arrangement. Years passed. Eventually I installed  a tow hitch on my 1973 VW bus, made a tow bar frame to fit the Alfa’s front bumper mounts, disconnected the drive shaft, bought new tires, and headed west for College Station, TX, a little over 1,000 miles away. It was the first of a series of such ridiculously risky, long, open road hauls made out of desperation. 

To infinity and beyond!

The Road to Hell Is Paved with (Misguided, Ridiculously Optimistic) Good Intentions (1978—1993)

At university in Texas, I was fortunate to rent a small house with a garage just large enough to store the Alfa, but even so, it spent part of its time outside on the driveway when displaced by other projects. It was during the more than 10 years we lived there together that The Alfatross received her name. A visitor stopped by while I was working on it and innocently observed that someone in my low socio-economic station of life would be better off without such an Alfatross around my neck. 

Cocooned like a butterfly chrysalis

The next move was from College Station to Dallas, TX, in 1990.  This time, while towing The Alfatross very slowly with the VW bus, I resolved to either get serious about making it drivable or getting rid of it altogether. I got in touch with Martin Swig, Keith Martin, Peter Marshall, Hans Joseffson, and other authorities, all of whom impressed on me The Alfatross' rarity and historical importance. When a local exotic car dealer offered to trade a used Ferrari for it, I gained new respect for The Alfatross as an investment instead of just my personal cross to bear. 

The Alfatross was in stasis, marking time in College Station and Dallas. The next move was to Corpus Christi, TX, located on the Gulf of Mexico at the same latitude as Tampa, Florida: hot, humid and not an ideal place to keep an old car, but I had a little more time, money, and space to work on The Alfatross and her stable-mate, a 1973 Porsche 911E Targa. Still under the mistaken impression that that I could do most of the restoration myself, with the exception of paint, bodywork and the engine, I began to experiment with sub-contracting. During the almost 20 years we were there, a recurrent concern was hurricanes. Although evacuation orders were not uncommon and The Alfatross’ garage was only 15 ft. above sea level, we always opted to stay. It was a relief when the opportunity to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico, presented itself. At an elevation of 7,000 feet and an average rainfall of 15 inches, its natural environment is much more stable. 

The Road to Enlightenment Runs Through Tunnels of Darkness, Ending at the Gates of Harsh Reality (2008—2016)

For this move, I loaded The Alfatross into the back of a U-Haul truck and chauffeured her to her new purpose-built home, “The Shed”, 1,000 miles away and far from natural disasters. Here we finally got serious about her restoration. By this time I had come to grips with the realization that restoration of The Alfatross to her original glory was going to take a lot of time, space, specialized equipment, connections with restoration professionals, and money. Lots and lots of money . . . 

Oh, the indignity of it!

Some other considerations were dawning on me too. The Alfatross was more than just another old car that needed a bit of sprucing up. I wanted to restore it to its original condition, but keep intact the "personality" it had acquired over its lifetime. 

Sorting out a problem late at night at The Shed, with coyotes howling outside in the darkness, my original sense of purpose started to waver as The Road entered one of the Tunnels of Darkness. When the restoration is finished, what comes next?  At some point The Alfatross will need a new steward. 

Once I complete the empathetic restoration of The Alfatross, my part in its life would be finished, except for making sure its next steward is the kind of person who will take care of it responsibly in keeping with its uniqueness. Letting it go to the highest bidder—a stranger, maybe even a Russian oligarch with 300 other cars in their collection—would not be a satisfying outcome. Picking your car’s next steward is a noble aspiration, but how do you make that work?  

I can think of only one precedent—but it’s a BIG one and it happened just a few months ago: An unnamed private collector bought at auction a special 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, known as the Uhlenhaut Coupe, for $135 million EUR. It was not the price tag or legendary car that got my attention.  It was the fact that MB was able to specify a list of conditions the buyer had to agree to before they would part with the car. MB picked the buyer, not the other way around!

 

The Ulenhaut MB 300 SLR

Was the Road Not Taken the One That Should Have Been? (2016—2023)

I try not to think too much about the roads not taken over the last 52 years, like opportunities to sell or trade the car for something else, or let someone else do the restoration while I just wrote the checks, or even when to call it finished. Sure, there were ruts in the road, dead-ends, blind curves, bridges washed out and parking tickets, but for the most part the roads we did take were good enough.

The Long and Winding Road (Post #168)

Bo Bricklemyer poses with wife and car in 1966.

Roads and cars have a “which came first, chicken-or-egg?” relationship. You can’t have cars without roads, and there is no need for roads without cars. Either way, The Alfatross’ journey over the last 67 years involved a lot of different roads physically, figuratively, and philosophically. Reflecting on this, I began to think about how it ended up in Santa Fe. It was a Long and Winding Road indeed.

Rode Hard and Put Away Wet (1955-1969)

A racing cockpit if ever I did see one!

By the time I came into its ownership, The Alfatross already had six previous owners and was just a 14 year-old used exotic sports car. 

Badges and "2000SSZ" painted on trunk lid.

Cousin Bo Bricklemyer, the car’s 6^th owner, and I ended up as students at the same university in North Carolina in 1969. When he offered me the car, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before: that svelte body, all the toggle switches and big, round instrument faces, the stick shift and 5-speed trans between those bucket seats--a car built to race! A long-time reader of Sports Car Graphic and Hot Rod Magazine, I was smitten, but at the same time I realized it was highly impractical. On the other hand, I already had a car for reliable transportation so it would just be a question of where to keep it. Sure, it had some deferred maintenance issues, but surely it wouldn’t be that difficult to revive something built with 1950s technology.

My previous cars were used, too, but I never wondered about who their previous owners were or where they had been. Other than its sketchy ownership trail, those first 14 years of the car’s life before I first laid eyes on it are largely undocumented. Where had it been, what had it done—and what had been done to it? 

The engine bay was dusty, but everything was in place.

Fortunately, Bo included in the purchase contact information for Pat Braden, the car's 5th owner and  well-known Alfa aficionado. Pat was aware of its other previous owners, some of whom added their curious personal touches such as the hand-painted triangular logos on the front fenders. The trunk lid was embellished with “2000SSZ” unprofessionally scrawled in script and a large “Alfa Romeo Owners Club badge obviously added by a US owner. In the cabin the dash carried Italian “San Remo” and “Automobile Club Milano” badges. 

Intriguingly, it also had a floor shifter for its 5-speed transmission, two coils including a Magneti Marelli SK5 high performance unit, bespoke brake reservoir, wood-rim Nardi steering wheel, Jaeger rally chronometer, Burg DynoMeter and air horn—all accessories associated with a racing history. but did it really have one? At some point I would have to look into that.

Obviously, a sophomore in college needs a used-up exotic car like a Volkswagen bus needs a trailer hitch (I had that too!). What  did I think I going to do with it? It was a case of the Yellow Brick Road Syndrome: “a path believed to lead to success or adventure”.

To be continued . . . .

Solex is French for "Don't Touch It!" (Post #167)

The Alfatross' pair of Solex 40 P II carburetors.

 

The Alfatross came with a pair of dual downdraft 40 P II Solex carbs. I read somewhere that carburetor is a French word meaning “Don’t touch it!” Solex is a French word too, and some say it has the same meaning. The 40 P II model was introduced in 1952, at which time it was being made in Germany. So the Alfatross was fitted in Italy with carbs designed in France but manufactured in Germany. 

 

A Solex 40 P II carb on a Porsche 550 Spyder.

  

 

In the 1950s they were the carbs to have, appearing on such high-performance vehicles as the Porsche 550 Spyder.  But that was then and this is now. Carburetors are as dead as Disco and sadly, not a lot of people know how to work on them anymore. It is an obsolete technology familiar only to obsolete Old Guy tuners who are also fading away. Young Guy tuners with their laptops and apps are clueless. 

 

 

 

 

 

An original VéloSoleX.

It helps to have PhDs in fluid dynamics, materials, and engineering!

Solex has a long and distinguished history. Co-founders Maurice Goudard and Marcel Mennesson, both of whom are unknown to Wikipedia, created the company in 1905. The company’s first product was a primitive (by modern standards) motorized bicycle they called VéloSoleX. Making carburetors later became their specialty. In any case, The Alfatross’ Solexes were the product of half a century of mechanical and fluid dynamics evolution and refinement. The good news is that Solex carbs and parts are or were manufactured under license over the decades by many companies in many countries. The bad news is that they seem to have been in a constant state of evolution so there are many subtle variations of the same model.

 

 

 

 

 

That leaves The Alfatross and me to work things out together. I noticed that a number of The Alfatross’ siblings have been treated to more modern carburetor “upgrades” such as downdraft and sidedraft Webers, and after dealing with The Alfatross’ pair, I can understand why. 

 

Each carb has about 125 parts, all of which are necessary for it to mix air and fuel under a variety of different ambient and operating conditions. It is no small accomplishment to get all the adjustments on both carburetors set properly so that they work together. But when the environment changes drastically, so do the settings.

The carbs were initially adjusted to run well in Scottsdale, AZ at an altitude of about 350 meters (1,200 ft). Here in Santa Fe, the highest capitol city in the US, the elevation is 2,200 meters (7,200 ft), so readjustment, including changing idle and main jets, is necessary. 

 

 

 

 

Original injectors exposed.

 

 

 

 

 

After determining that the fuel pumps were providing about 3 psi of pressure and the fuel lines and filters were clear, I started looking at the carburetors themselves. One problem was immediately obvious: while the accelerator pump's injectors on the rear carb were working well, the injector streams on the front carb were weak. Adjusting the linkage on the front pump had no visible effect. 

 

 

 

 

Original injector and ball valve.

 

While disassembling both pumps, cleaning them, and replacing the gaskets, I tackled the injectors and immediately hit a snag. During the disassembly process   the ball that serves as a check valve to prevent the gas already in the injector from draining back into the bowl popped out onto the floor and vanished as if teleported to a parallel universe. If this sounds like an excuse for not conducting a thorough search, try looking for a 3mm clear plastic, extremely bouncy, ball on the floor of a typical garage floor strewn with dust bunnies and other tiny debris. When you lose something on the floor that can't be seen or felt or picked up with a magnet, your last resort is to look for another one on the internet. 

Original injector (left) with new version.

 

 

 

 

Some material filing necessary!

Much to my surprise I found a site on eBay offering replacement injectors in a set of 4! When the jets arrived and I compared them with the originals, I discovered a number of minor differences: The blocks holding the injectors to the carb bodies were slightly longer than the originals but would fit after filing some material off the block. No big deal. The balls inside the lower part of the original injectors were removable, probably so the tubes could be cleaned, but the sealed one-way valves in the new design seem to be an improvement--at least it lessens the probability of losing the ball! Another difference is that the original injector orifices were 0.35mm, but the new ones are 0.40mm. Will that make a difference? I hope not, but we will soon see! 

The Solex Saga continues . . . .