By Peter Walker
Photos by Jay Woodruff and Peter

The Larz Anderson Auto Museum added Tutto Lite to its calendar of lawn events a few years ago because of the success of Tutto Italiano. That show takes place in early August and apparently is the largest and most-visited show of the museum's year's scheduled events. Tutto Lite occurs in the middle of October and has a much more intimate and relaxed feel. Absent are the Maserati, Ferrari, and Lamborghini dealerships which display dozens of drool-inducing late model supercars. Tutto Lite attracts only private owners and their cars. Whereas Tutto Italiano fills both the lawn in front of the museum and the top of the hill (as well as just about everything in between), Tutto Lite is limited to only the lawn before the museum.

For 2016, about 50 cars and a few motorcycles were on display. Alfas were the most numerous marque, with Ferrari a distant second, followed, in order, by Lamborghini and Fiat. A section of "specialty" Italian cars included a Pantera, a Lancia Beta Zagato, and a beautiful, burgundy Maserati that said both "Sebring" and "3500GT" on the back (I had always thought the Sebring and the 3500GT were two distinct Maserati models).

While few of the Alfas belonged to regular AONE event participants, Steve and Nancy Perry brought their beautifully rejuvenated 1978 Spider. Steve and Nancy have done a terrific job of making this car look as good if not better than it did when it left Italy in 1978.

Jay Woodruff also brought an Alfa, the 1986 Spider that once belonged to fellow-AONE-er Tom Letourneau. Jay has also been a very good owner to his Spider, which drew considerable attention from the crowd.

Other interesting Alfas on display included a white 4C Spider, a Junior Zagato, a lovely red Giulietta Sprint, and a 1968 European-issue 1750 cc GT coupe with those wonderful "flying buttress" seat backs, which on this car were in excellent condition. The 1750 GT had a fake French license plate on its front bumper with "AR 105.44" for a "registration" number.

Aside from the Alfas, the star of the show (for many) was a gorgeous burgundy Lamborghini 350GT. This is the first Lamborghini model, the one Ferruccio Lamborghini himself vowed would make Enzo Ferrari regret having insulted him for knowing about tractors but not about cars. The proud owner of this particular example was very obliging and willing to field questions from any and all (though his technical knowledge of his car was middling, and it is unlikely that he ever got any genuine Lamborghini grease under his finger nails). One of the benefits of the more relaxed atmosphere of Tutto Lite is the ability to chat with so many of the other car owners.

Another star was a beautiful blue Fiat 130 coupe. The 130 line was never imported into the US; both the coupe and its related sedan were a late-1970s, early-1980s, attempt on Fiat's part to claim some of the upscale market from the French and Germans (and from their own Lancia Gamma line). The coupe is powered by a 3.2-liter V-6 engine (with one carburetor). The exterior was designed by Pininfarina and bears resemblance to the Rolls-Royce Camargue, also designed around the same time by Pininfarina, though the Fiat is far more attractive. The interior of the 130 coupe is luxuriously appointed, and the model on display sported the (apparently) rare 5-speed transmission (rather than an automatic). This car looked very similar to the one featured in this month's issue of Hemmings's Sports & Exotic Car. The car on display at Tutto Lite was for sale, for $42,000 — more than twice the suggested value, according to Hemmings.

Also in the Fiat section and near the 130 coupe was a Fiat Abarth 124 Spider. This is also a non-US model, but a friend of the owner nicely pointed out to curious passers-by the elements of this model (such as the widened fenders, drilled-out, weight-saving door hinges, and dual Weber carburetion that make it an Abarth rally car and not an ordinary 124.

Another interesting older car was a 1967 Ferrari 365 2+2. The owner calls this model an "executive coupe" — perhaps the kind of car that the most highly successful executive would move up to from the Fiat 130 coupe. Like the Lamborghini 350GT and the Maserati Sebring/3500GT, it was very attractive in burgundy.

Tutto Lite took place on a beautiful Indian summer day and brought out an interesting variety of Italian cars. For those tired of the noise and crowds and "bling" at Tutto Italiano, Tutto Lite may be just the thing.

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