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Tutto Italiano at the Larz Anderson Museum of Transportation in Brookline is easily the Boston area's biggest Italian car show of the season. But for those who are unable to attend Tutto Italiano or who prefer to see only interesting Italian cars that belong to enthusiastic and dedicated owners rather than attending the loud and glitzy marketing event that Tutto Italiano has become for the area's Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati dealerships, the Museum's Tutto Lite event, in mid-October, has much to recommend. It is smaller, the loudspeakers aren't blaring music quite as loudly, and dealerships and other hawkers are not involved. Also, the trophies are awarded by popular vote; there is no judging, as at Tutto Italiano. This year's Tutto Lite, on Saturday, October 14, was dampened, literally, by poor weather. These were not exactly the monsoons of an infamous Tutto Italiano of a few years ago, where the Spiders were displayed under large sheets of clear plastic and Stephan De Pénasse won the show's award for best racing Alfa thanks to being the only racing Alfa (and after having driven his race-prepared GTV, slicks and all, down from New Hampshire in the pouring rain!). Instead there was consistent drizzle. But when the show broke up, around 1 PM, that light precipitation became a downpour. As a result, the turnout of cars and of attending car gawkers was low. Among the Alfas were two new Alfa Giulia sedans; a handful of 105/115 Spiders, including Gary Venable's 1967 Duetto (with over 300,000 miles on it!); and a few GTVs, including the 1750 cc yellow GTV of Vito Varano, not an AONE member, but co-proprietor of one of AONE's sponsors, Paul's Auto Body, and the beige 1974 GTV of member Jim Sullivan. John Darack's lovely black Giulietta Spider was also present, parked next to what looked like the same red Giulietta Sprint that so impressed at Tutto Lite in 2016. The cars were parked around the far edges of two sides of the lower lawn (where the Alfas usually park for Tutto Italiano), and there was no attempt to sort them by marque. Thus Vito's GTV was parked next to a black Ferrari 308GTB. Gary very smartly had parked his Duetto under a tree. Since many of the attendees who had forgotten to bring umbrellas also remained under that tree, the public had ample opportunity to admire Gary's car. A cynic might suspect that this explains why, at the end of the event, Gary's car was awarded the trophy for best Alfa, but the car won that trophy on its merits, as Gary has maintained this lovely car in terrific shape (he has owned it since 1971). Alfas were, in spite of the low turnout, the best represented Italian brand, as there was only one Lamborghini (a Gallardo) and one Maserati (a late-model GT). Ferraris were the second most numerous brand, and a 458 Italia won the trophy for best Ferrari (the Gallardo and the Maserati GT both came in first, second, and last in their own categories). There were only four Fiats: two new 500s and two 124 Spiders. One of those 500s, a rascally 2012 Abarth model belonging to an AONE member who had decided at the last minute not to drive his 1977 Alfa Spider through the rain, apparently wowed enough voters, on the strength of its red leather front seats, to win the coveted trophy for best Fiat. As a result, AONE members won all of the trophies awarded at Tutto Lite 2017 for best non-exotic Italian cars. So, in spite of the weather, and at least in part thanks to AONE's taking two out of three of the competitive awards, the event offered its share of pleasant surprises. |
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(Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view, and then
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