Lancia 2000 Underway for Monterey,
Finding Your Way Around VeloceToday

By The Editor

The Lancia poses in front of a charter plane piloted by Dave Leuschel, in Williamsburg, VA. Will it make it to Monterey? Stay tuned.

Sunday, August 3rd. Lorenzo and Mario Marchesini, accompanied by Italian Maserati collector Antonio Alberoni, headed west from Washington D.C. in Marchesini’s thirty-one-year-old Lancia 2000. Loaded with three Italians from Budrio and enough necessities to last four weeks, the green Lancia sedan will face its most difficult journey to date. Marchesini refused to travel with a support vehicle. "That would take the challenge out of the trip," he said. The team will rely solely on the Lancia and a cell phone (grudgingly taken along at the last minute). Driving coast to coast in vintage cars is nothing new, of course. Doing so alone (without even a mechanic on board) in an old Italian car for which parts and service are virtually unobtainable, is either very brave or very (you fill in the words). We like to think of the attempt as brave.

Antonio Alberoni, left, discusses trip strategy with Lancia owner Lorenzo Marchesini, right.

For Mario, who still lives in Budrio, near Bologna, and Alberoni, also a native of Bologna, the trip is a chance to see the United States. After flying into New York, the two stayed at the Waldorf Astoria and toured Manhattan before taking the train to Washington. "I want to see the real United States," said Alberoni, who has never visited the U.S. before. "I was amazed at all the Japanese cars over here. Big, expensive Lexus, Infinities, Accuras — we don’t see them in Italy."

Manhattan, while truly American, is not representative of the majority of the United States. "Park Avenue and the skyscrapers are impressive," said Alberoni, "but I would like to see the mountains, the small towns, the plains states, and the Badlands." With luck, they will, and the trip will include a visit to Mount Rushmore.

From left, Antonio Alberoni, Lorenzo Marchesini, Mario Marchesini and guest, Dr. Howard Moon.

The day before the intrepid team departed, we met them at Chuck Wray’s Gran Touring shop in Laurel, Maryland, where they inspected a variety of cars being readied for Pebble Beach. Wanting them to see the "real" America, we then gave the team a ‘sendoff’ lunch at a genuine Italian-American restaurant. There were no complaints from the native Italians so the food must have been pretty close to the real thing. The Italian team was joined for lunch by Dr. Howard Moon, no stranger to Lancias. We wished them the best of luck — and as Mario knocked on wood we were reminded that Piero Taruffi always knocked on metal instead of wood — and Taruffi was a very lucky guy!

On Sunday, waking up at 4 in the morning, the team got underway amid scattered thunderstorms throughout the east coast. The Lancia easily conquered the Appalachian Mountains and by Sunday night the team stopped near Indianapolis, Indiana, where they planned to visit the Speedway Museum on Monday.

VeloceToday will provide another update on the journey of the green Lancia next week.

Finding Your Way Around VeloceToday
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A test drive in a rare OSCA can be found in the VeloceToday Archives under the [Cars] section.

So, since VeloceToday is now embarking upon its third straight year of providing our readers with great stories, breaking news, and worldwide event coverage, tis time we reminded everyone that every edition, every article, and even every ad is archived on our site. What this means is that there are over 250 great stories behind the homepage, and that even if you miss an edition, you will be able to find the articles in the archives...with some patience.

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