Letter from Italy by Joachim Griese
Photo by Carter Hendricks
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Now that everyone and every car has returned safely to Italy, VeloceToday asked Joachim Griese to write a few words about the Lancia Group 66 tour.
Preparation
Before putting our feet on American soil there was a lot of planning. Peppino Stancati, the treasurer of the Lancia Club Italia, who was in charge of the Tour did intensive work since more than a year, selecting the container company and the hotels. In June, Marcello Minerbi made a reconnaissance run to explore the tourist aspects of Route 66. In July, the group met near Rome to distribute all the information necessary (booklet about the Route 66, hints for the preparation of the cars). On September 5th, the 16 cars were loaded into containers at Genoa and on October 8th, 39 Lancisti (37 passengers for the 16 cars plus one mechanic and one TV-operator) flew from different airports in Italy via Paris to New York. After a beginner’s experience with the United States (for the majority of the group it was the first visit to America and only a few of us were able to speak English), on October 11th, we flew on to Chicago. We met with an Italian/American community and had a lot of fun. The adventure had begun.
Route 66
In Chicago we met Geoffrey Goldberg and a completely new dimension of our Route 66 Tour became visible: He knew our destinations along the Route 66 and put a Lancia Blog on the Internet and a communication network all over the continent began to work. It was exciting to see the mails we got every evening announcing new American friends to meet the group at our next destination. And in addition we saw the articles in VeloceToday giving us the impression to be part of the global Lancia family.
(See VeloceToday News section for all the articles on the Lancia Tour).
The first section to St. Louis brought some work for our brave mechanic Enrico but as he stated it 80% of the repair requests were due to insufficient preparation of the cars.
Carter Hendricks led the group to the Gateway to the West in St. Louis.
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In St. Louis Carter Hendricks helped us to find additional mechanic support and together with his wife Lynne they escorted us to the Arch to take some pictures. They also admired our internal organization (did someone say it was like herding cats?)!!.
In Springfield, Tulsa and Amarillo the situation was similar: We knew already the day before who would like to meet us the following evening at our hotel - and in fact our friends arrived with their Lancias and their Alfa Romeos and we could share our common enthusiasm. In Santa Fe we met Nancy and Ed Mackey who came from Las Cruces in a wonderful Lancia Flaminia Coupe to have a look at our cars. They stayed one night in our hotel and we had a nice dinner together.
In Europe there is much diversity regarding the "philosophy" of enthusiasm. The Italians in general try to have their Lancia as original as possible. In the US we saw some Lancia cars with minor or major technical changes, but this creates discussion and does not diminish the enthusiasm. According to our discussions with American Lancisti the problem is not to get parts (which is equally easy or difficult in the US and in Europe) but to find the knowledge or the right people (which is a scarce resource in both the US and in Europe) to install the parts.
Up to Santa Fe the environment was not too different from what we are used to see in european countries. Now we entered the desert and Route 66 offered new dimensions of the landscape to us. In the Route 66 museums we got an impression of the history and the great work which was done to construct the Route 66.
Learning about the great American Highway.
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The weather was fine, not too hot for us (or the cars) and via Gallup all cars arrived at Flagstaff where we met Jim Fierst who had news from Cindy Meitle regarding the Concours d’Elegance Las Vegas. On our way to Needles the next day Jim had prepared a stop at the Powerhouse Museum Kingman and then we intended to go to Needles via Oatman. Unfortunately only two cars succeeded in finding the road to Oatman (which to my opinion is one of the most challenging parts of the Route 66) and all the others took the Interstate. On our way to Oatman we saw diggers working near the road and had an interesting talk with them.
Going off-road, and finding an archeological site.
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Las Vegas
Jim gave us an excellent description of the way from Needles to the Las Vegas Concours d’Elegance - so we started at 7.00 am and arrived at 10.00 am at the golf course to see all the wonderful cars.
On the green
at the Las Vegas Concours.
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Cindy Meitle gave us a warm welcome and we appreciated the award ceremony. Especially happy was our youngest passenger Elvira (10) you see her on the foto together with her mother Luigia and her father Nunzio.
Nunzio Mennoia, Elvira, and Luigia in Las Vegas.
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Los Angeles
Las Vegas-Los Angeles, an Interstate part of our Tour - with my Aurelia B20 we made it within 4 hours and 30 minutes to meet Cory Youngberg (with his Lancia Flaminia Sedan) and Adan Figueroa (with his Lancia Fulvia Sedan) at our hotel. In the evening Gary Byrd had prepared a wine and cheese reception and the dinner in a French restaurant again gave evidence that the Lancia Enthusiasm is a global community. The next day we went to the formal end of Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier to take some photos and film shots and in the afternoon we had a wonderful excursion together with our American friends along the coast to Jan Voboril’s house were we admired the Lancia Kappa, which goes next year to the Bejing-Paris-Rallye (first done in 1904) and had a nice afternoon rest in the garden. Jan gave us the hint to visit the Nethercutt Collection the next day where we were deeply impressed to see such a large number of beautiful cars.
But everything comes to an end: On October 27 we brought our cars to the container company near Hermosa Beach and the next day we left LA to return to Europe.
Wrap up
Looking back it was a wonderful and unique experience. Some of us who already knew the United States saw the Mid-West and the landscape along the Route 66 - an important part of the US; those who made their first visit were impressed by the large distances and the diversity of the landscape. For all of us the most exciting part of the Tour was the overwhelming help and support we got from our American Lancia enthusiasts.
Griese's 1957 Aurelia B20GT reaches the pier at Santa Monica.
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Fortunately there were no breakdowns on the road except the tires. The Astura had problems with the water pump; the 4 Aurelias didn't have mechanical failures; 2 of the 3 Flaminias had problems, one with the carburetor, the other with the master cylinder for the brakes; the 2 Flavias didn't have problems; of the 5 Fulvias 2 had problems (one with the starter, the other with the master cylinder for the brakes); the Beta Monte Carlo had problems with the starter. All these problems could be handled in the evening so that the next morning the cars were ready to go.
Old cars are like horses: You have to use them. Last year we made a Lancia Tour in Europe from Italy to Spain (with approximately the same distance we did on Route 66 and even fewer mechanical failures). All the 16 cars we came with to the US are regularly used in Italy. So the first advice is don't take "museum" cars for a long distance trip. Second advice: Let a (for the cars you want to take on a long distance trip) knowledgeable mechanic give you advice how to prepare the cars and what parts you should take with you.
On behalf of Peppino Stancati and all the members of the group I would like to thank all of you. With your help and friendship we really got our kicks on Route 66! I hope to see at least some of you next year in Europe joining us in a Lancia rallye in Italy.
