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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Abarth dealers

Helping Sam Caronia

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Lancia Scorpion, waiting.

Story by Tom Gonnella
Photos taken by the Editor circa 2004 unless otherwise noted

In the 1970s, Sam Caronia had some interesting cars in the shop on 38th Street in Norfolk, Va. In addition to the three Allemanos, the Intermeccanica and the 300SC, he also had a couple of OTR or OTS 1000s, a Simca and a Porsche Abarth Carrera. In addition to the usual Fiat’s, MG’s, Healey’s, VW’s and old Porsches, behind the shop there was a Ferrari 250, a Buick another Simca, several Series 2 Alfa Spiders and a GT Junior.

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The Fate of the Intermeccanica Formula Junior

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The one, the only, Intermeccanica F Jr.

By Pete Vack

From the VeloceToday Archives, 2010

Guys are incredibly insensitive sometimes, cruelly defining even friends not by who he or she is, but by what cars they own, as if the vehicle was more important than the owner. Contact begins with not “Hey Sam, how have you been,” but with “Hey Sam, you still have the Intermeccanica?” We are as guilty of this sin as anyone, and we all do it from time to time, I would guess.

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Working with Sam Caronia

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Sam in his Intermeccanica Formula Jr. Photographer unknown, courtesy Same Caronia collection.

By Tom Gonnella

After my mother impressed Sam, anything she wanted he gave her, including a job for me. I worked for Sam for three summers and he was a great friend for the rest of his life.

I had discovered road racing at 14 through a friend whose father ran a Triumph Spitfire in the SCCA and we were his ‘crew.’ I also told Sam I had now started autocrossing my Alfa and asked Sam if I could get his rare Intermeccanica Formula Junior running to drive as I thought it would be more competitive.

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Meeting Sam Caronia

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Could be Cranky Caronia

A note to our readers: Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth and Hampton are all locations in the UK, but also cities in the Tidewater area of Virginia, USA, and the locale of the Sam Caronia chronicles. The U.S. cities were all named by the English settlers who arrived in the colonies beginning in the 1600s.-Ed.

Story by Tom Gonnella

Read Part 1

Over the years, I’ve had three Fiat 850 Spiders, two Moretti Tour du Monde, a Dino 308gt4, a Mercedes SL500, a Ford Escape, a BMW 325xi, and 15 Alfa Romeos dating from 1951 to 2019.

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Sam Caronia, Abarth Dealer Part 1

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Sam Caronia. Obituary photo, photographer unknown

By Pete Vack and Tom Gonnella

Sam Caronia was not famous and more irascible than most. But he was an unforgettable person, the owner of a foreign car repair shop and sometime race driver, who helped and encouraged a younger generation to maintain and race the Italian cars we all loved. And though he died many years ago, he is still remembered.

A Navy Veteran, an Abarth Dealer, a Race Driver

Tom Gonnella, a fellow Ferrari owner and Tidewater, Virginia, resident, worked for Sam as a teenager, and was a long-time friend. Recently Tom sent me his well-written reflections on Sam which provided the basis for a belated biography, and allowed us to make use of an interview I had with Sam in 2014 and never published. I too, had known Sam for many years, and Tom’s recollections mirrored my own.

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