“Who are these guys?”

That’s the question frequently heard at car shows and rallies, as uniformed “originale police” spot our non originale cars, many of which display our not quite correct club logos.  The answer is that Scuderia Non Originale™ (SNO) was founded by a group of Alfisti in October of 2004, at the annual Concorso Italiano in Monterey, California.  The charter members are from the San Francisco Bay Area, mostly in the region south of San Francisco widely known as Silicon Valley.  They include three engineers (Tom Sahines, Richard Lane and Ben Lamprecht), an auto parts manager and former Alfa mechanic (Steve Smith), a .gov lackey (Ted Williams), and retired business owner (Gary Williams).

Cars include a wide variety of Italian fun machines, from Alfas to Maseratis. The list includes a Ferrari 275 GTB, a Ghibli, an assortment of Giuliettas, Giulias, Junior Zagatos, Milanos, Alfettas, 164s, and an ever-growing list of other Italian sports cars and motorcycles. We’ve even got the one and only Stovebolt HWM racer, not an Alfa, but very much connected to Alfa’s racing history.  For photos of member cars please check back as we rebuild our gallery section.

You might say that we’re restomoders with a sense of humor and a bit of attitude.  A motto for the group was proposed years ago:  Andiamo Lesti Fumando Assai (We go fast, making much smoke!).  Some would like to see us adopt a less deprecatory motto.  Others think Andiamo Lentamente Fumando Assai is more appropriate (We go slowly, spewing smoke). This entry shows the high intellectual level of the group and has promise: Veni Vidi Veloce (I came, I saw, I went fast).  Thanks to Greg Gordon for that one.  We’ll keep you posted regarding any late-breaking decisions from the rules committee, once we appoint one, but since we don’t like NO rules and we don’t hold NO meetings, it may take a few more years to make a decision.

On the other hand, if enough of us congregate at Concorso Italiano one fine August, and those who can’t attend weigh in via e-mail, we might just  eventually select a motto.

Sincerely,
Gary Williams
Founding Director of Scuderia Non Originale™