“Bellissima! Bella Macchina!”will be exclaimed as Italian marques take the spotlight at this weekend’s first Caffeine & Carburetors Powered by Bankwell of the year, set for April 22 from 8-11 a.m., at the corner of Pine and Elm Streets in New Canaan, Connecticut. Beauty, style and horsepower will line the Strada Italianacelebration with exotic automobiles from Alfa Romeo, Bizzarrini, Cisitalia, Ferrari, Fiat, Iso Grifo, Lamborghini, Lancia, Maserati, Moretti and Pagani, as well as compatriot motorcycles rolling into town for the Best of Italy on Elm.
Among the innovative cars on display will be a 1951 Lancia Aurelia B10 Berlina, which featured the world’s first production V6 engine and standard radial tires on its four-door, pillar-less sedan body. The Aurelia is from Santo Spadaro’s collection, where it is joined by one of only 199 1958 Alfa Giulietta Sprint Veloces ever produced (above, Chris Wraight photo courtesy of Caffeine & Carburetors), which now enjoys life as a VSCCA racecar in vintage competition at Watkins Glen, Lime Rock and the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix in Schenley Park, among others.
Caffeine & Carburetors is held four times a year in New Canaan, twice on Downtown’s Pine and Elm Streets, and twice at the Town’s Waveny Park. This year’s schedule will bring “Munich Fest: The Ultimate BMW Gathering” to Waveny Park on June 17. The All-Original Sole Survivors Show of barn finds and family-legacy cars will be the center of attention on September 16 at Pine and Elm, while “Gatsby at Waveny: ‘20s and ‘30s Grand Classics” will be featured on October 21 at Waveny Park.The four annual events draw upward of 1,500 vehicles and 5,000 visitors each to this New York City suburb.
Founded in 2008 by Doug Zumbach, Peter Bush and Todd Brown, and based on Zumbach’s similar 1995 program, Caffeine & Carburetors sparked the ubiquitous proliferation of similar shows nationwide. For complete information please visit www.caffeineandcarburetors.com
