In this episode Lance interviews Mike Fine, the co-chairman of the upcoming 2026 Alfa Romeo convention in Ogden, Utah. Mike shared his background in quality engineering and his lifelong passion for Alfa Romeo cars, starting with his early fascination with the Montreal model. The conversation covered the details of the upcoming convention, which will feature a variety of events including a concorso, autocross, drives to local attractions, and social activities in the historic downtown area. Mike emphasized making the convention more family-friendly and accessible, with numerous non-car activities for spouses and non-enthusiasts, while still providing traditional Alfa Romeo events for enthusiasts. The discussion also included Mike's personal experiences with Alfa Romeo cars, including his recent purchase of a Giulia and his plans to visit Italy where he owns a home in Tuscany.

Link to convention — https://arocogden2026.com/

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Lance and Tom discussed Tom's background in biomedical engineering and his transition to classic car restoration, including his extensive collection of Alfa Romeos and experiences in the market. The conversation covered various aspects of Alfa Romeo's current state, including service network challenges, market conditions, and Tom's future plans for his car collection and restoration work.


AROC Technical Advisors Information
Tom Sahines
tsahines@gmail.com
408-262-6279
Available 9-10PM Weekdays PST
Pre-SPICA models

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Jim and Elyse Barrett are “Co-presidenti” of the Alfa Romeo Owners Southern California shared personal stories about their experiences with Alfa Romeo cars, including purchasing and restoring vintage models, while discussing maintenance challenges and future plans for their collections. Jim describes his career and his long-standing interest in cars, while Elyse explains how she got involved with Alfa Romeo magazines after working for various car-oriented publications. They discuss their first encounter with Alfa Romeos through a friend's invitation to a New Year's Day drive in Malibu, where they were impressed by the performance of the cars.

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Terence O'Hare, the new president of the Las Vegas Alfa Romeo Owners Club chapter, shared his multicultural background and entrepreneurial journey, including his business involving Alfas and his experiences living in various countries. The conversation explored Terence's passion for cars and his transition to becoming an Alfa Romeo enthusiast, leading to his current focus on cataloging parts and organizing club events in Las Vegas. Terence discussed plans for future events and conventions, while also highlighting the growing Alfa Romeo community in Las Vegas and his vision for bridging the gap between older and newer model enthusiasts.

Terence’s website and eBay store is found at http://pezzogrosso.com

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Steve and Lance reviewed their post-convention activities and experiences, including driving trips and convention attendance, while also discussing the success of recent events and the positive engagement of enthusiasts with new Alfa Romeo models. The conversation concluded with plans to increase interaction among club chapters through regional events and the importance of maintaining open communication with neighboring car clubs.

To see images of the event and the cars shown, check out the blog page — https://www.alwayslookingforanother.com/podcastimages

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This is an interview with Don Recupido, the owner of Crystal Lake Motors, who discussed his engineering background and current work restoring and building custom cars, including projects like a Porsche 906 tribute and a 1966 Alfa Romeo Duetto project and Porsche 356 restoration. They explored industry challenges such as finding skilled workers and regulatory impacts on restoration practices, while also discussing the evolving interest in cars from different decades and the growing complexity of modern vehicles. Don also discussed creating and programming robots with his children and designing a smart lawn robot. Having a passion for complex engineering Don collected original parts and assembled a Rolex Daytona which took him 7 years to complete.

Crystal Lake Motors - https://clmotorco.com/

Porsche 906 - https://clmotorco.com/builds/

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This is episode 20. I have an in-depth interview with Skip Jones, an automotive business professional with 50 years of experience in the Alfa Romeo industry, discussing his career journey and passion for the brand. Skip shared his extensive experience with Alfa Romeo cars, including personal anecdotes about his collection and restoration projects, while also providing insights into the current state and future plans of the brand within Stellantis. The conversation includes a discussion about the Alfa Romeo community, the challenges and opportunities facing the brand, and the shared passion for classic cars and the Alfa Romeo marque.

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In the news this week, Alfa Romeo sales are up in EU, down in US. The Quadrifolio is scheduled to return in EU but iffy in US.

The interview is with long time Alfa owner and automotive journalist, J. Michael Hemsley.

It took Mike four tries to get his first Alfa, a brand new ’71 Berlina, and he has owned a total of 17 Alfas. He joined AROC in 1971 and has been a member for 54 years. He began writing for Alfa Owner in 1980 with his column on miniature Alfas. That expended to covering Alfas in motorsports then to motorsports in general. Along the way, Mike became a journeyman automotive historian and has written, and is still writing articles, about rare automobiles for several magazines. Underway is an article about the Giulia Ti Super and the Matta that were shown at the 2025 convention for Sports Car Digest.

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