What a great idea. Here's my car story. I grew up in New Jersey in the
60s and 70s with little exposure to cars as anything more than
transportation. I had a couple of uncles who occassionally drove
interesting cars: a 65 vet, a Karman Ghia, and 280Z, but my dad didn't
have the mechanical ability or the money to get too involved. In high
school, I was into the pony car scene with a buddy who had all the
mechanical skills that I lacked. In 79, I bought a 76 Firebird with
the Formula 400 engine. I drove it through college in New Jersey and
law school in California. Most of my friends drove Camaros, including
my girlfriend who had a beat 69 coupe. We even had a 1966 Mustang
at one point. After graduating from law school, I took a clerkship in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, and left the Firebird with my mechnical friend for a
minor restoration. After a year in Tulsa, I moved to Washington, DC,
and brought the Firebird with me. Keeping two cars in a small apartment
with only one parking space proved to be too much trouble, so I sold the
"bird" to my uncle. A few years later, my wife-to-be and I bought a
house with a small garage, and I started looking for a convertible.
First, I looked at Alfa Spyders, but soon I moved to British cars. Test
drives of MGs, Spitfires, and Sprites, left me uninspired. On a lark, I
responded to an advertisement in a local car paper for an Alpine. All
it said was: "Summer car, needs new top" and you could bearly see the
picture. It had to be the worst ad ever, and I had never heard of an
Alpine. Amazingly, this Series V was actually much nicer than the hyped
up late 70s Spitfires I'd driven all over to see. A little rust, but
overall a very solid car. For $2500, I couldn't pass it up. The owner
kept it in his parents garage and never drove it in the rain. Of
course, he knew nothing of the history of the car. It's obviously been
restored with a different Series V engine, an early series grille, a
nice grey interior, and a maroon paint job over the original and rare
gun metal grey. No brake servo, but otherwise stock. The driver's seat
did not match the rest of the interior, but a few months after I bought
the car a box of parts appeared on the door step of a British Car shop
down the street from my house. Included therein was the grey driver's
seat. I've owned the car for about three years now and have been
improving it little by little. I installed an overdrive transmission
and other bits and pieces here and there. Someday, I'll fix the rust
and get it repainted. I'm reluctant to do it, though, because I like
the color so much. It's proven to be a very reliable car. My wife,
who is generally unsupportive of the whole car thing, actually
enjoys driving it to work. Last summer, I imported a wood chassis
Marcos GT from England, and my wife and I had our first baby. Needless
to say, I haven't done much with the cars lately, but hope to in the not
to distant future. Oh yea, I work for the U.S. Dept. of Justice in the
Antitrust Division.
Steve Semeraro
Series V Alpine
1968 Marcos GT
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