Tom Sahines’ historic racer and a whole lot more
Tom Sahines in his historic race car. See the pictures below for more information.
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- “My 1959 Giulietta Veloce has been a race car since the early 1960’s,” says Tom Sahines. “It was raced by many California East Bay notables, such as Griswold, Norman, Woodner, Brown, and Anderson.”
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- In 1977, John Anderson drove the Giulietta Veloce now owned by Tom to the SCCA G Production national champioinship. This is a beautiful, well prepped car, as one expects of anything in Tom’s ownership. The color difference between this photo and the others is probably due to global warming. It couldn’t be my photo editing skills.
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- We’re always honored to welcome residents of Italy to SNO. It’s the country responsible for our auto addictions. One such member is Fabio, who hails from Vicenza. This is his 2002 Sportwagen 156, with 2.5 liter V6. Fabio reports that the wagen handles great and has a lively 24-valve motor.
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- Fabio’s immaculate black 1986 Alfa 75 has a 1.8 liter turbo. It’s the first of the Turbo 75 models, without America-type bumpers. This car has a Garrett turbo, chip tuning, custom exhaust, lower and stiffer springs, sports shocks, and custom wheels.
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- I’m especially partial to Fabio’s gray GTV6. It’s a 2.5 liter 1983 car, restored in 2002. Fabio says it’s also his favorite. He uses it for track days.
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- Chuck Lipper’s 1965 GTV comes with a great story. It was originally purchased by Frank Howell, a Lockheed employee working overseas. Frank bought the car after driving from Istanbul to Frankfurt in his VW Karman Ghia. He was tired of being stuck in the slow lanes, so the need for speed led him to Alfa. In the photo are Frank Howell (right) and Chuck’s brother, on the day Chuck bought the car in Atlanta, Georgia.
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- This picture shows Frank’s wife Hazel with the Alfa on the Spanish Riviera, in November 1965. The car was about two weeks old. The couple was enroute from Frankfurt to London, via Pisa, Monaco, Barcelona and Paris. What a great way to break in a new car.
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- Chuck and Cindi Lipper celebrate the changing of the Alfa’s ownership with Frank and Hazel Howell. From left to right are Hazel, Chuck, Frank, Cindi.
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- Bob Hoye takes his modified Spider around the track. It has a Richard Jemison cylinder head and cams, close-ratio gear box, 4.11 LSD rear end, carbon-fiber-coated clutch plates, heavier sway bar, and Koni Classic Red dampers.
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- Evan Bottcher powers around an ess curve in his Alfasud Ti during a club track day at Winton, in Australia. Evan’s 1977 Alfa is a stripped out racer, with 1500cc engine (originally 1200), rollcage, race suspension, race brakes, and more.
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- Ken Lee, fron Ontario, Canada, and his GTV, a 1973 car named “Blanche.”
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- Ken’s 1974 GT named “Ruby.” Both GTs are shown taking laps at Mosport.
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- Ray Gulson, Australian auto racer, car dealer, and all-round enthusiast, bought this lovely 1964 Alfa Giulia GT race car at the end of 2009. He immediately took it to Oran Park Raceway for some fun.
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- The 1973 GTV of Eldridge Moses, Stellenbosch, South Africa, is much modified. It has a ported and gas-flowed head, 11.2mm cams, and high compression pistons. It rides on 17-inch rims with 20mm offset. The car has a dealer-fitted fabric folding roof and recent leather interior. The Weber carbs have 25mm ram tubes in K&N filters. Exhaust is through a 50mm (2 inch) free-flow exhaust system.
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- This wonderful 1968 Duetto belongs to Steve Crowley (aka: Santa). Gotta say that I’m a big fan of slightly lowered Spiders with fat tires and plex headlight covers. Oh, and did I mention it has a GTA driveline?
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- Robert Kirkpatrick’s 1968 1750 GTV. “As you can see,” writes Robert, “it is in original concours condition, and needs nothing.” Hmmm.
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- This Alfa 75 (Milano) has a 3.0 V6. and has been totally restored. It belongs to Fausto, who lives in Italy and is a friend of Fabio, also a one-named SNO member.
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- Fausto’s 3.0 V6 Spider.
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- Fausto also owns this pretty Alfa, a 156 3.2 V6 GTA Sportwagon.
To Tom Sahines,
Was nice to see the photo of my Alfa Spider Veloce .I loved that car especially when I won at Laguna Seca Divisional against a field of more that 20 Porsche Speedsters 4 Lotus 7s and lapped the field to 3rd place establishing a long standing record for EP SCCA. This was my first win in SCCA.
There were 150 protests lodged and I had to take the cylinder head off to prove the car was legal. Of course it was.
During the West Coast run offs at Vaca Valley I had a hellish battle with Lee Midgley in TR2 and Mike Eyerly in the division winning Porsche Speedster. On the last lap about to take the lead which had changed 10 times I got a stone in my glass goggles on the banked first turn and had to settle for 2nd OA which won me the Sportscar driver of the year from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Nice memories. I have some pictures when I had the car.
I can send photos but dont see how to attach them.
You can send them to sno@gwandrw.com to post here or directly to Tom.
Stephen
Thanks for the information. I would love to add any pictures or other memories you have of the car. I bought the car from John Anderson in the early 90’s and my son and I have raced the car in vintage events. Always one of the fastest Alfa in the group. You can reach me at tsahines at gmail dot com