“It would be a drab world without meaningless social aggregations. There would be a lot fewer smiles.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Art copyright 2009 Anna-Louise Felstead. Used with permission. You can see more of her wonderful work by clicking here.
http://www.alfelstead.com
SNO News Is Good News!
Scuderia Non Originale Headquarters, Washougal, Washington, March 1, 2021: Scuderia Non Originale™ (SNO), still the world’s fastest growing club for Italian motoring enthusiasts, announces an upcoming expansion and a change in leadership. Ignoring charges of nepotism and ballot fraud, Founding Director of Directors Gary Williams will be handing the keys to the SNO kingdom to his son Ted this year. Ted, as you may already know, is a founding member of SNO and has owned several Alfas.
With the change in leadership we expect new innovations .. or perhaps just innovations. I’m not sure we’ve done any innovating to this point in our 17-year history, except introduce “scuderia non-originale” as a generic term to describe both modified cars and their creative, somewhat rebellious owners.
Ted, who operates a fascinating website at https://www.ingloriousamateurs.com/, will be developing new items for SNO members and friends, as well as looking at how to open the group to restomoders who drive non Italian marques.
When I went rogue and bought a Porsche Cayman, he gifted me with this lovely badge to stick on it. The car now proudly wears a pair of them, one on each side window. The stickers thoroughly confuse Porsche owners who can’t figure out what they mean or how they relate to the Alfa Romeo Association of Northern California sticker on the Cayman’s back window.
We’ll be sharing more about this sticker and others with a similar non-Alfa theme in coming weeks/months. Speaking of “coming months,” SNO’s 2021 calendar of events will be the same as that of every other year … completely blank! We promise to maintain our original commitment to hold no meetings, publish no newsletters, and collect no dues or fees of any type. Thus, the calendar is completely free so you can enjoy your car(s) for yet another year in absolute peace.
Despite the lack of club activities – or perhaps because of that — SNO expects to continue adding members from around the world. SNO offers what other groups do not, a friendly acceptance of all Italian car and motorcycle enthusiasts, especially those who modify their vehicles. And, did we mention, no dues?
If you’ve been hassled by the Non Originale Police because your car or motorcycle isn’t exactly as it left the factory, we’re the group for you. And just to prove our classic car hearts are in the right place, you’re also welcome if your vehicle is absolutely, perfectly, Q-tip clean and box stock. Heck, some of our members regularly win awards at concours de elegance competitions … and we still like them!
Below: First German cars to wear the new logo mentioned above. 
“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 former Yahoo web wizard who now works for the government (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 look under the “Category” heading in the left menu. You’ll find several pages filled with pictures and stories.
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™
