REPORTS ON NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
EVENTS AND ITALIAN CAR CLUBSCLUB ITALIA
Stateside
Italians of 2018
A glowing review of last year’s US events
that featured Italian cars
Story & images by Bryan McCarthy
T
he days are long, but the years
are short. This poignant quote,
ironically penned by a renowned
happiness author, couldn’t ring
truer when it comes to writing
an annual automotive recap. It seems that,
in the blink of an eye, the year has packed
its bags and hit the road, taking the
weeknight cruise-ins and weekend
concours along with it. Since science has
yet to discover a way to halt the calendar’s
forward march, common practice is to
memorialize the year in one story.
For the tuned-in enthusiast, the sun
never really sets on automotive culture and
there is certainly no shortage of events to
attend throughout the year. For those in
the northeast United States, the
restrictions are only bound by Mother
Nature. And this season, rain was an
unwanted guest at many meets.
Seasonal Affective Disorder, or as it’s
known by its appropriate acronym SAD,
generally kicks in when the temperatures
start dropping and the sun spends less
time in the sky. Amplified by the absence
of the sweet sounds of Solexes, winter can
be depressing for anyone with a pulse that
beats in rhythmic harmony with the
hottest cams. Thankfully there’s a remedy
in the ‘Season Opener.’
Bergen County, New Jersey is home to
many things beyond drama-stricken
housewives and laws preventing the sale of
certain goods on Sundays. The latter,
however, is the reason that TopGear
Imports, along with Bergen County Cars &Caffe, were able to rent out the entire
parking lot of a very large shopping plaza
and fill it with nearly 7000 cars. That is
correct, nearly 7000 cars! Tony Boniello,
founder of Cars & Caffe, was able to dig
deep into his Rolodex and lock in attendees
that read right from a Top Supercars list.
The majority of the machinery on hand
was modern, including a one-of-20
Lamborghini Centenario coupe, two ‘fraternal
twins separated at birth’ in the Maserati
MC12 and Ferrari Enzo, an F40, F50 and
enough modern Lamborghinis to open a
dealership on site. Oh, and a Pagani Huayra
BC. Tony and TopGear hosted an encore
performance to close out the year as well,
packing even more cars into the sprawling
lots of the Garden State Plaza.
Caffeine & Carburetors is another limited
event attracting the best of the best from
the south-western Connecticut area.
Sanctioned by the town of New Canaan for
just four meets per year, Caffeine & Carbs
has perfected the recipe of maximum flavour
in minimum timeframe. The location
alternates between two cordoned-off
downtown streets and Waveny Park. The
juxtaposition between the bucolic landscape
and contemporary cars is striking –
reminiscent of meets in the English
countryside. In stark contrast to Cars &
Caffe, there were more classics to be
enjoyed, including a Maserati 300S, Ghibli
Spyder, late-1930s Lancia Aprilia, Fulvia Sport
Zagato, Dinos, Diablo, and cocaine-white
Countach with matching leather interior. Mix
in a healthy helping of Alfas, Ferraris, and