Re: Much more than a weekend (was: Weekend in Milan) Itala and the Peking to Parris

[Bernie Bennett <bennetts77833@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John:
You wrote in part . . .

> Who has heard of Itala, for instance? Probably hardly anybody. Itala
> (like Alfa) ran into financial difficulties in the late twenties and (again
> like Alfa) was taken over by the government's I.R.I. and eventually folded
> into Fiat in 1935, so there is no PR apparatus leading us to ask "When will
> Itala return?".
When I first read the above lines, I wanted to shoot up my hand like a 
student. "Teacher, I have, I have." Then I wondered well why does it 
sound so familiar. Then I thought Genny (Genevieve) Obert! That's where. 
Genevieve spoke / narrated about the Mille Miglia to a wonderful slide 
presentation at the 2002 AROC USA National Convention' Annual Meeting 
and Banquet. In her introduction she mentioned ofhandedly she'd 
participated in this rally from Peking to Paris and had a book available 
afterwards. Unfortunately it happened so late after a long AROC meeting 
& business presentation that not many hung around and bought the book

Boy howdy, I did! it is called  _Prince Borghese's Trail: 10,000 Miles 
over Two Continents, Four Deserts and the Roof of the World in the 
Peking to Paris Motor Challenge_. And it was a great read. Diana and I 
took turns with it driving home in our Spider, on I40 / Old Route 66, 
marveling at the incredible adventure, the amazing sites, the cultural 
encounters, and the harrowing occurrences undergone by most of the 
contestants. Medication for altitude sickness, at 16,000 17,000 feet and 
trying to get the cars to run at that altitude. The sadness of fatal 
loss of some competitors and incredible attrition on the road to others. 
We could not put the book down. The best part was Genny's interweaving 
of quotations paralleling her journey with the original Peking to Paris 
from the diary of Prince Borghese who did it in 1907 in a 1907 Itala.

I recommend the book to all. And an honor to meet the author. The book 
is probably our best (certainly one of the best memories) memory of many 
great ones from the Alfiesta 2002 convention.

Best Wishes,
Bernie Bennett
Brenham, TX
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