(peaceful piano music)
- (Cory) Walking out to the car,
it's always kind of fun because you know
it's gonna be loud and just a good time overall.
- (Jeff) I get into the car
and I immediately feel like I'm in my happy place.
I love the smell of the carburetors.
It's one I associate with being a child,
and I usually stop and appreciate that for a second.
- (Cory) And then that little four cylinder just roars to life.
(engine revving)
(engine revving loudly)
- (Jeff) The powerband really has nothing going on
before like three thousand RPMs.
The cool thing about that though to me
is that it always sounds like you're driving aggressively.
(engine revving)
It's this tiny little 1600 CC engine,
but that sound certainly gives it
an enormous amount of character.
It's always feeling like
you're doing so much more than you actually are.
Maybe the speedometer doesn't
say it's much of a rush,
but the actual car feels like
it wants you to keep pushing it.
I bought this car to drive it and I do not baby it.
I just as often pull out of my driveway
having absolutely zero idea where I'm gonna go,
and I'll ask my sons if either one of them
wants to go for a ride with me.
I remember doing it when I was a kid,
with my father and my grandfather.
We didn't know where we were going,
and I think people have lost an appreciation
for the pleasure of driving.
I don't know a single person who drives a classic,
let alone an Alfa Romeo because they're looking for it
to get them from point A to point B.
I love the feeling of having to constantly
upshift and downshift just to keep it in that powerband,
and the reward is the drive.
(engine revving)
- (Cory) In Albuquerque, we have some fairly epic driving roads,
the Crest Road being one of them.
Lots of turns that go up
to almost 11 thousand feet.
Following Jeff in his Alfa,
it becomes this kind of cat and mouse
like I'm trying to chase him down
and then we'll switch,
and it is that much more rewarding
when you just get those shifts so perfect.
At least you think you do in your mind,
and you come around a bend and the powerband is there,
and you're linking the corners together.
Mentally, it puts you in another place.
(engine revving loudly)
It's less about who's the fastest,
but how much fun we're having getting to the top,
especially knowing that where this car is today
is a far cry from where it was when I bought it,
and it's there because
of the work and effort that I put into it.
My family are not car people.
My dad wasn't a car guy,
so the cars I've owned over the years
have all been a learning process.
The most rewarding part has been learning how to fix things.
I may not know how to do it when I start,
but I'll have the tools
and I'll know how to do it when I'm done.
You just have so much of the modern world on your mind.
There is a bit of escapism in it.
There's sort of this ethereal something that it has
that makes you not think about anything.
You're having fun, you're thinking about nothing else,
and you just come back cleansed in a way.
This car was made in 1978.
It sort of takes you back to that time,
especially if you're following another Alfa
that is of the period.
I like that camaraderie
of commiserating in our misery together,
while at the same time celebrating the victories
and just celebrating our cars together.
(engine revving loudly)
- (Jeff) There's never been a time
I've been driving that car where I think to myself
I need to check my phone for anything.
I have the road ahead of me.
I have three pedals, a steering wheel,
and a shifter, and that's it.
If I have a beautiful day,
a wonderful open road ahead of me,
everything else is gone and there is just you and the car.
It is a mind cleanse.
(engine revving loudly)
My name is Jeff Erway.
I'm driving a 1972 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super,
and this is why I drive.
- (Cory) My name is Cory Campbell.
This is a 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce,
and this is why I drive.
(engine revving loudly)
(peaceful piano music)