{"id":6814,"date":"2019-02-27T06:15:57","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T05:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.internationalclassic.com\/?p=6814\/"},"modified":"2019-05-08T09:33:15","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T07:33:15","slug":"alfa-romeo-p3-o-8c-monza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalclassic.com\/en\/alfa-romeo-p3-o-8c-monza\/","title":{"rendered":"Alfa Romeo P3 or 8C Monza?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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To Japan for an Alfa Romeo<\/h4>\n

In the early 1980s, The Japanese were ever present at the Monterey Historics which were held annually at the Laguna Seca Circuit. At this time there was a big interest in Japan for Italian classics and many important cars were being imported. One of these was an Alfa Romeo 8C 230 n. 2211097 the last Monza built and sold new to Philippe Etancellin a very well-known French driver.<\/p>\n

It was in 1982 at the Monterey Historic races that my then wife Sandra went to introduce herself to Mr. Hayashi who had come from Japan to watch the races. Sandra told him that he should know me and then took me to meet him. This introduction opened the door to a future business relationship. Within a short time, a Maserati 4CLT\/48 arrived from Argentina for a full restoration to be shipped to Japan upon completion.<\/p>\n

The following year I received an invitation via telex that I should come to Japan as a guest to drive Mr. Hayashi\u2019s Alfa Romeo P3 at Japan\u2019s premier Historic race at Mt Fuji Raceway. I accepted without hesitation and within a few days, a ticket arrived for me to fly to Tokyo. The Japanese are very generous and well-known for their hospitality. They had booked me a lovely room at the New Otani Hotel in downtown Tokyo. I didn\u2019t know at the time but there was also a 6 Hour race and Mr. Hayashi had hired Bob Wollek and Henri Pescarolo to drive his Porsche 935.<\/p>\n

When my plane arrived in Tokyo there was a limousine waiting to pick us up to take us to our hotel. I felt like a real celebrity.
\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”WE ALL HAVE A STORY, TELL US YOURS!” style=”outline-custom” outline_custom_color=”#990000″ outline_custom_hover_background=”#fce523″ outline_custom_hover_text=”#000000″ shape=”square” size=”lg” align=”center” button_block=”true” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost:10372%2Fracconta-la-tua-storia%2F||target:%20_blank|”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Mr. Hayashi didn\u2019t speak English so he sent his PA Mr. Taki to look after us and be sure that we had everything that we desired. After dinner, Mr. Taki told me that he would send a driver to collect me the following morning to take me to see the Alfa Romeo P3 which was located in their workshop nearby. The idea was to reset the carburetors to use methanol.<\/p>\n

The workshop was immaculate and all the mechanics had pink coveralls with green script. They were very elegant.
\nMr. Hayashi\u2019s business was pr\u00eat-\u00e0-porter<\/em> fashion and he was a big player in the Japanese market. I was told that his partner had a zoo with real leopards in his Tokyo apartment. Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t get to see this.<\/p>\n

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