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Friday Slide Show: The Rumbalino
17 January 2025
If you were reading us in the early days of our digital photography career, you might recall a piece or two mentioning the Rumbalino and may even recall a few digicam sample shots of it. We often tested macro mode on the interior and challenged sensors to capture its red paint.
So you might be wondering whatever happened to it. If we still have it (yes). And how's it doing (better). But we've been through quite an ordeal with it, going back to 2011. Which is why we haven't mentioned it in years.
We told the story of our 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Veloce online with a small gallery showing it in its prime and as it awaited repair during the last 13 frustrating years. We won't go over the sad story again here except to say we were obliged to sue the mechanic responsible. He settled on our terms just before we went to trial.
Because, you know, he had no defense for his behavior or the damage he did to the car.
We were able to have the car towed from his shop (after his attorney advised him to stop playing games with our tow service) to Oliveria Engineering in Berkeley where the owner Glenn Oliveria has the same car. Well, not exactly the same car, as these vintage vehicles have been upgraded over the years.
Ours has almost all its original parts, including a 1600cc engine (a more robust 1700cc starter and Porsche wheels are the tweaks) but Oliveria's has a 2.0L twin spark engine (two spark plugs in each cylinder) and an electronic ignition.
Our slide show starts with an image of the car safely backed into Oliveria's shop in October, which was taken by Amir, the tow truck driver who also texted, "Beautiful car of yours." We thanked him for enduring the hassle the other mechanic made him endure, "You were a champ when I needed a contender!"
You may recall we have been unable to drive since August.
In December, a friend ferried us to Berkeley and we had a look at it for the first time in a couple of years when the lawsuit was filed.
Oliveria had already replaced the battery to show us the new license plate lights lit right up (they were one of the contentions in the lawsuit) as well as the rear lights (one of which had been replaced) and the bolt covers for the bumper. He also mounted the license plate.
The previous "mechanic" lost the license plate lights, insisting they were never on the car despite our photos to the contrary. He also lost the bolt covers of the three-piece bumper and he lost the license plate mounting hardware while he was at it.
You can barely see in the enlargement the "Veloce" script which had been bent in the other shop. "Too expensive to replace," the "mechanic" told us, incredulously. He was the guy who had damaged it. But Oliveria straightened it out.
So Oliveria put in quite a bit of work finishing the rear end. And it happened quickly. But then some people know what they're doing and others just talk as if they do.
He found the distributor water logged so he put in an electronic ignition but was still trying to get gas to the spark plugs. It has, like Oliveria's Alfa, twin Weber carburetors.
We took a photo of the speedometer because we had to report the mileage to our insurer. But we couldn't resist photographing the dash with the keys in it, too. It's dusty after 13 years but we know how to fix that.
And there was our stick shift, which we'd photographed so many times over the years.
The final shot was taken by the friend who ferried us over. We're not sure but we suspect that is Mario Andretti in the driver's seat.
