Evolution of the Northeast Coast Chapter
1984, it’s not just a book by George Orwell. It was the last year that Fiats were exported to the United States. That was also the year that Bobb Rayner, Dwight Varnes and a rag tag group of young owners of Fiats formed our club as “Fiat Lancia Underground” and later as “Fiat Lancia Unlimited.” As the club, affectionately known as “FLU,” expanded in membership, Club Chapters began to be organized. With the reintroduction of Fiat to the United States, the club changed its name in 2013 to Fiat Club America.
Among the first chapters to form under FLU was the Tri-State Chapter which was organized in 1991 by Roger Hoffman and Mark Cantamessa. The Tri-State Chapter served Connecticut, metro New York and northern New Jersey. With the help of Joanne and Terry Ranney of Vermont, the Tri-State Chapter in 1994 began coordinating the annual Italian Car Corral at Lime Rock Race Track’s Vintage Festival which is held every Labor Day.
In 1998, the Ranney’s asked Tim Beeble to handle the coordination of the Italian Car Corral. In 2023, the Northeast Coast Chapter celebrated the 30th annual Italian Car Corral at Lime Rock. The Tri-State Chapter hosted Fiat FreakOut in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1996 & 1997. After a decade of leading the Tri-State Chapter, Roger and Mark became too busy with work and family to continue their full dedication of time to the Chapter.
In 2002 Tim Beeble and Danny O’Donnell of Connecticut and Arman Labrada of New Jersey stepped up to lead the Tri State Chapter. They decided to expand the service area of the chapter by adding
Rhode Island that was not yet part of any chapter. Massachusetts, at that time, was part of the Northeast Chapter, which also covered the large region of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Danny, Tim and Arman talked to the leaders of that chapter to come to an agreement that Massachusetts could be better served by the Tri-State Chapter due to its proximity.
However, the name “Tri-State” would no longer be descriptive of the newly expanded Chapter area. Since all of the states in the expanded Chapter are costal, the name of the chapter became “Northeast Coast.” In addition to officers, the Chapter had state coordinators in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
In 2007, Sam Germana and a group of members of the Northeast Coast Chapter decided that they would like to create a spin-off chapter of Fiat Club America to serve Long Island, which was geographically isolated, being separated from the rest of the Northeast Coast Chapter by Long Island Sound. With the support of the Northeast Coast Chapter, the Club’s Board of Directors approved the formation of the Long Island Chapter. Sam Germana initially led the Long Island Chapter. It currently is led by John Malzone, and it has 20 Club Members.
In 2017 Matt Ross and Bob Zecca proposed to spin-off a separate Chapter for the entire state of New Jersey which had 38 active members of Fiat Club America. Again, with the support of the Northeast
Coast Chapter, the Club’s Board of Directors in May approved the New Jersey Chapter. The Chapter held an election of officers and board members. Matt Ross is the Chapter President. Currently, the NJ
Chapter has 50 Club Members.
Today, the Northeast Coast Chapter is led by Tim Beeble, Danny O’Donnell and David Laborde. It now serves CT, RI, MA and the Hudson Valley of NY. The Chapter has 100 Club Members.