Alfa Romeo owners and enthusiasts will gather at the Modderfontein Bird & Sculpture Park on Sunday, September 20 for the annual Concorso d'Eleganza, a event that has become a fixture on the Alfa Romeo Club of South Africa calendar. The 2026 edition will bring together classic models and current range vehicles for a day centred on the marque's design and engineering heritage.
The display will cover more than a century of production, with a particular focus on 60 years of the Duetto Spider. Alongside the classics, Alfa Romeo will present newer performance models including the Junior Veloce and the Stelvio Quadrifoglio.
According to Alex Shahini, Brand Communications Manager of Alfa Romeo at Stellantis South Africa, placing older and newer cars together makes the links between them clear. "Even when a newer Alfa is placed alongside its senior, their identities and origins become ever apparent. The Concorso lets the cars tell that story, but the owners are just as important because they know where these vehicles have been, the history they have lived through and meticulously preserve them."
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That preservation depends on practical knowledge, much of which sits with club members who have worked on older cars for years. For newer owners, the club provides access to technical advice and to people willing to share what they have learned. The result is a community that keeps cars on the road rather than merely on display.
The club itself dates back to March 1973, when an advertisement placed by Star Motoring editor Harvey Thomas at the request of Dr Vito Bianco, then managing director of Alfa Romeo South Africa, invited owners to meet at the Balalaika Hotel in Johannesburg.
Sixty-three people attended, and the Alfa Romeo Club of South Africa was established. It has operated continuously since then and now has around 220 members. The club is affiliated with the Alfa Romeo Owners Association of South Africa and, through it, the South African Motor Club Association. It also appears in Alfa Romeo's official global directory of approved clubs.
Shahini says the club's role extends beyond social gatherings. "A model owners' club keeps practical knowledge moving from one person to the next. That helps older cars stay on the road and gives people who are new to Alfa Romeo somewhere to learn. At the Concorso, you see the result in one place."
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The history represented at the event reaches back to Milan, where Alfa Romeo began on 24 June 1910 as A.L.F.A. before Nicola Romeo took control and the company adopted its current name. In 1923, Ugo Sivocci drove an Alfa Romeo RL to victory in the Targa Florio, the first of 10 wins for the marque in the Sicilian road race. The badge carries Milanese references, including the red cross from the city's emblem and the Biscione inspired by the Visconti symbol on the Castello Sforzesco. At Modderfontein, those symbols will appear on cars that South African owners continue to maintain and drive.
The Concorso forms part of a year-round programme that includes monthly social gatherings, breakfasts and lunches, insurance valuations, track days, dyno days and a monthly newsletter. Members can also draw on Alfa specialists for technical advice. Paul Williams, national chairman of the Alfa Romeo Owners of South Africa, has encouraged owners and members of the public to spend the day at the Flamingo Dam.
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"Alfa Romeo's story began in Milan, but it stays alive wherever owners care for the cars, drive them and share what they have learned," Shahini says. "The Alfa Romeo Club of South Africa has been doing exactly that for more than 50 years and the Concorso brings that history together in one place and gives members the simple pleasure of seeing a field full of Alfas."
The event runs from 09:00 to 15:00 at the Modderfontein Bird & Sculpture Park on Queen Street. Entry is free for the public and for Alfa Romeo owners. Club members may enter their vehicles at no cost, while non-members pay a concourse entry fee.
Colin Windell for Colin-on-Cars in association with
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