The Formation of the IAMC

Here you can visit pages relating to the events which led to the formation of the IAMC

Links can be found at the bottom of the page.

Update

This section has been here since shortly after the IAMC was founded in 2008 but in January 2014 it became the subject of threads on the Alfa Owner and Alfa Romeo Owners Club forums. In view of what has been written in those threads it is important to emphasise that this section has been here for over 5 years and that it was written immediately after the events it describes, so that what happened to two AROC Directors and several other longstanding AROC members was recorded as fully as possible. Aside from the fact that we felt that these events should not be allowed to be swept under the carpet, we also felt that some spin would inevitably be put on them by those responsible and their supporters.

One of the instigators of this situation has recently broken cover to write of this section, "This is sour grapes and very old news from an ex-member who was thwarted in his aims. It cost some money at the time but if the AROC objective had not been achieved he would probably have been the current AROC chairman." Apart from this being utter nonsense -and however could losing an expensive court case be an AROC objective?- it is also a very poor attempt to rewrite history, although as he refers to the large costs incurred by the AROC perhaps he might like to publish this long-withheld figure? Others who were members at the time are still in self-denial that anything wrong took place or simply say that the matter is 'water under the bridge', while some of those that were not there refuse to believe that such things actually happened. Just a few people have grasped the simple point that the AROC Management Team acted totally incorrectly and in doing so contravened their own and other rules which exist to prevent such malpractice.

As to calls for 'a bit of balance' and 'the other side of the story', did the deafening silence from those involved (at the time and subsequently) not actually present this? The then-Chairman and then-MT chose not to face us in the High Court and even after being found to be in the wrong were unable to admit to us or their membership that they had acted incorrectly. In fact, their response to us -although it was hardly necessary in our case- and to the other AROC members who had voiced concerns over the matter was to prevent the renewal of Club memberships, presumably to stop any more awkward questions which might alert other members as to what had taken place.

When we look back at these events we can see why some might be sceptical that they ever happened, but as we chose to defend ourselves from the AROC clique rather than just walk away from their unsubstantiated accusations and disgraceful actions we are all too aware that they did. The reason for it all has always puzzled us -perhaps they feared that we were about to uncover some dark secret?- but at least we resolved the matter using our own money and not the membership fees as they did! Having lost their case, did they pay it all back to the Club? You will just have to guess the answer to that one.

• A copy of the High Court judgement, with notes.

• A response to the Chairman's Report which appeared in Alfa Romeo Driver, February 2009.

• Some more detailed information.