Omerta, the sound of silence, isn't something you normally associate with Italian classic cars and their usually voluble owners, but that's exactly what I found when I tracked down the Classic Italian Car Club in Dublin. Not a white shirt or a black suit in sight, but they kept quiet, so very quiet, even though there wasn't anything sinister about the silence, writes Hugh Oram.
Judging by the demure stand of this Italian Club at the recent Irish Jaguar and Daimler Club's annual show at Terenure College, Dublin, it seemed to be small and perfectly formed, with its very select display of old Alfas and Maseratis. But the reality turned out to be slightly different.
The club, formed 10 years ago, has about 30 enthusiasts on board, but to describe it as anything but a loose association would be quite inaccurate. True, this is a coming together of classic Italian car enthusiasts, but they meet in the main just once a year, to take a stand at the Jaguar and Daimler club show. They don't have any regular meetings or technical events and they're most certainly not into things such as merchandising or discounted insurance.
In fact, they're so low key that all the members prefer to remain anonymous. Their spokesman, who doesn't want to divulge his identity in public, says merely that "we're a bunch of enthusiasts who don't want to be named. It's just a group of us who own classic Italian cars."
There's nothing spooky, nothing Cosa Nostra, about it - they're just shy, so very shy. That's all.
It's exactly the same slow-burn story with the Italian Car Club Northern Ireland, where a more talkative Bryan Pearson was willing to go on record and admit that "there are only a few of us left in it" - just under a dozen to be precise. He explains that Italian cars didn't start to be sold in the North until the 1970s and 1980s. Before that, the cars were practically unknown. So models dating back earlier, say to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, are very rare indeed on Northern roads.
It may be difficult to get Italian car clubs off the ground or even persuade them to keep ticking over in Ireland, but it's a completely different story in Britain. There, Italian car clubs are thriving - there are about a dozen in all and interest there is huge.
Big shows of old Italian cars are staged regularly in Britain. At Brooklands in Surrey, a big summer Italian car day was staged at the weekend featuring many rare and interesting old cars and motorbikes.
These events are as much show stoppers as the frequent Concorso d'Eleganza events held in Italy, the real home of elegance and finesse in old car shows and trials.
Topolino, the Fiat 500, is the Italian equivalent of the Citroën 2CV, the VW Beetle or the Morris Minor. First made in 1936, between then and 1955, just over half a million Topolinos were sold. Today, this small, very basic car is regarded with great affection, a reminder of simpler times.
Janet Westcott, of Britain's Fiat 500 Club, says that, when the club was started in September, 1992, they thought they might get around 50 members. Today, membership is up around the 650 mark and just in the past few months, around 40 more Topolino enthusiasts joined. Over half a dozen Irish Topolino owners are members, she says.
It's the same story with the Lancia Motor Club, a venerable body dating back to 1947. Spokesperson Alan Temple says that, outside Britain, it has a worldwide membership including an active Irish section based in Dublin. Tim Farrelly, one of this group of Lancia lovers, says that about 40 to 50 people are members of the club in Ireland.
Italian cars have a great heritage in engineering and design, much of it down to Fiat. The company was founded in 1899 and its first factory went into production a year later.
Other leading marques, such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati, have all been absorbed into the Fiat empire. Alfa Romeo began in 1910 and Lancia in 1906, while Ferrari has been producing racing cars for over 50 years.
VW owns Lamborghini and has done a tremendous turnaround job in a few short years.
Over the years, Italy has had well over 50 marques, some hardly recognised here, among them Intermeccanica, the unfortunately named SCAT and Serenissima.
Italy's contribution to motoring history extends far beyond the design stage. For example, the 1913 Lancia Thema was the first production car to have an inbuilt electrical system.
Despite the sparse club scene here, really dedicated owners do exist in Ireland. Paul Kanters, of Classic Cars Ireland, Inch, Gorey, Co Wexford, which sells the exclusive models including Alfa Romeos, Ferraris and Maseratis, explains that many private collectors keep their cars - and their cards - close to their chests and are not interested in the spotlight.
But there are some truly exotic Italians here, including a Maserati Bora, a Lamborghini Miura and a 400 GT. Locations remain closely guarded secrets.
One enthusiast who doesn't mind being quoted is Jimmy Bohan, who is in the dry cleaning business in Mallow, Co Cork. He's been a great enthusiast for really old Fiats since the late 1980s. Jimmy has four of them, the oldest dating back to 1914, and he is currently restoring a Fiat 501 made around 1921. His cars are on the Fiat British register and he has taken part in a few rallies.
Dedicated racing, too, attracts some owners. Kevin MacBride, who lives in Co Kildare and works for a Dublin Fiat dealer, has owned a fine 1954 Lancia Aurelia B20 for about three or four years. The previous owner raced it at many leading European tracks, including the Nurburgring and Silverstone.
Kevin has raced the car at such venues as Mondello Park. Its next outing is in the Phoenix Park this month. The car is in perfect working order and he has its full history. "It's a fantastic machine," he declares in the tones of the true Italian enthusiast.
One of the great annual car events in Italy is the Italian Job Rally at Imola in November - the remake of the famous Michael Caine film is due for release in September. During the rally, about 100 drivers will race around Italy, recreating scenes from the movie. They'll even do a lap or two on the roof of an old Fiat factory!
But for such an intensely Italian event, all the cars have to be either Minis or Mini-based, including Mini Coopers, and at least three Irish-based Minis are expected to take part. It's the one occasion in the Italian car calendar when Italian is strictly off-limits and it's guaranteed to be an extremely talkative event!