Greenwich’s Freccia Bros. VW repair shop celebrates 100 years
GREENWICH — In 1922, two Freccia brothers, Frank and Gene, and their father, Giuseppe (Joseph), constructed a garage on the then-unpaved Boston Submit Road in Greenwich.
It turned the 1st automotive enterprise along the stretch that now offers a rating of superior-stop auto sellers. They lived upstairs in rooms previously mentioned the garage.
They ended up newcomers to an vehicle enterprise that was nevertheless in its infancy, and had to paint horse-drawn carriages and construct households to make ends meet up with.
The business that was established in 1922, Freccia Brothers, is nevertheless going sturdy a century later on, specializing completely in classic Volkswagen cars.
Frank Freccia III reveals up each and every workday at the exact store in which his wonderful-excellent grandfather as soon as did business his daughter Guinevere Freccia, who handles internet marketing for the operation, is now the fifth generation of the household to do the job there.
Frank Freccia III commenced performing in the shop when he was 10 — answering the cell phone, shifting oil, cleaning up — and a fifty percent-century later on, he states he has no ideas to stop.
Frank’s late father, Skip, commenced performing with VW’s and the famed German-produced VW Beetle, also recognized as the Bug, when they turned incredibly well-known in the 1960s. They have specialized in vintage VW’s ever since.
There is certainly an odd, extremely individual connection that VW motorists have with the Beetles, Frank Freccia reported: “They become part of the relatives. And when it wants a fix, it really is like bringing your child to the doctor’s office.”
Adds his daughter, “Absolutely everyone has a story with their Beetle.”
Guinevere Freccia drives a Beetle, far too, and any time she will take it out for errands, she suggests, she has to factor in excess time to respond to queries from curious car-enthusiasts.
“Anyone enjoys a Bug,” she said.
The Beetle bus has also come to be a significant collectible among auto fanatics, and selling prices for the outdated hippie-mobiles have been sky-rocketing in modern a long time, with auction price ranges ranging from $60,000 to $100,000. The Greenwich store does maintenance operate on all the old VW’s, and is generally the garage of preference for Beetle homeowners throughout the location and the U.S.
“They are getting autos all in excess of the entire world, and this is the first place they appear to,” mentioned Frank Freccia.
The Greenwich household would make a Christmas vacation screen every yr on the Submit Road, a colourful panorama of outdated automobiles and lights that has anchored the corner of Route 1 and Prospect Road for a long time.
Frank Freccia stated he appreciates all the optimistic feed-back the company gets from the general public on the colorful screen.
“They explain to us, just about every time they go by us, they get a smile,” he reported. “I get a kick out of that. Which is a feeling.”
Guinevere Freccia stated they get calls from across the continent from effectively-wishers who enjoy the colorful screen and adhere to the garage on social media.
The clientele at the store is decidedly exclusive.
You can find a experienced magician who will get his VW bus serviced there and who drives across state executing magic exhibits each 12 months. One more Beetle driver is a 98-year-outdated female who enjoys the feel of driving the outdated Bug. Numerous companies use the old VW’s and buses for promotions and distinctive gatherings, the organization owners say.
Frank Freccia explained he assumed that the Beetle obsession would commence to die out as Infant Boomers stopped subsequent their ’60s and ’70s era nostalgic enthusiasm. But, he claimed, there’s a entire new generation of lovers of vintage VW’s suitable driving them: “The youthful kids are just as into them as anyone,” he explained.
Beside the two Freccia Brothers in Greenwich who ran the shop, one more brother, Joseph Freccia, opened an automobile store in Stamford. A sister, Emily, was the initial one particular in the household to graduate from higher education and showed her have entrepreneurial streak throughout a extensive true-estate occupation in Greenwich, the household said.
Freccia Brothers is a single of only a handful of organizations in Greenwich that have hit the 100-calendar year-mark, amongst them Interstate Lumber in Byram and Sam Bridge Nursery.
That heritage gives the family users a feeling of delight these days, they explained.
“It really is most likely the hardest career I have at any time performed,” reported Guinevere Freccia, who has labored in promoting and industrial pictures, “But it is really the most fulfilling.”
Frank famous all his loved ones customers had been hard personnel and kept heading into their 90s — and he is planning to stick to in that route.
“With out a question,” he reported, the Feccia Brothers would be proud the small business is continue to in this article.
“I just like to continue to keep active, and it truly is likely much better than ever,” he claimed.
Very first Selectman Fred Camillo came to the shop Thursday to examine a proclamation saluting the business for reaching it 100-yr anniversary. He recalled how his mom came to the store for servicing on her Karmann Ghia, a speedy VW roadster.
“It is really an unbelievable milestone,” Camillo reported. “A single hundred many years. Which is seriously anything.”
