GREENWICH — In 1922, two Freccia brothers, Frank and Gene, and their father, Giuseppe (Joseph), built a garage on the then unpaved Boston Post Road in Greenwich.
It became the first car company in the stretch which now has around twenty high-end car dealerships. They lived upstairs in rooms above the garage.
They were new to a car business that was still in its infancy and had to paint horse-drawn carriages and build houses to make ends meet.
Founded in 1922, Freccia Brothers is still going strong a century later, specializing exclusively in vintage Volkswagen automobiles.
Frank Freccia III shows up every business day at the same store where his great-great-grandfather once did business; his daughter Guinevere Freccia, who takes care of the marketing of the farm, is now the fifth generation of the family to work there.
Frank Freccia III started working in the workshop at the age of 10 – answering the phone, changing the oil, cleaning – and half a century later he says he has no intention to stop.
Frank’s late father, Skip, started working with VW and the famous German-built VW Beetle, also known as the Bug, when they became hugely popular in the 1960s. They have since specialized in vintage VWs.
There’s a strange and very personal connection between VW drivers and Beetles, Frank Freccia said: “They’re part of the family. And when it needs a fix, it’s like taking your child to the doctor. .”
Adds her daughter, “Everyone has a story with their Ladybug.”
Guinevere Freccia also drives a Beetle, and every time she takes it out for errands, she says, she has to factor in the extra time to answer questions from curious car enthusiasts.
“Everybody loves a bug,” she said.
The Beetle bus has also become a major collector’s item among car enthusiasts, and prices for old hippie mobiles have skyrocketed in recent years, with auction prices ranging from $60,000 to $100,000. The Greenwich shop performs repair work on all older VWs and is often the garage of choice for local and US Beetle owners.
“They buy cars all over the world, and this is the first place they come to,” Frank Freccia said.
The Greenwich family puts on an annual Christmas holiday display on Post Road, a colorful panorama of old cars and lights that have been anchored on the corner of Route 1 and Prospect Street for decades.
Frank Freccia said he appreciates all the positive feedback the company receives from the public about the colorful display.
“They tell us that every time they pass us, they smile,” he said. “I’ve got a kick out of it. It’s a feeling.”
Guinevere Freccia said they are getting calls from across the continent from supporters who appreciate the colorful display and follow the garage on social media.
The shop’s clientele is decidedly unique.
There is a professional magician who has his VW bus serviced there and drives across the country to perform magic shows every year. Another Beetle driver is a 98-year-old woman who loves the feel of driving the old Bug. Many businesses use old VWs and buses for promotions and special events, business owners say.
Frank Freccia said he assumed the Beetle obsession would start to die down when baby boomers stop following their nostalgic passion for the 60s and 70s. But, he said, there’s a whole new generation of vintage VW enthusiasts right behind them: “The younger ones love them as much as anyone,” he said.
Besides the two Freccia brothers in Greenwich who ran the store, another brother, Joseph Freccia, opened an automobile store in Stamford. A sister, Emily, was the first in the family to graduate from college and showed her own entrepreneurial streak during a long career in real estate in Greenwich, the family said.
Freccia Brothers is one of the few companies in Greenwich to have reached the 100 year mark, including Interstate Lumber in Byram and Sam Bridge Nursery.
That legacy gives family members a sense of pride today, they said.
“It’s probably the hardest job I’ve ever done,” said Guinevere Freccia, who has worked in marketing and commercial photography, “But it’s the most rewarding.”
Frank noted that all of his family members were hard-working and continued to hit their 90s – and he plans to go that route.
“Without a doubt,” he said, the Feccia brothers would be proud that the company was still around.
“I just like to keep busy, and it’s going stronger than ever,” he said.
First coach Fred Camillo came to the store on Thursday to read a proclamation hailing the company for reaching its 100th anniversary. He recalled how his mother came to the store for maintenance on her Karmann Ghia, a fast VW roadster.
“It’s an amazing step,” Camillo said. “A hundred years. That’s really something.”