Our 500 adventure comes to an end, hope you enjoy the read...

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thealso

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The 500 Adventure comes to an end...
It may seem strange to tell you the tale of the 500 adventure from the end rather than from the beginning but the Irish have always been a bit 'back to front' so why change now. We brought our brand new Fiat 500 over from the UK in June for the 25th anniversary of the Fiat Freakout in New York where it went down a storm with the Americans that came for the landmark event. As soon as it was over, I jumped into the new baby Fiat and headed west but that's another story!
We left the 500 in LA with Rudy Mortero a good friend of Brett Melacon, director of the US Fiat & Lancia club who assured me that we would get our bambino back in one piece and no sooner had we left the States but the 500 was at shows and getting spotted on the 'net', sometimes even being mistaken as a Fiat factory presence back in the US by such notaries as The New York Times and Hemmings thinking that FIAT are testing the publics reaction to their new range!
So the car went from show to show across the United States until it and Rudy ended up in Tennessee at Brett's house just as gas hit five bucks a gallon so Brett wheeled his beloved Mazda SpeedSix into the garage and started hitting 45mpg with the 500 on the daily commute to work as he waited on me coming back to collect the car for it's return to the UK but the best laid plans never work out as you expect and suddenly Brett gets in contact asking if I’d be interested in a buyer for the 500 meaning that the first New Cinquecento in the US would not only get to stay but also be on display for the public to see for years… Now that sounded a lot more interesting that shipping it back to the UK and putting the poor wee thing on to the commute to work this winter!
So October comes and I get a flight to Atlanta were I find some bit of Southern Hospitality as soon as I get off the airliner. At immigration the officer took one look at me with my small bag, teddy bear wearing a FIAT overall and UK number plate that I'd brought for Brett’s RHD X1/9 and he must of thought 'We have a live one here, get the men in the white coats....'!
After being grilled about my intentions in the united states with a small bear and a British number plate the officer thought that I must be mostly harmless and let me though but with the word of warning that the plate would never fit a fiat as it must be about twice the width of anything Italian that was ever exported to this continent. Leaving aside his technical advice on this matter I headed for the metro to meet up with John Montgomery, President of the US Italian Motor Club and Brett on the other side of town.
John and Brett where running a little late in Atlanta traffic leaving me all on my lonesome at the last station on the Metro. Cursing the pair of them under my breath as only a true Irishman can I set myself down to my fate of being murdered in on of Atlanta's more 'interesting' suburbs as the sun started to set on this little drama but soon, but not soon enough the familiar site of two small round lights came over the hill and behind the wheel where the grinning faces of the latest converts to Fiat’s new baby.
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No sooner had they pulled over did the apologies start about why they were late but no amount of tales about traffic and distance would shake my belief that the guys where just having too much fun on the freeways and probably forgot all about me (Well, that's what I would of done, sorry guys!)
Next morning was an early start for all but as I was still on UK time it seemed like I had a good long lie in before the day kicked off getting ready for the annual Atlanta Italian Car day. Getting behind the wheel of the 500 for the first time in nearly 3 months I realized just how much I missed the little thing. I had ordered the car in November of 2007 for delivery in March this year (yup, waiting lists were that long and even now a year after my order 12 or 14 week delivery schedules are not unheard of such is the 500's popularity) and in 6 months it had done 20,000 miles crossing the United States twice without ever having to visit a repair shop, not even for an oil change! When we first got the car the little 1.2, 68BHP engine seemed so tight but now it had really come alive and felt so much faster and even sounded better. I'd heard it so many times from Fiat owners that you really don't get all the performance from your Fiat FIRE (Fully Integrated Robotised Engine if your that way inclined to ask what such things mean) until you had a good 10K on the clock and my example was no different.
John, Brett and myself all arrived at Kurt's restaurant really early were the days show was happening for to set up and John soon had us all hard at work making coffee, hanging banners and putting out the registration desk. Denise Burchette arrived and both of us manned registration at the entrance to the park. This just totally amazed me how many of the exhibitors had heard of the 'SpiderLady' and the 'craic' was great with the owners of the cars as they came pulled thou our checkpoint. Some of them even said 'Hay, your that guy with the 500 that came from Ireland, I followed your adventures!' which to be honest I'd have to say really made my day!
Thou I wasn't the only export from Northern Ireland for the next car to pull up looking for the spectator parking was a Delorean! These have an extra special place in my heart as not only is the factory that made them only 12 miles from my house back home but my dad actually worked on the production line building them! I got talking to this particular automotive ex pat’s owner, Chris who was amazed that in an Italian car show not only was he talking to a guy from northern Ireland but the son of the builder of his car! Touchingly he removed the glove box lid off his car and asked me to sign it on behalf of my dad. I'd have to say that I've have some amazing experiences with FLU organized events but this one particular one really did bring a lump to my throat....
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The rest of the day I just kept banging away about the 500 to all that would listen to me. Five star crash ratings, the European car of the year award for 2008, the fact the factory can't build enough and that FIAT are opening two new factories to keep up with worldwide demand, the 64mpg that I got out of it from Sacramento to San Francisco, the emissions that are nearly as clean as a prius, the 12 week waiting lists in Europe... Everyone was very polite and listened intently but I'm sure by the end of the day people where avoiding me in case I started talking about the 500 to them!
The awards were given out, the raffle was done and soon the day was over and arrangements made for the following days drive into the mountains. Brett kept a sly smile on his face, telling stories of the route that we'd be taking after back to Tennessee over 'The Dragon'. These roads apparently are now folk law for the driving gods that manage to keep their cars on the blacktop for the 11 miles with over three hundred bends. I felt a certain uneasy ness in my stomach that only a dodgy Mexican meal could re create when I first heard of this idea as it was starting to sound like my trip to the Nurburgring in the panda that left me well out of pocket when I left the road to commune in a very expensive way with the roadside barriers but Brett plied me with enough alcohol for me agreed to take the 500 on the automotive equivalent of 'Bush Gardens'....
Another early start and we all meet up at Kurt's after an early breakfast of biskets (and what looked like road kill but I didn't want to be rude to my hosts as it was actually very tasty. Like we were in the south after all so 'when in Rome' and all that!) we pulled into the parking lot and were the first to get there but soon the other cars that were going on the run with us arrived and I can see that the 500 is going to be fairly outclassed by it's fellow Italian brethren. We have a 2008 Lamborghini, a Porsche 930, a Pontiac Solstice... I take a quick glace over at the 500 and I could swear that it looked a little nervous but like all the small FIATs that I've owned it seems to have a tough guts and a brave heart so we soon set off with me at the controls and Brett being co pilot.
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Soon we get into the mountains and Brett and I swap as he is more familiar with these roads than I am and we soon find that the 500 isn't as outclassed as we think. In the convoy the Lamborghini leads, then the Porsche, followed by John in his X1/9 (who knows these roads like the back of his hand) and then our little FIAT tails behind. Brett is well used to Italian engines and keeps the motor spinning near it's limiter, swapping second to third like a conductor hot on the tail of of the 3 lead cars. I look out the rear window and the Solstice is a distant memory behind as our little three door economy hatch keeps up with some very powerful sports machinery
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At the next stop the Pontiac driver comes over and says 'You guys can really hammer that little buggy, what size of engine is in it?' to which I tell him its a 1.2 with just over sixty horse power. I get the feeling that the next day he was probably back at the Pontiac dealer asking for a refund.....
Strange but not quite as strange as the family who walk across the parking lot to come look at the 500 and after a few minutes of admiring it's looks they then realize that its parked beside an ultra rare Lamborghini Gallardo spider and turn in shock as if it has just arrived even thou it's been parked 3 feet away the whole time. Its the biggest complement I think that you could ever tell the designers of the 500 that to the average person in the USA a 500 get more attention than an three hundred thousand dollar super car
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Brett and I say our goodbye's to our travelling companions and are back on the road home leaving me a little nervous as Brett has hyped the route so much that I feel that I should of prepared a will and possibly considered the last rights before leaving Atlanta... Tales from the 98 Fontana Freak out of Spiders being pulled from the foliage and X1/9 owners heading home after the first bend don't in spire confidence but Brett has been over these hills numerous times in his X1/9 without incident so I think to myself 'What is the worst that can happen?'
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The roads get tighter and tighter and soon we're at the biker stop of 'Deals Gap' where they filmed the end to the movie ‘Two lane black top’. I'm just hoping that our story will have a happier ending than the owners of the cars & bikes that filled the 'wreck art' tree did. Just a few feet from the door of the diner is a tree covered with automotive parts pulled from the 'Dragon'. I notice one fender from a 2003 Mini Cooper signed by it's owner 'Big Daddy' who came off, hit the wall and rolled a 360. He signed off with the words 'No Pain, No Foul'. Secretly I pray that the only 500 in the US doesn't leave any of its important parts on this tree by the end of the day...

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No sooner than when we weave our way thou the parked bikes that seems to surround the 500 like some sort of invading army of ants we're on the 'Dragon' and the 500 is giving it it's all like it knows the significance of being the first of it's breed to take on Route 129 knowing that it got to show 'Big Daddys' mini how to do it. The needle is bouncing off the limiter and Brett is pushing the handling like a factory test driver. 319 bends in 11 miles and the 500 is enjoying everyone of them as I film the whole roller coaster for posterity while I get flung from side to side in the front seat giggling with delight at how well the bambino copes on this amazing road. The 11-miles fly and Brett keeps hot-dogging the 500 from corner to corner where even he's impressed how well it copes. In no time at all it's near the end of the run and I can't quite believe that we made it! How Fiat can make so little do so much, all for the same price as a Chevy Aveo is beyond me. This little 500 has had to endure a lot with it huge mileage and extremes of heat and altitude on it's transcontinental trip but what it's just did on these Tennessee road takes my respect for the car to a new level. One up on the 500 and we don't repeat 'Big Daddys' mistake, the 500 lives too tell the tail of the Dragon...

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Next morning, after we’ve let our wheels and brakes cool over night, we take the 500 to Nashville for it's meeting with Jeff Lane who is our mystery buyer and intends to put the car into the Lane Motor Museum and make it the star of the 5th anniversary celebrations that they'll be having the following week. Brett and I motor along on the Interstate, skirting the legal limit when we get into our first speed trap. I look down at the speedo and see that we’re ok but I glance at Brett and ask ‘What’s the fines like round here’ and he says ‘Oh about 120 bucks…’ and on that we agree that it’s time for the first 500 in the US to get a speeding ticket as we were near 21,000 trouble free miles and it was about time that I’d some drama to report back to the FIAT fans in the UK. But try as we might the Cops just had no interest in booking the rampant Italian. I pushed all the way up to 100mph but there were no biters. Must have been the RHD and UK plates on the car that made the ‘fuzz’ think they’d be just a little too much paperwork in booking us so we just flew on into Nashville and the 500’s date with it’s new owner.

On meeting jeff I get the feeling that I've just met Willy Wonka of the automotive world (for those of you not familiar with the story, google the Roland Dal story and you'll know what I mean), as we play for an hour with all his toys, the huge amphibious lander from the Vietnam war gets a 500 parked inside it, we race go karts in the basement, sit in cars that I never thought I'd ever see let alone plonk my back side on, then Jeff brings a classic 500 out of the museum and parks it right out side the front doors and invites me to bring my car up to park beside it. Brett takes some photos of the two cars and the two of us shaking hands though the windows of the cars in front of the most unlikely meeting that the museum has ever seen.
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So the next thing Jeff has the keys to my baby and says is what do you guys want a lift home in and suggests the Mitizubishi Evo but Brett and I have a different idea as Jeff museum has one of the largest collections of Czechoslovakian Tatras in the US. Jokingly we ask if one would be available and quick as a flash Jeff turns and says 'Which one would you like?'
We’re both left with our mouths open in astonishment that Jeff would let such unusual cars become our taxi for the afternoon. Needless to say we pick the 1942 T87. It would be the one that looks like a cross of the batmobile and Flash Gordon’s spaceship!
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I just can't believe Jeff is going to let his 66 year old antique out on the freeway but we don't argue as Brett gets in the back and I get in the front of this piece of gas guzzling art deco. We're out on the freeway in no time and deafened by the noise of the rear mounted air cooled V8 but none of it matters as we fly down the freeway looking like we had just escaped from some 1930's black and white science fiction serial. Grinning ear to ear and slightly numb from the noise of the 60 year old air cooled monster buzzing behind the rear window we head back to Knoxville, taking my mind off the loss of my new Italian friend who I’ve left a long way from home….
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Taz007

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legendary - sounds like you had an amazin experience!
 
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