Bevenuti amici!
First, I need to apologize for the lack of a September entry. From time-to-time, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to share FIAT life experience stories written by other FIATisti-ABARTHisti. These are some of my favorite blog entries. Usually, coming from life enthusiasts without a lot of writing experience, it takes a little longer for that inspiration bug to bite. But the wait is finally over!
Today, I have the esteemed honor to publish an anecdote from a fan who has become more than a friend… he's a brother-in-FIAT.
I first encountered Colin Brown on a fan site I once frequented. Although his curious user handle earned my immediate attention, it was his posts that held it. When I designed the CC5C logo he was one of the very first to request one. He has since supported virtually every club effort. So, without further ado, we bring you a tasty slice of his FIAT journey.
Where this began…
How did I, an aging... now retired... guy of Norwegian and Scottish descent, become the passionate head of a two Fiat and one Ducati household? The answer may have a circuitous beginning, but the ultimate answer ends up being pretty simple. Still, I advise you buckle up and settle in.
I’ve always considered it fortunate that my father was mechanically inclined, my mother was artistically inclined and that my only sibling.. my older brother... was the primary beneficiary of their combination. My brother’s natural talent and passion for automobiles culminated in his career as a designer with General Motors during the '60s, '70s and '80s. As such, I was exposed to, if not surrounded by, all the mechanical things boys gravitate toward; cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, boats and actually, more cars than you can reasonably imagine.
'wishes he had this toy track during his childhood
In the '50s my collection of Dinky Toys, Corgi Toys and Matchbox vehicles was boast-worthy, to say nothing of the Tonka Toys in our garage. Following in both my father’s and brother’s footsteps, I indulged in extensive model-building as well. I passed the requirements for the Boy Scouts Automobile Merit Badge while I was still a Cub Scout.
My initial exposure to actual European vehicles came in a tidal wave of imports becoming popular during the boom years of the '50s. One neighbor got a Renault Dauphine and a 4CV. My mother acquired an early VW Beetle. My dad helped a summer engineering intern rebuild his disintegrating MG TC. Fiat didn’t register on my radar until my brother was assigned a position with GM’s Opel in Germany in the mid-60s.
My continuing good fortune included a trip to Europe with my father during the summer of 1966 and having my brother drive us on a personally guided tour of the heart of central Europe. Staying in modestly priced pensions allowed us to gain more exposure to local residents and cultural norms. In Rome, for instance, the son of our hotel owner was an avid Ferrari fan. The evening meal at the table with our two families lead to some hearty discussions of Ferrari vs. Chaparral in the World Constructors Championship! My brother was a minor participant in GM’s highly… though poorly kept... secret assistance in the design and production of the Chevy-powered Chaparral. Having celebrated the Chaparral’s first European victory the weekend before insured raucous, friendly and passionate conversations in that Italian hotel!
Beyond that in-the-flesh introduction to the passion Italians feel toward their national automobile brands, both my father and I had begun falling in love with the adorably tiny Fiat 500s and 600s we’d encounter on mountain passes, struggling under the load of an entire family, often with their suitcases strapped to the roof, intent on getting the most they could from their own modest summer vacations. Considering the size of American cars from the mid-60s, it was as if we were viewing those cars the way an adult sees a batch of kittens or puppies, or today’s popular Minion movie characters.
[Fast-forward a a couple of years] My father began dating a woman whose only fault I could determine was her ownership of an even older, more pathetic Chevelle than we owned. [I'll spare you the details.] Perhaps in a rare fit of passion, associated with swooning for his new found female companion, the shock of my teenaged years was his showing up in the driveway one night in a Ferrari red Fiat 850 Sport Coupe! All the passion recalled from that evening meal, in the pension in Rome two summers before, came rushing back like a flash flood. My father soon thereafter married the wonderful woman whose Chevelle I’d previously loathed, but which had become the inadvertent reason my dad could have his mini-Ferrari moment. A single Chevelle in a two-car family apparently satisfied the [thrifty than thou] Scrooge in him.
The first modification to the Fiat was an Abarth logo wood shift knob... to match the stock wood steering wheel, and which entitled me to wearing Abarth jacket patches and applying Abarth stickers to many things hither and yon. While most of my male classmates that senior year in high school either had... or lusted for... Camaros, Mustangs, Firebirds, Barracudas, Pontiac GTOs, Hemi powered Chrysler stock/drag cars, I was the lone Fiat enthusiast I can recall. But believe me, slaying 6 cylinder pony cars and VWs was my Walter Mitty dream come true! [Add to that] I’m proud to recall I got a speeding ticket for doing 85 in a 65 mph zone. Had I been caught a few miles earlier, I was going 99 mph on a steep downhill with a tailwind on oversized snow tires!
Returning to cold, hard, factual reality, it can be said that my father probably also bought the Fiat for its incredible fuel economy. Sadly, Fiat was not doing itself any favors in the American market during those years, and our little baby succumbed to a few of Fiat’s faults. Rust appeared in less than a year. [To add insult to injury] A gas station attendant’s… remember them?... error resulted in a warped head. The Fiat had been our inspired ride to the races at Road America in Elkhart Lake to cheer on the tiny Abarths in their battles against much larger and more powerful cars in their classes. It wasn’t long before many other foreign brands began leaving the American market, and eventually, our 850 Sport Coupe was reduced to a fond, but very distant [impractical] memory.
For a number of years, my preference for European design and especially handling and performance resulted in my purchase of several VWs and Audis. I [later] considered myself fairly well off with my reliable, versatile, reasonably economical, admittedly offbeat Honda Element. I was pretty certain it was the last car I’d ever need. It towed my boats, it moved me and several friends and relatives quite a few times. It was great to drive in horrible [Minnesotan] winter conditions. I can now admit, though, that despite of meeting a huge number of fellow owners, who are mainly as abnormal as I am, it turns out it was never anything but a great platonic relationship.
Imagine how disappointing it was to see the Fiat 500 reborn in the European market in such a spectacularly reimagined form, and believing that cutie would never reach these shores. And then an Abarth version appeared! Even more sadness! But wait…
Due to an unlikely… although somewhat engineered behind the scene... meeting of the most wonderful woman I’ve met in my life. Beyond a sane man’s wildest dreams [she] ended up marrying me, and the winds of my personal fortune dramatically shifted once more. Fiat hooked up with Chrysler, and the new 500 was headed to the USA! I could barely believe it. I had to test drive one as soon as it was possible... and came away grinning like a little kid. Although the entire layout of the engine/drive train and amenities was almost the polar opposite of the original 500, the joy was not merely still there; it was overflowing. But I wasn’t, yet, ready to part ways with the versatility of my Element. And both our cars were paid for!
Things finally boiled over when Fiat actually began offering the 500 Abarth for sale in the U.S. The chillier blood of my northern European ancestors probably determined that I needed to wait for an actual test drive before committing to the little pocket rocket, but commit I did! The Scotsman in me can get 35+ mpg in daily driving, or I can drive it like I stole it, and get as low as 28 mpg. But the smile… it lights up my face every single time I turn the key and hear that [exhaust] growl! And it’s not just that. This is definitely not my old man’s Fiat! It’s solid, reliable, durable, comfortable, charming, thrilling, and backed up by the entire staff of our local Fiat Studio with devotion to customer satisfaction like I’ve never experienced before with a product or service of any kind!
During the three years and 29,000 ecstatic miles that have passed with my Abarth, the Element has been shuffled around various parking spots in the driveway or on the street, rarely used, and actually becoming more of a nuisance to keep for the few times we “need” it. I can barely await the arrival of the new Fiat 500X. I tell myself that it has many of the things my Element and her Accord provide us... wrapped up in Fiat style and passion. But I come back to my senses and remember that any man-centric advice to the wife is like a land mine waiting to be stepped on! Still, my wife happily accompanies me to the annual spring auto show and we were both impressed with the 500X.
My wife really liked her Accord... and was particularly happy that it was the first car she’d actually chosen to buy without anyone’s influence but her own. So, I I was astonished to get a phone call from her, while I was out of town attending a multi-day conference, [informing] me she was at that very moment in our local Fiat Studio buying a new Fiat 500X! My wife’s thought processes are incredibly complex and thorough. What I didn’t know was that she had been processing all she knew about the current crop of cars out there together with our situation for months! She assures me “it’s not your fault” she chose the Fiat, but I’m still ever so slightly anxious about that 'fact'.
[Back to the start] How did I, an aging... now retired... guy of Norwegian and Scottish descent, become the passionate head of a two Fiat and one Ducati household?
[Back to the start] How did I, an aging... now retired... guy of Norwegian and Scottish descent, become the passionate head of a two Fiat and one Ducati household?
The only conclusion I can come to is this: both my wife and I have endured major back surgeries in our lives, requiring blood transfusions. I’d bet more than a dollar, that we both must have received a rather large dose Italian blood in the process! But what’s undeniable is that we’re both thrilled and proud to be Fiat owners. And isn’t that really what this whole “Fiat passion” business is all about?! - CB, Esquire
Vivere.Amare.Guidare.
Ciao!
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