Fiat 500 Stories

Fiat 500, Amsterdam, September 2011

Last spring, a group of us had gathered to watch the original "The Italian Job" movie. The one with Michael Caine. The superior one.

The conversation resulted in us telling our Fiat 500 stories as it seems this ubiquitous car has many to tell. A fairly international crowd with Brits, a Scotsman, two Italians, a Lebanese and me, the American meant there were many good ones.

In her stead, I told my Mark's young Roman cousin, Giorghia's Fiat 500 story. Giorghia interned for the second summer in a row at the Vatican's museum and apparently, there is a wealthy marquessa that who is involved with the museum at some level.  She is the owner of a Fiat 500 and drove it to the museum in Vatican City almost everyday.

The marquessa had done some traveling and upon returning to Rome, asked one of the young museum workers if could drive her Fiat to her home from the museum where she had parked it before having a driver pick her up to take her to the airport.

As asked, the young man dutifully got into the Fiat to drive it to the marquessa's home. No problems except that during the drive, and in the middle of afternoon Roman rush hour traffic, the shifter snapped off, leaving him to drive the rest of the way in first gear as he could not get the shifter back in.

Three hours later and having worried the entire time that he had destroyed the marquessa's beloved Fiat 500, he finally arrived at her home. He told he what happened and prepared for the worse. The worst never came as she told him, no problem, it happened at the time. She walked out with him to show how the shifter pops back in. Nessum problema.

With all things Fiat 500, it is possible.