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COLUMN CINQUECENTO
Worried
about the drought? Need a miracle? No
problem – just organise a Fiat Club event and its bound to hiss down!
Thus
it was with June’s Motori Italiani, held at the Darling Harbour Exhibition
Halls over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, 9th – 11th
June 2007.
After
a couple of days of torrential rain, I was convinced that the skies would clear
for a perfect weekend (even IF the Weather Bureau was predicting otherwise!).
But
I awoke on the Saturday morning to hear the rain still belting down. We’d had
115mm in 36 hours according to my trusty rain gauge. Ugh.
I
hadn’t bothered cleaning Buzz as I was pretty sure he’d get a good tub on the
way in!
With
gritted teeth I ventured off into the maelstrom unsure if I’d end up in the
bottom of a deep hole. I was confident the weather wouldn’t stop him as the
rear engine/rear wheel drive arrangement plus the heat from the engine would
surely keep the engine bay dry enough. Amazingly his wipers proved adequate in
moving the water from the windscreen and my trip into the city was relatively
uneventful (apart from the occasional idiot who thought that wet weather meant
“speed up”!). Newtown at that time of the morning was still sleepy and except
for the crazy mistiming of the traffic lights, I slipped through easily.
Arriving
at Darling Drive, finding the entrance to the Exhibition Halls was more by luck
than good management. Warren Smith had posted an excellent map he’d drawn on
the Club’s Egroup, so I had a rough idea, but had only committed it to memory –
a silly move in hindsight. But still, it got me close enough to eyeball the
entrance sign in letters large enough that even I could read!
After
passing through the boom gate and up the ramp, I found the outer area adjacent
to the Halls under about 6” (150mm) of water. “What-the?” I was starting to
think that a snorkel might be in order! Luckily I didn’t have to test the door
seals by stopping and drove straight in to Hall 2.
Arriving
at 8.50am, we were the first car there and received praise from one official
for being a “great little car”. He had, he went on to explain, served his
apprenticeship on such cars and held fond memories of them. Within minutes
there were 6 more Bambinos and Ian Allison’s Turbo Coupe (driven by the long
lost Angelo Giannoulis). We were all instructed to wring ourselves out and then
proceed to the display area.
Over
the next 4 hours a total of 18 rain-soaked Cinquecentos had made their
bewildered entrances into the Exhibition Halls and were draped in flags and
parked in wonderful confusion, mimicking the “imaginative” parking often seen
in photos of Italian cities.
That
unfortunately was the end of my involvement with the display as family
commitments would see me elsewhere on the Sunday and Monday. Hopefully other
reports on the display in this edition will enlighten me.
I
arrived at the Halls on the Monday evening to collect Buzz just as “last
drinks” was called over the loud speakers, so had no time for anything more
than a quick perusal of all the other delectable Italian machinery. Call me
biased, but I believe the Fiats were as good, if not better than, most of the
other displays.
Hopefully
next year we’ll be a little wiser and better prepared to contribute to an even
better event.
My
sincere congratulations must go to Giovanni Albanese from TVS Television for
his foresight in creating such a delightful event and thanks to everyone who
participated and/or manned the stand. The standard of presentation of our cars
was excellent – we certainly have some exquisite cars in our Club!
On
the way home, I was waiting to turn into King Street from Broadway, when I
sensed a car slowly pulling up beside me. As I glanced at the front wheel, my
suspicions were confirmed when I saw FIAT proudly emblazoned on the hubcap and
I looked up to see a beautiful red Punto Grande with the driver and passenger
wearing Cheshire Cat-like grins. We exchanged automotive compliments and
departed on our own ways as the lights changed. It was something I had not
experienced for many decades and I drove off feeling all warm and fuzzy. It is
that sort of experience of fellowship that helps to make owning a Fiat just
such a rewarding experience.
I
have posted some photos on my Fiat 500 website taken before the display had
been finalised. Hopefully I will soon receive more pictures taken by others
over the Sunday and Monday, to provide a better idea of how it all panned out.
Go to www.fiat500group.bravehost.com
and look under “Gallery – Motori Italiani”.
Don’t
forget to pick up the July 2007 edition of Australian Classic Car
magazine. Thanks to John DiRocco’s persistence, the feature article will be the
50th Anniversary of the Fiat 500 and should include many photos of
our members’ cars at the Motorfest, Auto Italia and Breakfast at the Forum.
The
next event on the “50th Anniversary of the Fiat 500” calendar is the
Fiat Club of NSW’s annual Concorso de Eleganza at Gough Whitlam Park,
Undercliffe (just near Tempe railway station) on July 29th 2007.
The
Bambinos will be assembling around 9.30 – 10.00am in Bayview Avenue, just
outside the grounds, where flags will be distributed before we parade in and
line up for judging around 10.15am. Entry in the judging isn’t compulsory and
you can request that your car not be inspected if you so desire. But we would
like as many 500s as possible to be there, regardless of condition, to create
the maximum impact. You might even get your car on television as TVS will no
doubt be there again to record the day.
See
you there!
Regards
Alan
bravenet.com