500 forum old timers

[Fiat500USA]

I joines on 4-14-12, the month before picking up my 2012 Abarth. Sold that car in 2018 and went away for a while, but I missed her too much and bought an '18 with 9,000 miles a little over a year ago, so I came back.

Glad you found another car and glad you came back to us! You're number 1580 out of 44,856!

[Fiat500USA]

User 39,589 over here. I joined in 2020 so we must have hit the 40k mark sometime between the end of 2020 and mid 2021.

Time flies Rocco! I remember when you joined. Love your enthusiasm.

[MrFiat]

Wow! Thanks. That brightened my night. You are number 881 and I think I found your first post. It's from a great thread you started.

Holy mackerel !!!! All these years later and I still remember that post. It made me rush out to the garage and try to find the one on my 2012. Never did find the darn thing and never actually needed it, thank goodness.

Thanks for re-posting that vintage piece. Brought back some mighty fine memories of those early days. And best of all it's really great to hear from some of the old guard and know they're still around.

[Fiat500USA]

Holy mackerel !!!! All these years later and I still remember that post. It made me rush out to the garage and try to find the one on my 2012. Never did find the darn thing and never actually needed it, thank goodness.

Thanks for re-posting that vintage piece. Brought back some mighty fine memories of those early days. And best of all it's really great to hear from some of the old guard and know they're still around.

Yes, lots of good posts and memories in those old threads.

You know, I can't remember if I have one of those sunroof handles. I don't think I have the hole in the sunroof. It's funny how some things seem hit or miss on the early cars back then. Almost like they were from a small boutique car company from the 50s and 60s that had variations from car to car.

One story is when the Primas and first batch of cars were hitting the dealers. The guys at Fiat USA forgot about the front license plate holders and sent the cars out without them to the states that required them. The dealers got the cars, but couldn't sell them because they didn't have the license plate holders available.

[aelfwyne]

I didn't show up until 2014 .... felt like I was one of the "very late arrivals" as things had been going on forever! That was almost 9 years ago now.

Back in 2011/2012 my spot in life was the farthest thing possible from buying a new car, so the 500 wasn't even on my radar at the time, outside of "that's cool" when they covered it on Top Gear.

[MrFiat]

Yes, lots of good posts and memories in those old threads.

You know, I can't remember if I have one of those sunroof handles. I don't think I have the hole in the sunroof. It's funny how some things seem hit or miss on the early cars back then. Almost like they were from a small boutique car company from the 50s and 60s that had variations from car to car.

One story is when the Primas and first batch of cars were hitting the dealers. The guys at Fiat USA forgot about the front license plate holders and sent the cars out without them to the states that required them. The dealers got the cars, but couldn't sell them because they didn't have the license plate holders available.

I recall it was not long after that when the first hints of the 500 Abarth were leaked. A lot of excited buzz floating around the board then. If I remember correctly, there was talk of a very limited production (or some such thing) and many of us were quite concerned if we were even going to be able to get one.

As for the front plate holder, you had to drill holes in the front bumper, so I didn't install mine until I got stopped by a local cop. Having the front plate in the car didn't fly, so reluctantly I drilled the holes and put the front plate on. It actually doesn't look so bad.

[Fiat500USA]

I recall it was not long after that when the first hints of the 500 Abarth were leaked. A lot of excited buzz floating around the board then. If I remember correctly, there was talk of a very limited production (or some such thing) and many of us were quite concerned if we were even going to be able to get one.

As for the front plate holder, you had to drill holes in the front bumper, so I didn't install mine until I got stopped by a local cop. Having the front plate in the car didn't fly, so reluctantly I drilled the holes and put the front plate on. It actually doesn't look so bad.

I got stopped by the police for not having a front plate on my Prima. They didn't give me a ticket, but warned me they didn't want to see it again without a plate. So zipped tied it on.

I've lucked out on the Abarth and haven't had to put one on yet. Ten years and counting.

Exciting times back then. I was looking through the blog and the early posts when we were just getting inklings on the car. The Abarth project manager contacted me early on and I sent him 100 plus brochure images and road tests on the classic cars as he wanted to immerse himself in the cars. These were also shared to others at Fiat USA. They were all excited about bringing this brand back to the US and were 100% committed. He told me the team wanted to make our Abarths even more hardcore than the European ones. It was a cool time with these guys and getting hints as what was to come. I would share these on the Fiat500usa.com and the forum when I could.



An early image from way back. Laura Soave told me this was her favorite image of the Abarth. It's one of mine, too. Miss her. One of the things they did from the onset was to make the dealers order something like $30K worth of spare parts for the parts department. They wanted the dealers to be committed to servicing our cars. After she left and the regime changed at Fiat USA, they allowed the dealers to return these parts.

[Fiat500USA]

I didn't show up until 2014 .... felt like I was one of the "very late arrivals" as things had been going on forever! That was almost 9 years ago now.

Back in 2011/2012 my spot in life was the farthest thing possible from buying a new car, so the 500 wasn't even on my radar at the time, outside of "that's cool" when they covered it on Top Gear.

Glad you showed up! 2014 was a busy year in the Fiat world and here.

Buying a new car was also not on my radar. Any car I would be interested in, like an M3 was beyond my reach. Even a new GTI, which I liked, was not a possibility. I was content to have my old Alfa, an X1/9 and an old MKII GTI I used as a daily. When Fiat came back, it was cool car that just happened to be affordable. Pretty rare that an inexpensive car was desirable to people in all socioeconomic levels. Luckily for me, the blog helped me purchase the Prima. I never thought a Fiat blog based in the US would be popular enough to allow me to do that. I need to thank all of you for that.