I’ll soon be moving on to other things, but before I wrap up on the whole adventure with the Cinquecento, here are some final numbers from my trip:
2,359 miles from Dana Point, CA to Knoxville, TN
37 hours of driving time
43.2mpg
65mph average speed
Some things to keep in mind - the drive eastward on Interstate 40 is mostly an uphill climb from sea-level to 7,400-foot elevation. Even with the A/C on and everything mated to a 69hp 1.2L engine, the 500 performed quite nicely and turned in superb final numbers.
Overall, this was the highlight of my summer, if not my year, and more. I grew quite attached to the car and I was really sad to see her go. Hopefully, FIAT does bring it to the U.S., but it was an honor to be part of the unofficial debut.
Re-trace portions of my journey and long streches of highway as a passenger and also fiddle with the 500’s media console here:
After a relaxing evening in the pool and sauna, I got to bed and slept until I felt like getting up. No alarm, no real timetable, it would only be about a 5 hour drive today to my final destination. Today’s drive was rainy, at times very heavy rain which slowed me down some. It [...]
Woke up this morning after another terrific night’s rest; this time in the warm surroundings of the Mandlebaum residence. Carolyn had fixed a nice breakfast of fresh fruit and homemade banana-chocolate chip bread, which I imposed my desire to take with me on the road! After breakfast, Allen and I took a short drive in [...]
After a nice comfortable rest, I awoke at 7am and hit the road at 8am. Stopped to fill-up the gas tank and get my cup of Starbucks. Arrived in Amarillo, today’s half-way mark, and found a place my McKesson collegues frequented on one of their projects - Rudy’s BBQ! I found it totally by accident, [...]
I am right on schedule.
The 500 said good bye to the California Riviera and headed east. We left home at 7am and after getting coffee, began the trek East.
Nothing much to report out of Day 1, other than stumbling upon the Chrylser “Proving Grounds” in western Arizona. There has been some talk about Chrylser being [...]
It’s been over 3 weeks since the little Cinquecento first rolled into my driveway and now her final day has come. I’ve gotten quite attached and I’m really sorry to see her go, but at the same time, it has been quite an experience to have hosted her for this short amount of time. I will simply [...]
More fun with the 500 as I had the opportunity to take it out to visit with our elder statesman, Tony Natoli and his wife Sharon who are visiting Laguna Beach this week with their friends. After a nice dinner at Olamendi’s, we took a stroll along Coast Highway then did a walkthrough of the [...]
This week I will be preparing to take the 500 on a journey eastward to Knoxville, TN via I-40. This will be one of the final stops - I will be handing the car off to fellow enthusiast Brett Melancon, who will also display it at Italain Car Day in Atlanta, GA. It will then remain [...]
I had registered the 500 into the 2008 Concorso Italiano which takes place in Monterey, however I found myself not being able to go at the last minute and enlisted Jeff Johnson to take the car up where it was an absolute smash. It was selected to drive across the podium with another white 500, [...]
Fresh off the trip from Las Vegas, the 500 headed south to San Diego where we had an invite to attend Euro Car Sunday as the center stage display car. This seemed like it would be a good event to attend, with over 1400 European cars in attendance, but unfortunately, it failed to meet my [...]