I can has the Fiat Cinquecento?

Its very rare for me to fall in love at first sight.

One of the things that I fell crazy in love was the Vespa GT 200. I was surfing through the internet innocently some years back, stumbled upon it and at first look, there was a deep longing and I knew that it just had to be mine.

So much so that at the time when I didn’t have a riding license, I was willing to sacrifice time and money to learn to take my 2B riding license.

It was a lot of sweat and tears. I still remember having to go through the 8 ring in a certain amount of time and the emergency break round was one of the scariest one for me since the floor was wet and there was a chance to slip. But it was worth it in the end.

And the day when I finally got my baby Vespa was one of the most thrilling experience of my life. And I loved every moment. And I’ve never regretted it. Its the feeling of having your own wings and be able to fly.

Since moving to Italy, I havent rode on a scooter for a while. Firstly because I had to start all over again since Italy doesn’t accept to convert Singapore riding license since I’m living here permanently. I was accompanying Cart to the Motorizzazione Civile (driving school) to have his license replaced when his wallet was stolen last year. I was looking through the list of licences and thought to myself. Rather than just getting a patentino, which allowed you to drive a motorcycle, I might as well get the patente which lets me drive both motorcycles and cars.

But which car would I choose? I don’t know yet. Perhaps the smart car?

Its small, its cute and it looks pretty suitable for city driving since it looks easier to find parking with it in the limited amount of parking spaces here in Rome. Only thing is that its a two seater. And contrary to the namesake, Cart thinks that most smart drivers aren’t very smart.

But all that chanced when Cart and I were walking in Parco Laghetto last sunday for our exercise. There was a police fair going on and then I spotted this and I was totally mesmerized.

Isn’t it the cutest thing? Its like Mr’s Bean’s car only much much much cuter. I love the shape, I love the design. I love everything about it. Its so adorable!

Its the Fiat 500! In Italian, 500 is cinquecento, and I love the character the car oozes out. Just like my vespa. Did you know that Michael Schumacher, multiple world champion of the Formula 1, has a couple of cinquecento himself? Good taste.

Even the insides is really cute. I love the choice of cream coloured steering wheel and the bright and happy red seats. Check out the dashboard! Isn’t it totally retro? I think I’d feel happy just sitting and driving in this.

The only problem is that the car is really small. Meant to fit 4 people at the same time, it looks quite cramped. Judging from the picture of me next to it, I could probably fit in fine, but poor Cartcart would probably feel like he is in a sardine can with this. Imagine if we had to drive all the way from Rome to Milan in this.

Actually, I don’t want to imagine being in this for 10 hours. It was tiring enough being in a roadtrip from Rome to Napoli.

But in anycase, now as I am typing this, I feel like kicking myself for not opening the door, and sitting down to get a feel of it. I was just too chicken with all the police swarming all over the place (it was a police fair after all) and the last thing I wanted was to have them catch me and fold me into two or something. Cart said that there are still people driving this car and will ask around for me to have a go for it, but I don’t wanna feel like I’m a bother.

In any case, this model isn’t manufactured anymore with the last one being produced in 1975. And instead, its been replaced by the Fiat 500 nuovo. Its vastly improved with better safety system like 7 airbags all around, comforts of airconditiong, and USB drive where you could plug in to listen to music. And its slightly bigger, so it should be more comfortable for passengers.

So if I’d choose a car, I’d probably choose the Fiat 500 nuova.

The main thing to do now is to work and save up about 15k euro. But to do that, I’d have to get a job first because I’d hate to have to depend on Cart for everything. And to get a job, I should be more fluent in Italian.

Le Sigh! The things I do for love.

In the meanwhile, check out this retro video advert of the cinquecento. Very cool!

Hopefully all goes well and I’d get one. Would you hope for me too?

Sidenote : I also saw a police lamborghini at the fair.

Ok question. Why would the police need a lamborghini? Cart thinks that its for the speedy transport of important items like a human transplant or documents.

I think its just for showing off.