Trip to Poughkipsee NY to see the Collings Foundation’s B-24, B-17 and P-51 WWII Warbirds

B-17 and B-24 WWII Bombers in the distance behind my Orange 500x

I took a trip of 250 miles from my home state of New Hampshire to Poughkeepsie NY to Duchess Airport in my new Fiat 500x to see the Collings Foundation’s Wings of Freedom Tour. It’s not just because I like old airplanes, my son is currently one of the pilots of these planes.

B-24J Liberator “Witchcraft”

I have flown in the B-24 last year somewhere in Maryland, so I was looking forward into flying the B-17 this time.

People lining up to tour the B-17 airplane before the flight

After hanging around a few hours. Zane, our flight engineer gave us a briefing and we went into the airplane. I got to sit in cockpit behind the two pilots.

I got to sit right behind the pilots in the cockpit.

My son Robert at the controls during the flight

During the flight we flew over the Army’s West Point Academy

I stuck my head up into the top gunner’s bubble during the flight

It was a great flight and it was a very proud father moment to watch my son fly this great old airplane. I am so extremely proud of his accomplishments as a pilot.

Here is one of the most photographed airplanes in the world, The Collings Foundation’s “Betty Jane”

After the flights, I took him to dinner and we went back to the hotel and talked.  I took him to breakfast the next day and I dropped him back off at the airport and drove back to NH getting there by noon.
It was another great trip in Fiat 500x

Fiat Club America. New England Weekend

One weekend a year a dedicated group of Fiat owners get together for a series of drives through New England.  I participated with my 1977 Fiat a few years ago when the event was in Vermont.

Fiat Weekend Vermont

I was excited for last years trip to New Hampshire, my home state and 30 minutes after I left for the vent, my 77 Fiat developed  a awful grinding noise in the rear axel so I turned round and headed back home.

This year, I was ready to go with my Brand New Fiat 500x.
The event this year was based at the Southbridge Ma Conference Center and the drives would be through MA, CT, and RI.

Lining up in front of the hotel before one of the drives.

We met on Friday and I recognized about 90% of the people from the Vermont Trip or other Fiat events. It was nice to see old friends. We then had a long dinner and talked at the hotel..

Friday Dinner

Saturday

Orange Fiats everywhere

After Breakfast at the hotel, we lined up into two groups of 10 cars for the morning’s activities. We would drive along the backgrounds of MA, CT and RI and end up in a CT for lunch.

Driving

The road section was fantastic and we drove for around 3 hours through twisty back roads and one gas/bathrooom break when we ended up in CT’s   State Park when we lined up for photos.

One of the two 600s at the event and a X1/9

A Green and Orange 500x and a whole bunch of spiders

We had a nice catered lunch and hung out in the park. There was a tour of an old mansion that some of the people went on.

Then we were off for more driving finally ending up in Smithfield RI for Dinner.

Village Haven for Dinner

Parked for Dinner

We then drove back to the hotel for the evening.

On Sunday, we had breakfast at the hotel and then drove to Putnum CT where we spent a hour looking at antiques.

Putnum CT Time for looking at antiques

This was a Nepalese Skull Offering bowl. A bargain for $2500.

How about a 6 foot long statue of Egyptian god Anubis

I bought a old time Captain America Comic book sign for my daughter. Others bought some items and then we headed to Teddy G’s Pub in Sturbridge MA for Lunch.

Lunch

Lunch

We were done at 2pm and then we all drove our Separate ways back home.  I had a great time with my new 500x and It made me miss my 1977 spider.  So during the trip I arranged for it to be brought to a Danny ODonnells’ F.I.A.T in Vernon CT to be fixed. Issue is with rear end, probably the differential. Danny is the god of all things Fiat, and I am sure he will fix it in new time.  Next year, I hope to attend the event, which will be held in Maine, with both my Spider and my 500x.

My 1977 Fiat Spider

1977 Fiat 124 Spider with Cromodora Alloy Racing Wheels

This is my 1977 Fiat Spider. She was originally a California car and drove route 66 back to New England and Back to California several times in her life.  She has been restored twice.  Is is kinda of a FrakenFiat now. While she is a 1977, her interior and her back lights are from a 1980’s era car.

Inside

The seats have been replaced several times and I am always looking for a seat in better condition when the ones I have.  I also hate the really large steering wheel that the car comes with, so I replaced it with this smaller wooden one.  This car has won awards at the Tutto Italiano Car show at the Larz Anderson Museum of Transportation in Brookline Ma and at the Fiat Freakout National Convention in Long Island in 2013.  We also attended the Fiat Convention held in Valley Forge PA.

Grill

I hate the look of the plastic grills in the 1970s spiders so I improvised. I bought a honeycomb grill on Ebay from a 1960’s spider and installed in in mine spider. Then I acquired some badges and a Fiat Badge and installed them. The car looks much better with this grill than the standard grill.

I love this car but it is not a 4 season car. It spends at least half the year in the garage. Now with the 500x, I have a Fiat to drive during the bad weather as well.

Trip to the Hollis NH Flea Market

There is a giant flea market every Sunday in Hollis NH.  It actually used to be three big markets side by side but one market bought one of the others and now there is just two.  You can find anything from guns to collectibles to strange stuff.

This week we had a better than usual selection of strange seemly haunted stuff.

The broken eyes really help sell the creepy here

I think the kid will jump away when the scary clown jumps out of his box

Wear the bear is not creepy.

Empty Baby head in a dish. Who does not need one of these?

Here is another fun thing. Shouldn’t that read Psychic Readings not Psykotic Readings?

My own BMW had a small trunk and anytime I found anything medium size or bigger I would have to call my wife or rent a trunk to get it. It is nice now with the Fiat 500x to be able to just put down the seats and carry stuff home. Except of course, now that I have the capability, I did not find anything good this week.

On the way home stopped here.  Now I have seen that Orange color somewhere before?

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Trip to White Mountains and Maine in 500x

My brother lives and works in Maine and we handout visited him at his new house. So we combined a drive through the New Hampshire White Mountains and trip to Maine in the new 500x.

New Hampshire Route 112 is a 56mile-long  east–west state highway in northern New Hampshire. The highway winds across the state, connecting Bath to Conway via the scenic and mountainous area of the White Mountain National Forest. Part of this highway, which runs through the White Mountains, is known as the Kancamagus Highway. This highway is known for its views of autumn foliage and is a popular drive in September and October for so-called leaf peeping tourism.

The Kancamagus Highway is the eastern portion of NH 112, running 32 miles  through the White Mountains from Lincoln to Conway.26.5 miles  of the highway have been designated a National Scenic Byway by the United States Department of Transportation under the name Kancamagus Scenic Byway.

The highway stays open all winter, although it occasionally closes for short periods while crews clear heavy snows. Its only major intersection, Bear Notch Road, which connects with the town of Bartlett, is closed all winter.

This is my favorite driving road in New England. About 3/4 of the way to North Conway is Bear Notch Pass. It is a amazing down hill slope down a winding and twist road that brings you out to Barlett NH. This part of the road is closed during the winter.  The Fiat 500X performed fantastically in sport mode drive during the road down the mountain.

After making Barlett NH, we drove past Storyland up route 16 to Gorham NH where we stayed the night a little motel. The Topnotch INN. I have stayed there before. It is a no frills basic motor lodge that the rooms and motel are in great condition.

The next day we drove and met my brothers gigantic dog named jaaguar.

Outside the Club House

Inside the clubhouse

Brother Paul, Our Mother Phyllis and Me on the deck overlooking Sunday River Golf Course

Then we went to Sunday River Golf Course where he runs the restaurant bar at the clubhouse.

We ended up at the Oxford Casino where Paul won $700 in 10 minutes on a Roulette Table and then after lunch we dropped him off and headed home.

On the way back we went through the Lakes Region of Maine, where I took this picture of the 500x in front of Lake, Weather, and Mountains.

It was a nice trip. And the new 500x was fantastic to drive in many different types of roads.

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2015 Tutto Italiano at Larz Anderson Museum of Transportation

Tutto 2016

I went again to the best Italian car show in the Northeast last week at the Larz Museum of Transportation in Brookline MA.

I have always brought my 1977 Fiat Spider there before and I have won awards there. This year I brought my brand new Fiat 500x which was the hit of the Fiat side of the event.  I had 100’s of people come and look at the car. It was the only 500x at the show. It seems that everyone had seen the little blue pill Fiat commercial and showed the small 500 turning into a 500x when a man’s blue pill fell out a window and into it.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of my car there. This pic from the Larz Facebook pages shows my Orange 500x in the center if the photo in the back row. There were Fiat spiders and x/19 and an older original 500 or two plus my 500x and 10 other plain and Abarth versions.

Up the hill there were the expensive cars. My favorite a Ferrari 275 GT (Only worth about 1 million dollars > This car was also designed by Pininfarina, the same design company who designed my 1997 Fiat Spider)

1966 Ferrari 275 GT

Father up the hill more Italian motorcycle and then 200 Ferrari’s. Really. Broke their own record for number of Ferraris at the vent

Whole lot of dollars invested in these cars

I talked to many many people about the Fiat 500x. It was the first time that most of them had ever seen it in person.  I felt that I could have sold a bunch of them to very excited Italian car fans. Herb Chambers Ferrari was a sponsor of the event. Herb Chamber’s Fiat dealer missed out of a big opportunity by not having a display 500x.

It was  good time and I will go back again to Tutto Lite in October. Hopefully with both Fiats this time.

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Bad Experience in buying a car with Metro Fiat of Providence RI Fiat : Updated Again

I have been a Fiat owner for 39 years I have a 1977 Fiat Spider. I have belonged to Fiat Lancia Unlimited and attended Fiat conventions and now under it’s new name of Fiat Club America.  I love Fiat. I have been a ambassador for the brand for years.  I wanted a 500x desperately ever since they were announced and it seemed to take forever to get them in this country and to dealerships. I wanted a Trekking PLUS with ALL WHEEL DRIVE.  Sun roof. Heading seats and steering wheel. 6.5 inch media console with gps and satellite radio. 18in wheels, Lane sense. Rear view View camera and parksense and Blind spot detection and leather seats. And I did not want a car that was White, Black, Grey or Brown.

Unfortunately, those cars seemed to come mostly black and white for the first few weeks. I was in touch with Fiat dealer in every New England state looking for a car with all the features. In live in NH the only dealer in the whole state, did not have the model that I wanted. So I was taking my daughter to providence RI to a zoo and decided to stop in to the Metro Fiat dealership. Told the salesman what I wanted, and he led me to a car.  We went on test ride. During the test ride, he talked about lane sense. This car had it and how to engage the 4 wheel drive model in the car. It was a 4 wheel drive model. (what i wanted). I drove fine. I said I want to buy it.  It took a while for price/trade in negotiations to happen and I bought the car and drove home with it.  The window sticker did not come with the car. I showed up mysteriously 9 days letter in an envelope by itself. Then suddenly the car would not lock. Either with remote or inside/outside switches and buttons.  I took it to my NH Holloway Fiat dealer for service. They came back and asked if Metro Fiat had done prep work on the car before it was delivered. I told him it was late Saturday when I bought the car and probably not.  He said that the transmission/drivetrain was running incompatible software.  An update to the factory software was done on one but not the other and that Fiat recommended that you update both at the same time or it cause cause problems (Like a body computer having a fault and you can’t lock the doors anymore).

Holloway Fiat serviceman upgraded the software to right versions and asked me if it was really a Fiat Trekking Plus because it was not 4 wheel drive. Well that was news to me because I thought I had bought a 4 wheel drive model.  It also did not have lane sense. I am not really sure what happened so either of two things happened:

#1 I was lied to by the Metro Fiatdealership and sold a car that was supposedly a AWD and it is not. Also no lane sense feature in the model. ( and the whole thing about the sticker not been included with the car makes more sense now) or

#2 The car I was sold was not the car I test drove. Either way dealer misrepresented the car I bought. Ok. I live in New Hampshire. That’s why I wanted a AWD model. So the Metro Fiat dealer screwed me.

When I bought the car, the Metro Fiat General Manager, told me that I better give the dealership all 10’s in the new car buyer survey or my salesman would not get his commission. (lies by the way).  Well after I found out about the car not been prepared properly and the misrepresentation, I thought I would fill out the survey.  Well guess what. I clicked on the link in the email send to me by the Metro Fiat and found my survey had already been completed just not by me.

I sent two emails to the Metro Fiat dealer GM about the survey and they went unanswered. It is my belief that Metro Fiat is committed fraud by filling out their own customer surveys.  I sent a email to the owner of the group that owns many other dealerships besides Metro Fiat.  It went unanswered. So maybe the whole Fraud around the customer surveys is not a isolated issue, but the way they handle it at all their dealerships.

Called Fiat customer service line. They did not seem to care. Spoke to someone on Facebook at Fiat USA page. I am being referred to someone in the area. (This person never called).  The bad dealers in the 1970s and 1980s caused the bad image of Fiat in the US and forced them to exit the American Market. I really thought that Fiat would be interested in a dealer committing fraud on customer surveys. So far I am wrong. They don’t seem to care.

Update: Manchester Fiat (Hollaway Fiat) fixed the problem with the locking and got the new computer to talk to the old computer.

I I spent last Sunday at the Tutto Italiano car show at the Larz Museum in Brookline. My 1977 Fiat Spider has  won awards there before. I had 100’s of Italian car fans stop by and look at my 500x. It was the only 500x  (200 Ferraris, 50 Alfas, around 50 Fiats as well). I told everyone that I loved the 500x and they should all buy one, but not from Metro Fiat.

Going on Fiat Club of America New England weekend next week. I will be telling those people not to buy anything from Metro Fiat.  I have filed out reviews on Cars.com and Yelp. I will fill out more reviews elsewhere as well. I go to 10-15 Fiat/Italian car events a car including conventions. I will continue to evangelize on what a great car a Fiat 500x is. And what a horrible dealership Metro Fiat is !

#UPDATE 2.  Three weeks after I bought the car, the general manager of Metro Fiat sent me a email that they made a mistake on the paperwork and that I owed them $600 more because the registration cost more than they thought.

I was amazed at the brazen attempt to try and get money out of me.  She said, she could not release the car plates unless I sent her $600. This was really funny, because the plates had been on my car for a week already.  I sent her a reply that said any further attempt to contact me would be considered harassment and handled accordingly.  I can’t believe that Metro Fiat is that dishonest.

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