My Fiat needs the Communities Support! Vote now!

[pintopower]

Hello fellow Fiat lovers!

I am asking for your help to make my Fiat Strada the Grand Marshall at the 2012 Concours D'LeMons in Monterey California.

For those of you that have been to the fantastic Monterey California Concours D'Lemons, you understand that it is a car show in its own right. It is a show for people who love cars and don't give a damn what the lemmings think. It is for people like me and those that I associate with. As a regular at Concours D' LeMons, I have been selected to have my beloved 1980 Fiat Strada (Ritmo to you Europeans) as a nominee for the Grand Marshall of 2012 Tour d'LeMons!

Voting is easy! Just find the car (MY FIAT!) that you want to win (MY FIAT!), and click on it! For the love of god, don't click on another car by accident! Then go to the bottom of the page and click on "submit". Thank you for your support and I hope to see many of you at Concours D'LeMons!

In case you forgot what car is mine:



The winner becomes the Grand Marshall! Please email your friends and family! Lets get my Strada in as the Grand Marshall! Face it, the competition is good, err, bad? No good I think. Hard to say but I would love to own every one of the cars my Strada is fighting against but with Fiat coming back to the United States, I think the reason why Fiat left in the first place needs to be highlighted at this years Concours d'LeMons!

In case you have not heard about this show, the point of it is to highlight how cars that could be known as bad to some people can be so damn great. Lets face it, '70's and '80's Fiats (and Lancia's, Alfa's, Ferrari's....) were never known for their ability to survive salt and run consistently but who cares? We don't buy cars to focus on the bad, we buy them to focus on the good! With a Fiat, there are OH SO MANY goods.

Please Vote Here!
http://www.hagerty.com/sweetestlemon

Those of you wanting to attend Concours d'LeMons (yes I know you are far but one must always invite!:
http://www.concoursdlemons.com/

Here is my entry form:

Historically plagued by rust, bad welds, poor build quality, no electrical relays, bad grounds and weak body, there is nothing I don’t love about my 1980 Fiat Strada. Well, one thing; going to an Italian car show and hearing “Why are you parking that Dodge Omni (roughly a Talbot Horizon here in the states) here?”

Bought at 3 am on eBay from Ohio, this now dried out Californian dawns copper metallic paint, brown interior smelling of Ohio humidity, and a lot of rust. I prefer to think of it as a “weight savings program”. I for one am in love with the looks; the round door handles, body integrated bumpers, rear roof lip, and that trade mark offset air intake pilfered by none other than Zastava for the Yugo GV. It is a joy to drive, now that is... When I bought this car, it took me one year to get it road worthy. Screws snapped off, brakes broke, the electrical shocked me, a small engine fire cause by a dried out rat and the gear shift feels like you’re mixing concrete…but the distributor worked great, when the car was cold. There is load-bearing masking tape covering a small hole on the back door, but don’t worry, it is painted body color.

Sure the car is allergic to water, but jump on Pacific Coast Highway, slide back the steel sunroof, convince the car to change gears, lean back and enjoy the passerby’s comments….

“NO! This is not a VW Rabbit!”

Thanks guys!

Alberto M
pintopower@hotmail.com

78 124 Spider
79 131 FI 4-Door
80 Strada 4 door Carb.
84 Strada Cabrio
6 Ford Pintos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26161002@N ... 367687326/

[4uall]

I wish you all the best. I actually LOL while reading this. My family had a Dodge Omni (laughed even harder at that point). Keep us posted either way

[pintopower]

Thank you. I have always wanted to park a Golf, Strada and Omni together. Since the Golf and Strada came from the 128 and Talbot used the Golf as the basis for the Horizon (and later the US version, the Omni), they really all are brothers from another mother.

Don't forget to vote for the Strada!

[4uall]

oh shit! I actually voted for the OMNI! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[katsi]

I voted for you but I have to admit - I really think the Gremlin should win.
That's a compliment - right?
Good luck

By the way, that is a Fiat! You might want to get it away from that salt water. It could just turn to foam and disintigrate at any second.

[surfingfreeman]

nice wabbit

[aj81spider]

I voted for you too - but it took all my willpower not to vote for the Hornet with the tent!

[htchevyii]

Ok, one more.

[TX82FIAT]

OK, count another. But that AMC Matador with Donna from NC in front of it and a bull on the wall behind it was calling out to me!!

[ga.spyder]

I had a tough time not voting for the Hornet tent camper and Donna did look good in front of the Matador.But brand loyalty led me to vote for the Fiat! Good luck.

[supplyguy]

You got my vote. I refused to vote for the Gremlin....owner badmouthing my first real reliable car!

[dmwhiteoak]

Chalk up another vote. You got mine. Almost voted for Donna !

[narfire]

got mine. The discription of the gear shift and concrete sold me

[Daniel]

oh ok I'll cast a vote for Alberto as well

[markstclair]

Got my vote. Wasn't easy though. My wife and mother both owned Hornets. My mom moved to a Pinto and I had '71 Gremlin in high school. Lot of memories on that page.