Young Son's new wheels

Young son's '05 Golf has been getting troublesome recently, having one issue after another.  A couple of weeks ago the Missus and I were out for a walk and passed by the BMW dealership where a snappy red Fiat 500 sat, looking ready for a new home.

We saw that it was a 2013 with only 33,000 miles.  The price seemed fair but it was a 5 speed manual transmission and Young Son doesn't know how to drive one so we walked on without asking about it.

We mentioned it to him and he reminded us that the 500 is in his top two most desirable cars list-at least for him.

Last weekend we saw it was still there so Young Son and I went to look at it and drive it.  Well, I drove it and he was the passenger.  

Let me say that it took me back to my first new car, a 1976 yellow Fiat 128.  It was a manual 4 speed with a 1300cc engine and about 62 horsepower.  I didn't know how to drive a manual but my father bought it for me and left me at the dealership to drive it home.  I can't believe I got there without burning out the clutch or tearing out the transmission!   I loved that little box, the Missus less so.   I taught her how to drive it and after a couple tries she had it mastered.  She never did figure out how to get it into reverse and resorted to pushing it out of parking spaces and jumping into it before it rolled away.   I took it to Germany when I joined the army and drove it a hundred miles an hour on the autobahn and still got passed by VW beetles.   We left it behind when we came back to the states.

Not mine but it looked just like this!

 Young Son and I pitched a price to the salesman who looked insulted and said no, so we left.  I knew he would call me and he did an hour later.  We went back to the dealership and an hour later I was driving the Red 500 home and Young Son was going home in his Golf.

Young Son has had one driving lesson in it so far and in a half hour managed to start and stop a couple times.  This weekend we'll do some more intensive practicing.  In the meantime I'm having a ball driving it to and from the train station each day.  It is the sport model with a turbocharged engine with twin intercoolers and stiffened suspension.  When the sport mode is selected and revs are brought up, this little car scoots!   

I'll be happy for Young Son when he masters the car and makes it all his own.  My dad liked to drive my 128 and maybe Young Son will do the same for me!