First trip out...

Yesterday was Jenson's first proper trip out - off to Cars@Course in Windsor.

This was a bit of a new experience for me as well as my Little Blue Fiat as I've only ever been to look at shows, never to actually show a car off. Anyway, we set off up the A4 and did a fair job of not holding the traffic up too much (apologies to anyone who was in any sort of hurry!), and got to Windsor race course at about 10:30. There was already a bit of a queue on the way in, mainly Porsches (it was a joint show - Porsches, Italian Marques, VW and Japanese performance cars). I joined the show car line (which was a new experience) in amongst a cluster of  911s and Carreras and headed in to the main area.

I was directed into the Italian area and parked up next to a row of Alfa Romeos, Ferraris, Lamborginis and Lancias. Even amongst some of the heavy hitters of the Italian marques, he still attracted quite a bit of attention - he certainly wasn't the biggest, quickest, most expensive or valuable car there, but the cute simple charm always seems to draw people in, even if it is just to look at how small he is or the fact that 500s are such basic simple little cars. 

There weren't many other 500s there (me and one other in fact!), but we still spent a large part of the morning talking to owners and previous owners of them. I'm always amazed how many people say "I had one of those a few years ago",  "We had one of those when I was a child" or "a relative had one of those back in the day". Almost all of the people I meet can recall stories of travels with their 500; everything from camping trips with parents and siblings (5 plus luggage and tent - impressive!) to travelling back through Germany during time in the army. It just goes to show what an impact that little car had when it was first introduced and opened up the world of motoring to a new generation of car owners.

With the main part of the show over, we headed home for the day - driving home in the sun, roof open, window open, gentle puttering of engine in the background. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning, and home in time to watch the F1 in Singapore. It was a good result for my little car's namesake (2nd, and not that far from 1st!) - not so good for the red cars with Fiat written on the front...but that would have been too much to ask for...