Little European cars really aren’t my thing but Peg seems to be drawn to them. So when FIAT Lancia Unlimited (FLU) decided to hold their annual FIAT FreakOut (FFO) in nearby Wintergreen, VA, she signed us up. We packed up her 2012 FIAT 500C (Luigi) and drove the 2 and 1/2 hours to Wintergreen Resort.
There was a great welcome party the first day where we mingled with the other car owners. FIAT USA brought in some great props and furniture. There was even a great little 1969 FIAT 500L parked in the middle of the festivities. It wasn’t like it was taking much room!
On Friday we headed out to International Auto Parts for weenies and BBQ. The parking lot was full. About half of it was packed with new FIATS. It must have looked like someone was opening a new FIAT dealership from the road.
Friday night included a welcome dinner. After dinner it was hanging in the parking lot and a quick trip to the car wash station that was provided.
I was up early Saturday morning for the car show. It had rained overnight so I dried of Peg’s car and headed down to the show area. Soon the cars were filling the bottom lot of the resort. It was fairly well organized. We bought a boxed lunch which wasn’t bad and just about the time I was getting bored, it was over. Perfect! And we later found Peg had taken second in her class.
I discovered Bold Rock Hard Cider at one of the FIAT USA gatherings on the patio. Since we had the rest of Saturday afternoon to kill, we headed down the mountain to their distillery. The FIAT 500C’s trunk is small but still big enough for a case of cider. The bottles fit nicely in our restored Vendo 81 Coke Machine at home!
As usual on Sunday, I was up before the dawn in order to snap a few shots of the sunrise. Wintergreen Resort is a great place to wander around with a camera early in the morning when only the critters are up.
At Sunday’s breakfast the main event was the raffle. I rather enjoyed this since they did “speed drawing” of all the tickets using child labor to actually pick the tickets. Sadly, we didn’t win anything.
FLU put on a great event! We really enjoyed ourselves and the FIAT gathering just increased Peg’s love of her car.
Want to see more photos? Head over to the FIAT FreakOut Gallery over on our photo site.