One Fiat 500, shipped across the Atlantic by Fiat adventurer Jim Magil from Northern Ireland, has made a splash in the United States as it darted round New York and Washington before heading on a trek across the country to California.

One example of the little Fiat 500, shipped across the Atlantic by Fiat adventurer Jim Magil from Northern Ireland, made a big splash in the United States as it darted round down-town New York and Washington before heading on a trek right across the country to California.

"We arrived in New York on Thursday at lunchtime and immediately took the 500 into downtown Manhattan where it just stopped traffic," says Jim Magill. "We would stop at the cross walk and some people would shout 'Cinquecento' and wave. So much for New Yorkers being hard to impress!" It was then time to turn up at the Fiat Freak Out event.

Jim goes on to say: “We left and headed back north towards the Poconos to start of the Fiat Freak Out (FFO) activities. FFO was certainly spectacular, with over 200 cars and 500-600 folks converging from near and far for a great weekend of celebrating classic Italian cars. The big car show itself was Saturday, where I was mobbed by people wanting to see the 500 asking 'What size is the engine?' 'What's the fuel consumption?' and more importantly 'When can I buy one?'"

"That evening there was a gala dinner and we raised over US$1500 dollars for the Northern Ireland Hospice and received a special award for bringing the 500 so far to Freakout." The busy pace continued from Monday to Saturday with a route that took Jim and the Fiat 500 through Chicago, De Moines and Salt Lake City to Oregon where the car was displayed at the Mirafiori.com's annual Fiat meeting.

In keeping with this busy trip they then continued on to San Francisco, Las Vegas and finally Los Angeles, to make a total of 6000 miles travel in 2 weeks across the Continent of the United States, with detours to the historic Bonnerville salt flats in Utah and Death Valley, California. In Death Valley the 500 was tested to temperatures of 51 degrees C and altitudes of 5000 feet above to 283 feet below sea level and performed faultlessly allowing Jim and his co driver Alan to cover the distance in comfort.

Jim said "It was so comfortable in the 500 Alan and I would argue who would have to get out to take the photos in the scorching heat of the 'Valley'. We were so amazed how the 500 performed in these extreme conditions, it's testament to the build quality of the car!" Jim went on to say that they had so much confidence in the 500's ability to get them across America that they only took the standard tool kit and no spares with them on the trip and his confidence paid off with the only item the car needed bar fuel was a windscreen wiper that had a 'disagreement' with a bird in Oregon.

The pair will be returning to the UK this week but the 500 will remain in the US for a few more weeks attending mainstream shows such as the Monterey show at Pebble Beach and the Dream Cruse in Detroit.