Update: it appears I fell for a story that’s a bit too good to be true. Apparently the car was moved a few times, at least until 7 or 8 years ago.
Want to see your battered 1962 vintage car get restored on the city’s dime and turned into a monument? Do what Angelo Fregolent, 94, did: He last parked his 1962 Lancia Fulvia here in front of his curbside newsstand some 47 years ago and never moved it again, having retired (he and his wife live above the newsstand).
It eventually became a tourist attraction and it went viral on social media. But it also blocked traffic and pedestrians. So the city of Coneglialo, Italy towed it away. But not to rot in an impound yard; no, to be fully restored, and then be installed outside a local school right next to Angelo and Bertilla’s house which means they will be able to admire their old car from their window while tourists pass by to snap selfies.
Maybe I should park my ’66 F100 out front and wait for the city to come haul it away and restore it.
“Maybe I should park my ’66 F100 out front and wait for the city to come haul it away and restore it.”
Don’t count on it. Their version of recycle will be different from yours.
It no more blocks traffic and pedestrians than any other car parked legally…which it appears to be.
However, in most places in the USA it would have been cited and towed if not moved, after 36 hours! Or, it may be leaking fluids after sitting since 1974, and been condemned as hazmat, and its owner fined!
Tolerating and then restoring it as a tourist attraction makes Coneglialo, Italy sound like a friendly place.
It’s a nice story but it brings some questions up in my cynical brain, like why is partially blocking traffic and pedestrians now in 2021 a “we have to do something about this” issue compared to it being in the same exact spot in 2001 or 1981? Why is the slight inconvenience of it being there now more detrimental than the 47 years of traffic and pedestrians prior that had seemingly no problem slightly navigating around it?
Besides, the car’s a tourist attraction in its current state due to the fact that it hasn’t moved from that spot in all that time, no? If the car is towed away and restored for a period of time(several months most likely) and placed elsewhere, what’s special about it anymore? Just a restored old car owned by a guy who lives near there, like any old car anywhere. The car is effectively part of the architecture as it sat, more like a weathered impromptu statue for the building than simply a car, it seems like whoever came up with this idea attached too much significance to the Lancia itself and missed the entire novelty of its placement.
There’s in interesting social security issue here. The owner has already lived as many years as he had when he retired. And of course, he didn’t work all those first 47 years….I doubt anybody would be able to retire at 47 now (and then wasn’t so easy, either). I know it’s off topic, but then again…
According to this, the story is quite different: http://platesmania.com/it/nomer17864361
And I remember seeing on the internet some photos of this car in different positions or even places circa 10/12 years ago (even if I can’t find them anymore) so for sure it has been driven until a few years ago.
Oh and the town is called Conegliano:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conegliano
Greetings from Italy 🙂
Thanks, Bugo! The story is much clearer this way!
Ciao
Thanks for that. I did have my doubts, but several international newspapers had the same basic story line. And I fell for them.
That car had to be moved a few times since 1974 as the road was probably paved 3 or 4 times, since asphalt does break down and crack over time. Also, did Angelo go outside and fill the tires with air, as they too would have rotted away in 47 years of sitting outside?
I hope someone is at least taking care of it now .
There are so many B.S. internet stories, I wonder why anyone bothers to write them as most have obvious impossible aspects .
-Nate
In the early 1980s Maryland enacted the vintage license plate law, where you could have a pair of vintage Maryland license plates in good condition [matching year] registered to the car. My girlfriend at the time had a fully restored 1953 Packard Mayfair hardtop, so she bought a pair of restored 1953 Maryland plates and had them registered to the car.
Sadly, she had one of those nosy neighbors that none of the other families liked, and this person [Think Gladys from the TV show Bewitched] was always causing problems for local residents. So when we took off in the motorhome for a week, leaving the Packard parked at the curb directly in front of my GF’s house, the nasty neighbor called the county police and reported the car as parked on the street without displaying proper license plates.
We arrived home only to find the car gone. She called the police and reported it stolen, only to discover it was actually impounded for parking the car on the street without proper license plates. She still had the paperwork from the state DMV showing the registration of the car with the 1953 plates. Problem was, the county police had not yet been informed of the new regulations, and they basically said “Tell it to the judge, it’s not being released.”
So several months later we went to court. At that time I was already considered an expert witness in transportation matters and I had been before the judge as a witness, and he recognized me. He accepted my credentials and when my GF presented the documents, the judge accepted them. The prosecutor claimed no knowledge of the new law, whereupon the judge ripped into him, explaining that even HIS own office had been presented with the new regs.
As it had been several months since the car was towed, I showed photos of it in it’s current condition, having been stored in a tree-shaded part of the yard, now covered in bird poop and pine tar.
The judge was livid at how the car was being “protected” by the police. He ordered that Montgomery County arrange for the car to be picked up [by rollback truck], taken to an automobile repair and detailing company of our choice, and the car serviced and the battery charged, then fully cleaned inside and out. It was then to be brought back to my GF’s home, again by rollback truck, and with a police escort! The entire cost of this service and towing was to be born by the county police department. I’m told the costs were in excess of $800.00
That big beautiful blue Packard hardtop looked wonderful on it’s arrival home, and my GF was presented with a letter of apology from the police chief. It seems the notice of vintage plates from the MVA, had never been opened, much less read.
Wow, that’s spectacular.
Obviously, the police chief was neither into the laws, nor the cars. ( Many, if not more than half of Michigan police departments, fire departments have vintage vehicles of their own )
In general, this county has had a poor opinion of vintage cars in general. In the 1980s they towed a vintage [1951?] Dodge sedan, a one-owner running car with legal tags, and sent it to the crusher. By the end of the legal fight, the car’s owner was awarded a lot of money.
I had a beautiful 1985 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur Centennial [#18 of 25] sitting next to my house. I wasn’t driving it, so it didn’t have current license plates. The county threatened me that if it didn’t have current plates on it, the county considered it a junked car and it could be removed without further notice. Yes, A $75,000 car towed away as junk! They backed down on the threat, as my attorneys indicated that if the car was towed for junk, after they were finished with the court case win, the county would likely be leasing the county office building from me.
If possible, there should be an organization calling out which governments are the enemy of vintage cars. Perhaps this county would be in the list along with Singapore and China!
Oh, bugger! I want that story to be true.
What a pity it’s f.. um…news that is not based upon the real.