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History

Fiat Club America began in 1983, but 'way back in the day" we weren't called Fiat Club 
America. The full circle of the journey to the club's name begins in the 1960s with 
another group called Fiat Club of America. 

Santo Bimbo was an avid Fiat enthusiast from Somerville, MA. He started a mail in 
correspondence-only "Fiat Club of America" group newsletter in a printed publication. 
Santo would gather Fiat brand news, owner news, incoming letters, stories and, of 
course, member dues; then publish four times a year all about the Fiat world. A 
sanitation engineer by trade, Santo developed a popular following in spite of his humble 
occupation and occasional misspellings. His heart was clearly in the right place; Santo 
loved doing the newsletter and reporting on the extent of member activities. Mr. Bimbo 
was always soliciting donations to keep the operation going, often admitting it could be 
the last. But, only he actually knew the revenue, numbers, and names on the 
membership list. 

Enter Bobb Rayner, a new Fiat owner from the Scranton, PA area. Bobb discovered Fiat 
Club of America in a classified ad in the back of a car magazine.  He joined the mail in 
correspondence group. After a short time, he talked Santo into letting him contribute 
articles to the newsletter, naming his special editorial column the "Fiat Freak". Along 
with fellow PA member Dwight Varnes and a few sponsors, the content of the 
newsletter increased. 

For some members, a newsletter-only club was fine, but others wanted more.

The first gathering. 1983 Pocono International Speedway

Bobb had a grand vision for the group to be far more than just recipients of a passive 
mailed out newsletter.  He wanted to meet and interact in person with other owners 
but, Santo was happy with the status quo.  About the same time, a business owner in 
Scranton, PA was looking to commercialize a SCCA event held at Pocono International 
Raceway.  Bobb asked him if he could get a discount on tickets if he brought a group of 
car enthusiasts to the track. The answer was yes. Bobb got the mailing list of Fiat Club 
of America members from Santo, wrote out invitations, paid for stamps and envelopes, 
and sent invites to FCA members in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. 

Thus, in July 1983, a group of 17 people and 12 Fiats met at Pocono Raceway to enjoy 
the weekend of racing and each other's cars. There were no organized activities nor an 
official host hotel. Many young participants slept in tents by their vehicles. They poured 
over the Yellow Pages to find local restaurants so the group could eat together. 

When it was time to go home, an informal poll was taken: "Was this worth doing again?" 
The overwhelming response was "Yes!"

And so, it all began.

The original 17 participants.

List of registered guests at the first gathering. These are our founding members.

Ironically, just 2 months before this initial event, Fiat officially announced they were
leaving the American market. The 1981 model year Fiat vehicles were very popular,
but the US government restricted dealer sales for nearly 9 months in a row because
the cars were not meeting the new emission standards. Many dealers had no choice
but to cut their losses since they could not legally sell inventory on their lots.

In 1984, the group was more organized and growing when the Fiat enthusiasts met
again at Pocono Raceway. A hotel with group discounts was available for reservations
and their banquet room provided a location for a catered dinner. This time around,
borrowing from Bobb's byline as the "Fiat Freak", the event was called the "Fiat
Freakout". A display "car show" with sponsored trophies was introduced for the first
time. The Freakout became an annual ritual, growing in size each year while exploring
unique activity venues. Driving events, swap meets, Fiat trivia questions at the banquets,
and even gymkhana contests with members running through obstacle courses or
rolling tires on the field competing for "fastest time" bragging rights. The events were
cost effective and full of social action.

Participants soon realized they were getting very little support from Santo's Fiat Club
of America. Instead of embracing the idea of yearly meetings, Santo drew the line,
stating he would only run a correspondence club by mail. Freakout members concluded
they needed to create their own club behind the scenes.

The group chose the name, "Fiat Lancia Underground". The new name was symbolic
of their renegade status. In the early days, Scott Hill of PA became President and then
Jim Aitken of VA for several years. The annual Freakouts continued to grow in size.

The group decided to take on the nickname "FLU". FLU members worried about their
name, though. The 60s and 70s had seen several militant activist groups who used
"Underground" in their names. FLU members were concerned a group with
"Underground" in their name might be not taken seriously. It was decided by member
vote to change the fledgling organization's name to "Fiat Lancia Unlimited", a name that
stuck with the group for the next 3 decades.

The "Unlimited" was also meant to signify FLU's inclusion of all Italian based cars, to include Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, and more obscure brands like Abarth, ASA,
DeTomaso, Ghia, Iso, Iveco, Lada, Lamborghini, Moretti, Otas, OSCA, Zagato, and even the Fiat 127-based Yugo GV in the years ahead.

After several years, the Freakouts began to change locations. As FLU spread around the East Coast and mid-Atlantic regions, members of local chapters volunteered to host the
Freakout in their home cities. Fiat Freakout began to bounce around year to year, traveling to whichever group of members stepped up to run it that year. For several years, the
event was held at the same location for 2 years running in order to retain the same organizing crew from the prior year. Locations included Poughkeepsie, Grand Island, Dunkirk,
and later on Long Island, NY. The club visited the Poconos for the 25th anniversary show which held over 200 cars, a new record!

The club went south of the Mason Dixon Line to North Carolina in 1997 and 1998 for the first time to Fontana, NC. The club later went to Asheville in 2002-2003, then Osage
Beach, Missouri, Charlottesville, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Greensboro. In between Freakouts, local chapters began to host their own club events. Meet ups,
cruises, tech sessions. FLU slowly morphed into an all-year happening.

More local chapters were added. Freakouts continued to became more organized. They began to include a format of formal dinners, organized drives, and the Saturday awards
banquet. The FFO car show became bigger and better and eventually picked up the name we still use today: the Concorso D'Eleganza.

By 1993, "Fiat Lancia Unlimited" had become large enough to formally incorporate. The group registered as a nonprofit social club in Pennsylvania complete with bylaws and a
Board of Directors. The next decade saw continued growth as FLU picked up clubs and members across the eastern US, Canada, and even some members in Europe. Some
chapters also began appearing west of the Mississippi, in Texas and Arizona.

The club got a website in 1995 for the first time. The growing internet had become a communication tool members could use to stay in touch with the club.

Somewhere along the way, Santo Bimbo stopped publishing his newsletter and the original "Fiat Club of America" disappeared. Santo passed away in 2003. By this time, the
old newsletter's loss went largely unnoticed. FLU had begun publishing a formal magazine with editor Darryl Stacey called "Ricambi" (which means "spare parts" in Italian).
Initially, the black and white magazine was produced and sent sent to all members 4 times a year. Then, in a huge leap forward, the magazine went to a color production in
2001 under the new editorial leadership of Brett Melancon. Brett did a incredible job over the many years to develop the color, content, and presentation.

John Montgomery became President at the same time in 2001. His service as President continued through 2017. When John stepped down as our President, he remained on
our Board of Directors. John was the lead organizer for as many as 10 FFOs over the years.

Club overspending for several years after 2018 caused a financial strain and a pause in the magazine production in 2023.

Arman Labrada became club President in October 2023. It took the rest of 2023 and much of 2024 to right the ship financially. By very tightly controlling costs, loans were paid
off and publication of the newspaper resumed. In 2024, the magazine was renamed "FCA Magazine", a publication for Fiat Club America. The new self-label name should better
present the Fiat brand to both member and non-member readers.

While cessation of the original newsletter had gone unnoticed, when the Fiat Brand returned to the North American market after 28 years, Fiat Lancia Unlimited's efforts in
North America did not go unnoticed. Laura Soave, head of Fiat Brand in North America, revealed the new "Prima Edizione 500" via a display at the 2010 Fiat Freakout in
Asheville, NC! Not only that, she had another suprise for our members: club members were permitted to be the very first to order a car. They responded by buying 38 Prima
Edizione 500's on that Saturday night at kiosks set up during the banquet evening. All of the cars were numbered and featured manual transmissions and optional sunroofs.
The 500s were only available in the colors of rosso red, bianco white, and grigio gray. For a $500 deposit, FLU members could, and did, order their very own new Italian car.

Fiat knew they would not be bringing Lancia back to the states. They asked FLU to drop "Lancia" from its name. As Fiat held trademarks on both "Fiat" and "Lancia",
an agreement was made. Fiat Lancia Unlimited would become "Fiat Club America", completing a full circle the original founders of FLU could have never predicted back in the
1980s. In return, Fiat Sp.A,. in an official letter, gave Fiat Club America formal permission to use the word "Fiat" in our organization's name. For the first time, in 2013, the
"Fiat Freakout" was presented under our club's new name: "Fiat Club America".

To this day, FCA remains the only social club in the US with permission from Fiat to use their name. While we are not an official part of what eventually became Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles and, in 2021, Stellantis, Fiat has maintained a relationship with our club and recognizes our contributions to the Fiat community. In 2024, they were our biggest
partner for the Freakout in Greenville, SC and had several versions of the new 500e EV on display throughout the week.

Now, 42+ years after the club held that first informal gathering at Pocono International Raceway, Fiat Club America is still going strong. From it's origins as a small, regional
event in Pennsylvania, FCA has grown organically into a wide ranging, international club. Open to all brands in the Fiat family, and all Italian vehicles, in general, Fiat Club
America looks ahead to the next 40 years of providing its members food, fun, family, friends, and Fiats.

The Fiat Freakout remains our signature event, but Fiat Club America is now also full of events held by our local chapters. While our focus is on our cars, our members are our
strength. We are truly a club by our members, for our members. On any given day, you can find Fiat Club America members somewhere around North America going on a cruise,
meeting for lunch or dinner, watching a drive-in movie top down, holding a tech session on their cars, visiting a museum or winery, taking a spin on a local racetrack, going to
regional and local car shows, holding a low car limbo, and/or anything else our local chapters dream up.

We hope you will join us and help celebrate our passion for Italian motoring.

(FCA history compiled by Tazilon Brenner and John Montgomery, with input from Bobb Raynor)

PS: 2025's Fiat Freakout will be held in the Wisconsin Dells. For more information, click: FIAT FREAKOUT 2025