Luigi
Big-hearted, gregarious, and excitable, this 1959 Fiat 500 runs the local tire shop, Luigi's Casa Della Tires, which is the "Home of the Leaning Tower of Tires." Like the rest of the town’s shopkeepers, Luigi’s stock sits gathering dust on the shelves. He even keeps a stock of ancient whitewall tyres in the hopes of one day selling them.
Luigi is a Scuderia Ferrari fan, and has followed racing his entire life. His license plate reads 445-108, which is the latitude and longitude for the main Ferrari factory in Modena, Italy. Luigi keeps himself busy by following motorsport and as an Italian he is of course an avid ‘Tifosi’ or Ferrari fan.
With his forklift pal, Guido, by his side, Luigi is an avid racecar fan (with a bias towards Ferrari's) who is always eager to please. Business hasn't been good in years, so you can always count on a bargain on a new set of wheels from this merry merchant. Luigi and his forklift assistant Guido dream that one day they will get to change the tyres on an actual Ferrari.
Cars don't come smaller, cheaper -- and stranger-looking -- than the Fiat 500. First introduced in 1957 as the Nouva 500 (the "cinquecento" for "500" in Italian), the car was marketed as a cheap and practical roundabout car for Italians to deal with the congestion and tight parking spaces in many of their cities. It measured less than 10 feet in length and had the squat look of a car that had been squished between two large trucks.
Still, it was a big seller throughout post-war Europe and was patterned after the VW bug with a smallish rear engine that saved on gasoline. Luigi the Italian car runs Casa Della Tires, "home of the leaning tower of tires," and would love to outfit the hot-shot Lightning McQueen in a new set of whitewalls. Big-hearted, gregarious, and with infectious energy, Luigi makes friends with everyone who visits his shop.
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