The scene depicts the Fiat 500 and the 500 Abarth leaving the coast of Italy and arriving in downtown Chicago.  As part of the grand opening promotion for a new downtown dealership the tagline for the ad campaign is, “The next wave of Italians has come to Chicago.”

These are an interesting kind of roving billboard as the L trains hover above auto traffic and pass in front of office buildings.  Still, there is bit of irony as these cars are taking over the the outside skin of a mass transit system.  Part of the little Fiat 500′s marketing angle is that they are cheap and easy to run in the city…ya know, so you may finally be able to afford to stop riding the train.

His creations are so close to real life that when he shows at exhibitions, one of the main concerns is that no one tries to sit on/in them.  Since these works use no unseen structural reinforcement, anyone who wants to take the chopper for a ride will fall through the art like it was, well, a discarded pizza box.

Gilmour is based in Italy and grew up in the U.K.  That can help explain his eclectic range of works from a Fiat 500 to an Aston Martin DB5.  Gilmour also seems to have some affection for the U.S., too, because he’s recreated American icons such as a Ford Deuce hot rod and a few Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

We are particularly impressed with the James Bond-inspired, gadget-filled DB5.  After all, we already know there is one less of these in the world, so Gilmour’s may just be the perfect stand-in.

More cardboard bikes and motorcycles can be seen at the source: MSN UK

While south Florida can be seen as one of the country’s ultimate playgrounds for the uber-wealthy, it’s also home to many families who need a helping hand. Last Saturday’s black tie gala at the Boca Raton Resort & Club was established six years ago to address this issue. For those families that need to work long hours just to provide the basic necessities, the Boys and Girls Club of Broward County steps in to help the children. They provide everything from snacks to keep minds sharp (hunger seriously inhibits attention and learning,) to providing job skills training.   The proceeds from this auction go directly to fund these programs.

The main auction items included jewelry, trips, and even Shelby Cobra-themed artwork to go with the weekend’s theme celebrating 50 years of ‘ol Shell’s machines.  There were also 11 new and classic vehicles up for grabs at this dinnertime auction.  Not all are worth highlighting, but two make headlines for being the first sold in this country.

Fiat hopes to sell plenty hot rod Abarth versions of the little 500, but there is only one first car sold in America.  This was purchased for $30,000, which is about $8,000 or 36% over the base price of the little hot hatch.

A car that will be imported in far fewer numbers is the 2012 Audi R8 V10 GT Spyder.  There are only 333 slated for production, 50 of which will come the United States.  The first one to be sold here, and the only one in Brilliant red, was purchased for $301,000.  That’s about $87,650 or 41% over the base price of Audi’s already most expensive R8.

The bigger picture is that the premiums the “first” Fiat and Audi could have commanded didn’t go to buying an espresso machine at the local car dealership.  These in-demand cars were used to create an opportunity for kids who may get left behind otherwise.

The winning bidders did not make out too badly either.  Anyone who has enough money to bid on these items also likely has a good enough tax lawyer that will have everything above the list price written off for a charitable deduction.

Sometimes everybody wins.

The largest of Fiat’s little guy will be on European streets before the end of this year, once Fiat can get its plant Kragujevac, Serbia, to start churning them out.  If the place that sounds familiar to car guys that’s because this will be coming out of the plant that used to make the Yugo.

The 500L will be available in Europe with the 0.9-liter TwinAir and 1.4-liter gasoline engines making 84 hp and 101 hp respectively, and a 1.3-liter turbodiesel that produces 74 hp.

Fiat wants its customers to see this car and think of the 600 Multipla.  While the 500L has the same small utility vehicle characteristics as the original Multipla, that is about all they share in common (thankfully the 500L does not seat the front seat occupants so far ahead of the front wheels that they could be listed as crumple zones.)  In fact, the 600 Multipla was about two feet shorter, and its six-passenger capacity means it could carry one more person.  This may also explain why there is a rumored seven-passenger 500L being prepared for the European market.

A more realistic comparison is the 500L and the MINI Countryman.  The two cars are about the same size, and it is likely no accident that from the b-pillar backwards, this Fiat carries more than a passing resemblance to the largest MINI.

Fiat has not yet released any pics of the inside, but from what we can see through the windows is that this 500 for grown-ups will trade some its cute/stylish touches for a more conservative and functional interior.

The 500L has not yet been confirmed for the U.S.  This may be a costly car for Fiat to bring over here because it involves a lot more than just shipping a few extra doors to Fiat’s factory in Mexico.  This car is not based on the 500, but the larger Fiat Punto, which means to build it would require having plenty of new parts shipped to the factory.

On the other hand, if Fiat decides to ship the 500L directly from Europe, just think of all the “new Yugo” jokes we can start.