Send to a friendchartguy April 3rd, 2008 10:41 AM Link
I give up. What’s a 1967 Fiat BTM? All I could come up with was a Cheetah race cars kit car based on a Fiat Uno.
Seinfeld Escapes Crash in Vintage Fiat
Written By: Seyth Miersma
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld was lucky to escape injury recently, when a brake failure in his vintage Fiat caused a rollover crash.
Seinfeld was alone at the wheel of his 1967 Fiat BTM in East Hampton, New York last Saturday, when the car’s brakes suddenly failed. The comic attempted to use the emergency brake to stop, without success, and was forced to swerve to keep from driving into an intersection. The swerve caused the car to roll over and come to stop just yards from the highway. East Hampton Town Police Chief Todd Sarris said that Seinfeld’s quick thinking, “probably avoided a very serious accident.”
While Seinfeld was reportedly “a little shocked” when he returned home, his sense of humor was evidently undamaged. In a message of warning to all the “kids out there,” Seinfeld said, “I want to make sure they all know that driving without braking is not something I recommend, unless you have professional clown training or a comedy background, as I do.”
+ CNN: Crash fails to put kibosh on Seinfeld (via Jalopnik)
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9 Comments
Paul In Jersey April 3rd, 2008 10:44 AM Link
So herein lies the inherent problem with “blogging.” Lemmetellyouwhat…the newspaper folks who patrol the police blotters don’t know squat about cars. So when “FIAT BTM” shows up, who knows what that means? Then one “blog” reports it’s a FIAT BTM and so does everyone else.
What’s a “FIAT BTM?”
My point of advice to you, young blog-o-journo types, is to NOT report what you find on other people’s blogs because one day, what you find, will not be what you want. You’ll end up with a lot of egg on your face and let’s hope it’s at least 90-weight egg.
Dan April 3rd, 2008 11:01 AM Link
I can’t find a thing on Fiat BTM either. And how did this just make the news today if it happened on Saturday?
chartguy April 3rd, 2008 12:20 PM Link
Apparently, he owns a 1967 Fiat 850.
http://bringatrailer.com/2008/03/06/seinfeld-owned-time-capsule-1967-fiat-850/
Sounds likely.
hwyhobo April 3rd, 2008 1:23 PM Link
That was the car that Zastava 850 was based on. In its later incarnation it was sold in the US as Yugo.
Scratch April 3rd, 2008 3:24 PM Link
chartguy: that site claims the car was bought FROM Seinfeld. So, that can’t be it.
X3 SoB April 4th, 2008 10:28 AM Link
So… has anybody figured out what a Fiat BTM is?
Terry Shea April 4th, 2008 4:31 PM Link
It disturbs me that Winding Road, an enthusiasts’ site, would report that it was a “Fiat BTM” without noting that there’s no such thing.
Don Evans April 4th, 2008 6:43 PM Link
The FIAT BTM was the Agnelli family’s ill-fated attempt at making a coal-fired steam-driven automobile, hence the “BTM”, which stood for bituminous. Noble in theory, the car’s boiler was made of the same steel as their coachwork, and the boilers rusted away even as the cars were being shipped overseas from Italy.
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