Look... but can't touch

This is Mrs Delphwynd's new car. Or, at least, it will be one day.

It's a model of a Fiat 500 that I purchased to represent a full-sized version that I'd ordered sneakily as a present for a special birthday. Mrs D was well pleased and I earned the requisite amount of Brownie points for being such a sneaky bugger and arranging this all surreptitiously within scanning range of a woman's highly sensitive gift radar. Kudos by the car load at the time.

That was nearly 11 weeks ago. The model still sits on the sideboard, it's initial cute Italian smile now looking like more a smug grin. A call to the dealer last Saturday and again yesterday says the arrival of the full-sized version is 'imminent'. A check on the Fiat forums suggests for some cases it could be another two weeks though.

What really 'grinds ma gears' though is the waffle that's been passed off by the salesmen in order to get a sale. For example, my first enquiry said they may be able to get something sorted in time for my wife's birthday. Then, when the paperwork was signed they said they would try and get the car within three weeks. Deposit paid then a call three weeks later and the car was apparently 4-5 weeks away, but apparently still on schedule! (This included a week when the factory in Poland that builds the car closed for the summer holiday). And chasing up last week, I find out the original salesman has, in the words of the sales manager, "been transferred".

I was promised a call back today with some registration details so that we could arrange insurance to be in place when the car arrives. Still waiting on that call.

Anyway, the whole experience has gone from one of great expectation to deep frustration. Eleven weeks after Mrs D's birthday (who's not renowned for her patience at the best of times) and we're still stuck with just a 1/43 scale version of her new wheels.

Fingers crossed it shouldn't be long now though. I just hope it's all going to be worth the long wait.

Rant mode deselected.