I ordered the car in february last year, planning for it to be finished by the end of 2012, so I could pick it up in january which should give me enough time to get it road-legal in the Netherlands before spring.
So the 3rd week of january was the week the magic had to happen...
The car was trailered by Debussere from the factory to their place on the 15th, so first stop Crewkerne! With Debussere wanting to leave Crewkerne before noon that day to beat London traffic and catch the Channel-train, I had a nice challenge. Took the first flight from Amsterdam to Bristol, rented the fastest car I could still afford (white Fiat 500
) -after speccing some more bits to the Atom after it's "final spec"- and raced to Crewkerne. There the beauty was already tied down on it's trailer and I was graciously given 10 minutes to welcome her to this world and already say goodbye for her trip through a snow-covered England, France and Belgium.
Later that week it was planned (weather permitting) to trailer the car from Debussere via the Dutch Motoring department to it's new home. So I got into contact with Mobilerobbie (who also owns one of the 6 or 7 Atoms in the Netherlands) who was kind enough to help me out with the transport and homologation.
So in between snow-showers, gusty winds and freezing cold the date was set: January 17th 2013 a new Atom would come to the Netherlands...
We started early in the morning for the 3,5 hour drive to the beautiful city of Gits, Belgium
There the always-busy-and-on-the-phone mr. Patrick Debussere was able to spare a minute and hand over the "keys". Soon the car was loaded on the trailer and after some more paperwork we set of for our appointment at the DMV.
To my great surprise and the skillfull pampering words of Mobilerobbie the homologation went as smooth as silk, and so the next stop was it's final destination (until my new garage is finished that is..).
And so around 19:00 that same day we got back from what was in my eyes an epic, unforgettable and beautiful day and tucked in the car for it's first night.
In the following weeks I installed some of the gadgets and tools to make the Atom experience a bit easier (the bicycle bag as a glove box and an extra mirror for better rear vision), finished the paperwork (insurance and registration) and got the license plates.
Feb. 4, 2013: Time for the maiden voyage.
Nuff said. Nice detail, after 25 minutes I got a text from Mobilerobbie asking how the drive was, as apparantly someone managed to take a picture and upload it to the web within those first 25 minutes of driving.
By now I have driven over 1200 miles, of which about 400 miles to and from Debussere for it's first service (don't worry, it was a quiet day on the roads, so I could drive it somewhat properly
) on a day with temperatures peaking at -3 Celcius 
Off course I've had my share of worrying squeakes and bangs, am still trying to get used to all the attention and am frightened everytime I hit the throttle or brakes, but man what an experience...!
Many thanks once again Tom, Patrick and Mobilerobbie for all your help
Now the suns shining again, so gotta go for a drive,
Bye!
Pieter
P.S.: Don't worry, the windhsield has come off by now, as I added it for extra comfort when driving in bad weather and safety when driving without helmet. Cheers!
