ROGER LALONDE

090102ME-CAR1 Nan Suffian, president of the Marco Island Friends of the Library, shows off the Smart Car being raffled to benefit the library. Ideal for local driving, the car can also reach a speed of 90 mph. Funds raised by the rafle will go toward a community mujulti-purpose room addition to the library. Roger LaLonde/Staff

ROGER LALONDE

090102ME-CAR2 An interior view of the Smart Car, the Passion Cabriolet, shows some of its extras. Smart Car USA is a division of Mercedes Benz. The car is being raffled by the Marco Island Friends of the Library to help construct an addition to the library for a multi-purpose community room. Roger LaLonde/Staff

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A shiny, 2009 silver blue Smart Car convertible will go to the lucky winner of a raffle sponsored by the Marco Island Friends of the Library.

There is a two-year wait list for Smart Cars and this model is the top-of-the-line Fortwo Passion Cabriolet. Raffle tickets are $50 each or three for $100. The winning ticket will be drawn at the Marco Island Library on March 5. The winner need not be present.

The Smart Fortwo is 8.8-feet long, 5.1-feet wide, 5.1-feet high, and is ideal for local driving. It has a top speed of 90 mph and comfortably seats drivers and passengers more than six feet tall. Smart Car USA is a division of Mercedes Benz. The Smart Car averages 33 miles per gallon in local driving and 41 miles per gallon on the highway. The list price on this loaded model is $24,000, including dealer prep and taxes.

All Smart Cars have a five-speed transmission which can switch from automatic to manual. This Passion Cabriolet includes many extras: MP3/CD/AM/FM player, soft-top with heated rear window, reinforced roof and side bars, tailgate storage, AC, power windows, alloy wheels, remote-control locks, bucket seats and leather steering wheel.

The Marco Island Friends of the Library have been working several years to raise funds for a much-needed community multi-purpose room. Marco residents Bill and Myrtle Rose generously pledged $500,000 to start the campaign in 2005, and the Friends all-volunteer board has been fund-raising since then for the additional construction funds, an estimated $1.7 million).

The car is on display in front of the library, 210 S. Heathwood Drive. It will also be at the Marco Island Farmer’s Market in Mackle Park every Wednesday, starting Jan. 14, and at CJs at The Esplanade on Collier Boulevard, from 5 to 7 p.m., Jan. 29 and Feb. 26.

Raffle tickets are sold at the library’s front desk and by all Friends board members, Nan and Mike Suffian, Bea and Paul Sebastian, June and Ken Brown, Jo Lozier, Lorraine Rogers, Dolores Siegel, John Buchanan, Judy Schall, Sue Baum, Denise Falko, June Duffy, Joanne Foote, Marilyn Matthes, Ted Marsten, Kathy Shug, Jan Silver, Bruce Rosen and Diane Wetjen.