1957 Fiat Jolly (Ghia)

Italy's location on the Mediterranean Sea meant innumerable beachfront cities and resorts. There was a brisk trade in beach buggy conversions of regular cars by the many specialist coachbuilders throughout Italy at the time. One such specialist was Ghia (now owned by Ford), who created the Jolly conversions on Fiat's 500, 600, Multipla and Giardiniera platforms.

Known at home a La Spiaggina, a word difficult to translate but something like "beach-ette", the Fiat beach-buggy was marketed worldwide as the Jolly, meaning "joker" in Italian, but also meaning something light, fun, funny and pretty in several languages.

The car was quite expensive ($1760.00 compared to $998.00 for a standard 500) and was bought by the rich and famous (Aristotle Onassis, Yul Brynner) as yacht tenders, golf carts and estate runabouts. As a result, most surviving examples have covered low mileages only.

They were sold in the USA between 1958 and 1961. Considered a success, the model had a healthy run from 1958 to 1966.

The cars' specification included cut-down sides and windshield, a striped and fringed surrey top, and chromed body-pipework. They were available in pink, coral, white, pale yellow and sky blue. Mechanicals were standard Fiat. An "economical" version was available from 1964 to 1966 featuring normal bumpers with no pipework and solid plastic seats embossed with a fake wicker pattern.

This particular car was bought by a wealthy Italian artist/painter in Alassio, near Liguria, a world famous beach resort. It was personalized by him with extra wicker, a chrome rail and a custom storage compartment. A well-known Canadian Fiat enthusiast owned it for many years. Its original "Jolly" badge is the only one known to exist among the forty-odd survivors.

История имени Jolly восходит в 50-м годам, когда шоу-кары на основе легендарных Fiat 500 и 600 были любимыми игрушками богатых людей. Их держали в своих гаражах Юл Бриннер и Аристотель Онассис, используя для поездок по территории своих поместий и полей для гольфа.