It’s been said that Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat, hatched the idea of the Jolly, wanting a small vehicle that could easily be transported from port to port upon his sailing yacht, the Agneta. In the early 1950s, a Topolino Belvedere was heavily modified and turned into a beach car, complete with a surrey carriage top and wicker seats. According to the story, this is the car Gianni wanted to see built as his idea. A few years later, Pininfarina made Eden Roc, a vehicle based on the Fiat Multipla that lightly resembled a boat and was used to tour the grounds of Villa Leopolda, the Agnelli estate on the Cote d’Azur. Supposedly, it was Luigi Segre, the head of Ghia, who saw the commercial potential of a small, beachy runabout, building one based on the Fiat 500 Nuova and displaying it at the 1957 Turin Auto Salon. While no one can definitely claim this was or was not the car commissioned by Gianni, it was an immediate hit, with upscale, shore-laden hotels and tourist locales ordering them to serve their clientele. At one time, Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles, California, had 32 of them. Like so many commodities like the Fiat Jolly, they were used up and largely discarded. Today, it’s estimated that only between 100 and 300 survive, with most estimates siding toward the lower end. Having been in the care of the same owner for the past 22 years, this is Nuova Jolly No. 74 by Carrozzeria Ghia. Finished in a custom pink with a removable surrey top in a dark pink with black fringe, the Jolly is the result of a comprehensive restoration by Custom Car Dino Arnold and is complete with wicker seats, which were refurbished by Anderson Wicker Restoration. Fitted with the rare “Bug Eye” headlights, the car is powered by a 500cc engine paired with a 4-speed manual transmission and rolls on silver wheels with chrome hubcaps, wrapped in whitewall tires. The odometer reads just under 10,000 miles and the car will be sold with a tool kit, jack and the original spare tire.
