Photo: Fiat
The 500 turns 61 years old in 2018, and the Jolly Spiaggina version is 60. To mark this occasion, Fiat and Garage Italia decided to modify the modern version of the Cinquecento convertible into the one-off you can admire in the photo gallery.
Translating to beach-ette, the Italian beach buggy of the 21st century embodies the Dolce Vita aesthetics of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. The lowered windshield, slatted cork panels that give the impression of the teak floor of a yacht, old-school alloy wheels wrapped in whitewall tires, and lack of rear seats are the elements that set the Spiaggina by Garage Italia apart from the crowd. A lovely machine, isn’t it?
“11 years have now passed since the model was reborn on July 4th, 2007 and today, through Garage Italia, I've decided to celebrate and renew a splendid Italian icon by working with my design center to create the Spiaggina by Garage Italia,” declared Lapo Elkann. “I'm sure that this car will make people imagine, dream, and interpret the Italian way of enjoying life that has been inspiring the world for generations.”
In addition to the concept car, Fiat decided to roll out the Spiaggina ’58 special edition as a tribute to the original. Limited to 1,958 examples and exclusively available as a convertible based on the 500C, the car features an ivory soft top, white belt liner, Volare Blue paintwork, and 16-inch wheels. Side mouldings with the 500 insignia, chromed mirror caps, vintage badges, and Spiaggina ’58 written on the trunk in italic script are other details that make this Fiat that bit more special.
The interior is in tone with the exterior of the Spiaggina ’58, and as you can tell from the size of the infotainment system, that’s the HD Live touchscreen radio with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mirroring plus TomTom satellite navigation. On the other hand, what’s hiding under the hood isn’t likely to be to your liking if you happen to care about internal combustion.
Of all the engines available for the 500, including the 1.4-liter turbo in the Abarth, the automaker decided to go forward with the 1.2-liter four-cylinder for this application. The 69-horsepower engine is the entry-level option in the Old Continent, where the 500 is also available with the 0.9 TwinAir and 1.3 MultiJet.
Why is the 1.2 Fire such a letdown, you ask? There’s no other way of saying it, so here’s the reason why: the Fully Integrated Robotised Engine from Fiat Chrysler came to be in the mid-‘80s, then sporting a carburetor. The 1.2-liter we have today features modern technology such as variable valve timing and sequential multipoint injection, but for some reason or other, Fiat gave it two (!!!) valves per cylinder.
“11 years have now passed since the model was reborn on July 4th, 2007 and today, through Garage Italia, I've decided to celebrate and renew a splendid Italian icon by working with my design center to create the Spiaggina by Garage Italia,” declared Lapo Elkann. “I'm sure that this car will make people imagine, dream, and interpret the Italian way of enjoying life that has been inspiring the world for generations.”
In addition to the concept car, Fiat decided to roll out the Spiaggina ’58 special edition as a tribute to the original. Limited to 1,958 examples and exclusively available as a convertible based on the 500C, the car features an ivory soft top, white belt liner, Volare Blue paintwork, and 16-inch wheels. Side mouldings with the 500 insignia, chromed mirror caps, vintage badges, and Spiaggina ’58 written on the trunk in italic script are other details that make this Fiat that bit more special.
The interior is in tone with the exterior of the Spiaggina ’58, and as you can tell from the size of the infotainment system, that’s the HD Live touchscreen radio with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mirroring plus TomTom satellite navigation. On the other hand, what’s hiding under the hood isn’t likely to be to your liking if you happen to care about internal combustion.
Of all the engines available for the 500, including the 1.4-liter turbo in the Abarth, the automaker decided to go forward with the 1.2-liter four-cylinder for this application. The 69-horsepower engine is the entry-level option in the Old Continent, where the 500 is also available with the 0.9 TwinAir and 1.3 MultiJet.
Why is the 1.2 Fire such a letdown, you ask? There’s no other way of saying it, so here’s the reason why: the Fully Integrated Robotised Engine from Fiat Chrysler came to be in the mid-‘80s, then sporting a carburetor. The 1.2-liter we have today features modern technology such as variable valve timing and sequential multipoint injection, but for some reason or other, Fiat gave it two (!!!) valves per cylinder.
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