Fiat ‘Jolly’ – Portofino

Artist: Charles Avalon

Chic charm: The archetypal dolce vita seaside destination, Portofino is as pretty as a picture with its tall pastel houses facing a harbour lined with bars and restaurants. Italy’s innumerable beachfront resorts called for the trade in beach buggy conversions of regular cars by the many specialist coachbuilders throughout Italy at the time. Almost twice as expensive as a standard 500, the fun and frivolous Fiat Jolly was favoured by the rich and famous, including Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos. Pictured here in an array of pretty colours, all fully-specced with cut-down sides and windshield, and a striped fringed ‘Surrey’ top.