This is your chance to own Gianni Agnelli’s actual Jolly-style Fiat 500

Gianni Agnelli was an extraordinarily stylish man, so it should come as no surprise to learn that the president of Fiat commissioned his own take on the Nuova 500 in the late 1950s, and almost inadvertently created a whole trend as a result.

Of course, Agnelli didn’t actually ascend to the presidency of the family firm until 1966, but it was in 1958 that he requested the beautiful little beach car you see above to be built by Carrozzeria Ghia’s Mario Boano, and its popularity sparked a craze that would spawn the 500 Jolly, the Citroen Mehari, the Mini Moke and many more roofless wonders besides.

But want to know the best bit? You could now own this very car.

You see, this stunning little 500 Spiaggina Boano is set to cross the block at RM Sotheby’s Paris sale at the end of January. The estimate? Somewhere between £230,000 and £250,000. Almost as expensive as one of Mr Agnelli’s bespoke Caraceni suits.

The auction listing states that Agnelli – who was nicknamed ‘L'Avvocato’, which we’re assured means ‘The Lawyer’ rather than ‘The Avocado’ – had two of these 500s built by Ghia. One was given to the business magnate Aristotle Onassis, while this one was used by Agnelli in the south of France until he gave it to his driver Bernadino Aiassa in 1973.

With bespoke bodywork, wooden trim, woven front seats and a proper rear bench for passengers, this is now the only survivor of the two originals. It was apparently lost for years and was only recently discovered by ‘a noted Turin collector’, before being displayed at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este in 2018.

What a little sweetie.