Italy's Iconic Beach Cars

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The Story 🗞️

Spiaggine, the stars of the 1960s summer

There’s something magical about spending summer in Italy, basking in the slow, sweet rhythm of la dolce vita. As this newsletter is all about nostalgia, let’s take a moment to wonder what Italian summers looked like in the 60s. What better way to capture that era than by exploring one of its true beach icons: the Spiaggine.

Few types of cars are as closely tied to a specific place and season as the Spiaggine, the Italian term for beach cars that emerged in the 1950s. The name itself gives it away: spiaggia means beach, and spiaggina is an informal term for beach-goers' folding chairs. These cars were meant for the shore or its nearby areas.

Beach cars, whether conceived as special versions or regular models, embodied the decade's desire for freedom and became a playground for experimentation by coachbuilders and car makers.

Spiaggine originated in Italy in the 1950s as exclusive cars for the elite. Talented coachbuilders like Boano, Ghia, Michelotti, and Pininfarina transformed standard FIAT models into custom creations for high-end clients. This trend soon spread abroad, with England's BMC superminis serving as bases for similar modifications.

However, the elite status of Spiaggine quickly faded as they became symbols of the new era of mass seaside tourism. Although the number of available models and their production remained low, Spiaggine became iconic representations of holidays and outdoor living, with a hint of hippie culture, from the 1960s to the 1970s.

The popularity of Spiaggine began to wane in the 1970s due to the closure of several coachbuilders, stricter safety regulations, and a shift towards more practical cars. Yet, in recent years, several brands have revived the spirit of the Spiaggine with new models. These include the sporty Smart Crossblade (2002), the retro FIAT 500 “Spiaggina ’58” (2018), and the electric Volkswagen ID Buggy (2019).

While modern spiaggine may no longer be able to navigate the pathways, dunes, and shorelines that their predecessors did, they still evoke the seaside atmosphere and carefree spirit of sixty years ago.

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