Beach Blanket Bimbos

Association with the glamour of the Riviera of the 1960s and people like
Aristotle Onassis can make people do silly things at auction

Beach cars are frivolous, slow, and silly, but they're cute as hell, and in the case of Fiat and Renault Jollys, the association with the glamour of the Riviera of the 1960s and people like Aristotle Onassis can make people do silly things at auction. And while Things and Mokes lack the yacht tender cool factor of a Fiat Jolly, they're quite fun in their own right, anywhere there's sun and sand.

So here are some choices for your Monte Carlo yacht (when you win the lottery, or when weird Uncle Harold leaves you his fortune).

1. 1959-62 Fiat Jolly

The Fiat Jolly is the archetypal beach car. Based on the Fiat 500 and 600, an undetermined number were sent to Ghia for conversion into beach cars, complete with cut-down doors, wicker seats (ouch! in your swimsuit), chrome pipe work and a fringed surrey top. A large portion of the production wound up in the U.S. to be used as taxis on Catalina Island in the late 1950s.

Jolly literally translates to "Joker" in Italian, and it was also known as La Spiaggina or "Beach-ette." For a car of such reputed low production (some sources list around 100), Jollys seem to appear at every major auction. In pastels like coral and pale blue with wide whitewalls, and done to a decent standard (with a striped surrey top), around $30,000 seems to be the norm. A similar version of the Renault 4CV (unofficially called the Jolly) also exists, but these rarely appear at auction. Prices for Renault Jollys are similar to those of Fiats.

Rarer editions of this "topless" concept (well, it is the Mediterranean, after all) include the 1960s Fiat Gamine, a 500-cc, rear-engined, faux 1930s Balilla roadster. Another is the Siata Spring, with which the once-respected '50s Italian sports car builder left the world stage in the late 1960s. Think MG TD "clown car" with a Fiat 850 drivetrain.

Several Minis were "Jolly-ized," but the concept seems as dazed and confused as a South London secretary at a topless beach on the Riviera.

2. 1964-68 Austin Mini Moke Mk I

The Austin (or Morris) Mini Moke was designed by Sir Alec Issigonis at the same time as the iconic original Mini. Almost unbelievably, the cheeky Moke was designed for the British military (the twits from the Beatles movie "Help," not the studs who won the Falklands War). Period photos of the Moke toting rocket launchers and machine guns are amusing, to say the least, but it's not difficult to imagine using those contraptions to control the golf cart traffic at some auctions.

Not surprisingly, the Moke was not a successful military vehicle, and most wound up as resort cars in places like the Bahamas and Bermuda. Appearances in movies and British TV shows like "The Prisoner," "The Persuaders," and "The Avengers" (complete with striped tops) cemented the Moke's fame. Considerably easier and cheaper to restore than a Fiat or Renault Jolly, later versions of the Moke with 13-inch wheels and a 1,275-cc engine were built into the 1990s in places like Portugal and Australia (honestly). About half the price of a Jolly seems to be right for a Moke.

3. 1968-88 Citroën Mehari

The Mehari was essentially a French Moke. Different for the sake of being different (and because it was French), and not necessarily any better. It was based on the Dyane 6 and briefly served with the French and Irish militaries. Lightweight from using ABS plastic for the bodies, the four-wheel-drive version actually had decent off-road capability. However, ultra-violet light eventually rendered the once-red-now-pink plastic bodies vulnerable to shattering into pieces as the result of a loud nearby cough.

Strangely, the Mehari was actually sold for one year (1970) in the U.S., and I can remember my family renting a bright green one in Hawaii in 1971. Outside the U.S., Meharis are not particularly rare (over 144,000 were built during a 20-year production run), nor are they really cute in the way a Jolly or a Moke is. Consequently, values are nowhere near Jolly or even Moke money. Around $10,000-$12,000 should buy a nice Mehari.

4. 1973-75 Volkswagen Thing

Like the Mehari and the Moke, the Type 181 "Thing" was derived from a military vehicle, at least conceptually-in this case the successful Kubelwagen, or "bucket car," that served nearly everywhere the Wehrmacht goose stepped in WWII. Mechanicals were nearly identical to the Type I Beetle, the windshield folded flat, doors could come off, and weather protection was minimal.

Like the Moke, Things were a fixture at resorts. Although not often seen in the Caribbean, Acapulco resorts were lousy with them, and some are still seen there today. Acapulco Things came with running boards, surrey tops, and stripes.

Things are simple, rugged, fun, and easy to put right, but large production numbers and lack of cachet mean that they'll never be sought after like a Fiat Jolly. Anywhere from $7,000 to $12,000 buys a nice Thing.