Ahoy me hearties…

I’ve been spending some time researching a blog but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for it a while longer as I stumbled across this and had to post it here. I’m amazed we’ve never seen it before as it’s quite well documented on the web but I guess I’ve never searched for a…

Fiat 1100 Boat Car
This extraordinary vehicle was made in 1953 by Carrozzeria Coriasco, the famous Turin company which was known for making commercial vehicle bodies based on standard Italian models (clue to the next blog!). It was produced as a promotional vehicle for the Scarani Scuola Nautica, a sailing school in Bologna and as such is just a car and was never designed as an amphibious vehicle. 

Built on a Fiat 1100 it had many nautical design features such as portholes, lifebelts and teak decking. The shape of the wheel arches and the wavy blue paintwork was supposed to represent the sea.

The boat car has had about 4 owners and underwent a complete restoration before 2006 when it was sold at auction in Monaco by Bonhams for just under £35,000. Today the Boat Car is on display in the Louwman Collection at Den Haag, Netherlands.

I’d love to know more about it’s early life and it’s condition before restoration but despite searching extensively I have been unable to find any more information or images prior to it reappearing in 2006, please let us know if you have any more information. Maybe Mario would like a little continental trip to visit it!

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