Few things in life are as charming as a Fiat 500 cruising the roads of Italy’s Amalfi Coast: nowhere to go, all day to get there, and all the delicious food and wine you could want along the way. But when you’re on the coast, you might want to get into the gorgeous waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea, which means you might actually have to leave the Fiat 500 behind. Or do you? There are now boats made from Fiat 500s that you can rent to cruise the waters off the coast of Positano.
It’s called the Fiat 500 Offshore and it was developed by Antonio Pietro Maria Galasso, whose company Cars Off-Shore was given the green light by the Fiat Licensing Office and Fiat Style Center to build boats from current 500 production cars. Only 500 will be made (because of course) and the result looks like a Fiat 500 that’s been bolted to a trimaran hull, with a single 40-horsepower Mercury outboard motor on the back. If you want more power, outboards making up to 115 hp are optional, which would make the 500 Offshore almost as powerful as the road car.
The Offshore ditches the 500’s roof and the bottom half of its wheel arches, with half-wheels seemingly painted into the top half of the arches. Since the boat version doesn’t need a trunk, the rear seat bench was swapped out with two individual seats that are pushed all the way back to the rear of the car, erm… vessel. However, the roadgoing 500’s headlights, taillights, and mirrors are all still present.
Positano isn’t the only place where you can rent these adorable, hilarious Fiat 500 boats. Cars Off-Shore and Stellantis launched the Fiat 500 Offshore last year but they’re now beginning to make their way around the world, as a few are also available to rent in Miami.
Regardless of where you rent one, though, this buoyant 500 has to be one of the silliest boating experiences possible. It’s as adorable as a normal Fiat 500, but you get to experience all of its Italian charm on the water. Though, I’m not sure I want to know what happens to a Fiat’s chassis and sheet metal after years of floating in saltwater.
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