There are people who are rich enough to always do cool stuff, and then there are people who are rich enough to do silly stuff to cool things. Such was the case with Sheikh Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar in the mid-1970s, who ordered this V12 Ferrari Beach Car. Or, at least, that was the case at first.
The tradition of the beach car is rich, and most lovingly remembered with the Fiat Jolly. A popular sight on the beaches of the French and Italian Rivieras, they were Fiat 500s whose doors, tops, and seats were removed or replaced to give them an open air feel.
At the time, Fiats were cheap, so cutting one up to make a beach version made sense. Not satisfied with such common origins, Sheikh Al Thani wanted to make a beach car out of something more special, and he chose a Ferrari.
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He turned to Swiss luxury car importer and boutique manufacturer Willy Felber to lead the project. They, in turn, hired master coachbuilder Giovanni Michelotti of Turin, and asked him for his help creating this very special Ferrari 365 GTC/4.
The design process took three months, and the result was the extravagant, doorless, completely unique, two-seater you see here. The ultimate summer flex, it turned out to be such an over-the-top summer car that even the commissioner couldn’t afford it.
As you may know, the mid-1970s coincided with a fuel crisis, which had an impact on the Sheikh’s liquidity, forcing him to cancel the order. That meant that the car that had originally been ordered in Light Metallic Blu with a denim interior, was actually painted Bronze Metallic, and taken to the 1976 Geneva Motor Show.
In the ensuing years, it changed hands a couple of times, and became a popular site on the lakeside boulevards of Switzerland. It even earned itself the nickname, “Croisette,” and now it could cross into your garage.
That’s because the car is being offered as part of MonacoCarAuctions‘ inaugural collector cars sale on June 8. The event only features Ferraris and is being dubbed “Asta Rossa.” Unfortunately, the auction house has offered no public estimate on the value of the 1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 Beach Car, which has just 4,061 miles (6,534 km) on the odometer, but nothing about the description suggests that it will be cheap. If you can make it out to Monaco on June 8, it might be worth checking out.
