There’s a certain freedom that comes with owning a major car manufacturer – the freedom to order whatever you feel is the perfect car, tailored to your desires in preemptive obedience by the company’s best engineers and designers. Therefore, the private cars custom-built for the Porsche, Piëch or Ferrari families rank among the most desirable collector cars in the world. Still, the shareholder with the most impeccable taste and style in the automotive game must have been Giovanni «Gianni» Agnelli – style icon, eternal playboy, patriarch of the FIAT empire and uncrowned post-war king of Italy.
Whenever L'Avvocato, as he was known, commissioned another new car for his private garage in his trademark silver paint with a dark blue stripe, the automotive world was watching closely. He ordered the three-seated Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale – after all, it was the first road going mid-engined V12 Ferrari ever made – and had his team create Spider versions of the Ferrari Testarossa and Lancia Delta Integrale. But as the head of Fiat, he also cultivated and customised the brand’s own creations, including some of the world’s most distinguished station wagons, and kicked off the Panda 4x4 movement in St. Moritz. Now Sotheby’s Sealed is selling three key cars from Agnelli’s collection at no reserve.
Fiat 130 Familiare
Commissioned especially for Gianni Agnelli and retained by him for eleven years, this 1974 Fiat 130 Familiare “Woody” was the first of three cars designed at the Fiat Centro Stile and coachbuilt for the Agnelli family at Officina Introzzi, a coachbuilder based just outside of Como. Equipped with a 3,200 cc V6-engine and a three-speed automatic transmission, the Fiat 130 also boasted independent suspension at all four wheels, making the Familiare extremely comfortable for all journeys. Gianni Agnelli had the car painted in silver and fitted with faux wood trim on the sides, a roof rack fitted with a wicker basket and an asymmetrical third rear brake light which alerted the patriarch’s security team to his movements while trying to keep up with his notoriously fast driving style. In 2022, we had a chance to spend a day with the car and it’s custodian Duccio Lopresto in St. Moritz, where it had won the "Classic Driver Spirit of St. Moritz Award" at The ICE.
Fiat Panda 4x4
We at Classic Driver have been adoring the Fiat Panda 4x4 as the ultimate alpine shuttle for a while now – and in 2019 we celebrated it at the Classic Driver Panda 4x4 Meeting in St. Moritz. But the man who introduced the modest Panda to the Swiss jetset was Gianni Agnelli. Arriving from Turin by helicopter, he used the silver, lightweight 4x4 wonder to shuttle between the Samedan airport, his Suvretta chalet, the slopes and the Cresta Run. Purchased new by Agnelli in February of 1986, the car was retained by him for fifteen years, being sold from his ownership in 2001, just two years prior to his passing. Recently completed full restoration to its original configuration, it is arguably the finest and most iconic Fiat Panda 4×4 in existence – hopefully we will see it again at the next Classic Driver Panda 4x4 Meeting in St. Moritz.
Lancia Thema Familiare
There’s a subtle elegance to Agnelli’s fleet, representing his infinite wealth through costly customizations invisible to most mortals – and this car is no expeption. Seeing potential in the market for an estate version of the Thema, Lancia contracted both Pininfarina and Zagato to design estate cars on the car’s chassis and drivetrain. Zagato built two cars – one with a turbocharged diesel engine and the other, the car presented here, with a naturally aspirated, petrol-powered 2.8-litre V6. Visually, the two coachbuilders’ cars are very similar – you have to closely inspect the rear boot lid pillars, boot handle and trim to spot the differences. Gianni Agnelli bought and drove the car for two years in the mid-1980s in and around Turin. With less than 100,000 kilometres on the clock, it might be the coolest family car to kick-start your own dynasty in impeccable Italian style.
Richmond, 24 Apr
