1977 Autobianchi Giardineria

“This car formed part of a private collection in northern Italy for nearly 30 years, before being re-commissioned and imported to the UK,” explains vendor James Lockyer. “It’s really rare to see them in such beautiful un-restored condition like this. The car is exceptional inside and out, with the interior completely original from the factory.”

The Autobianchi’s V5c document shows that it was first registered in the UK on 01/02/2017, and that its GB owner prior to that was a fellow called ‘none’. The odometer currently reads just 57,609 kilometres.

An RAC vehicle history check in the history file shows that the car has: not been exported, or scrapped, or written off, it’s not stolen, has had no colour changes, there’s no outstanding finance, it’s had no plate changes and there are no interested parties.

It’s simply a lovely, original recently imported example.

If Carling (other lagers are available) did cutesy estate cars, then this would be it!

Just like the Mini, the Giardiniera (in both Fiat and Autobianchi flavours) is a wonder of packaging with the vertical twin engine turned on its side and mounted under the boot floor; hey presto, a 500-based estate car.

It’s received a later re-spray of its olive coloured paint at some point and while it’s still nice and shiny, it does have the odd scrape and touch-in here and there; it looks lighter in our static Gallery shots below, but fire up the video and you’ll see that it has a lovely full bodied, and marginally darker, presentation.

Panels look excellent. There’s no sagging of those suicide doors, or the rear hatch, and fit is excellent. The body presents very cleanly and is generally corrosion fee, with just a very light touch of surface rust in the odd seam (for example under the front sunroof lip) and edge (the lower front valance extremity and offside sill) here and there. There are also a couple of tiny rust pinpricks on the roof just above the offside A-pillar. It must be stressed though that we’re nitpicking here with a magnifying glass, as overall it’s lovely.

Door hinges are excellent, chrome work (including hubcaps) is very good and the sunroof material looks quite fresh. We’d perhaps ditch the black plastic wing mirror and replace it with a nice circular chrome item.

Our favourite angle has to be the dynamic side profile; no wait front three quarter; no wait, how could you not love that front straight-ahead view…

James said that this car’s cabin is where it scores highest and it’s easy to see why. It’s tres basic inside, but oh so captivating. The body coloured metal dashboard enchants with only a speedometer having the gall to interlope on proceedings.

The two-spoke steering wheel is a finger-light delight, as is the long gear lever. Original Valentini ‘gomma’ of Torino rubber floor over-mats offer a period perfect glimpse of the late 1970s.

Front seat belts have been installed and the seats and door cards are nicely finished in tan with black piping. “It’s completely original,” says James. “And has clearly been used very gently with care. The cabin even still has a wonderful aroma of a climate far sunnier than ours; think lemons, warm dust and sun!”

“The 499cc air cooled two-cylinder engine is in fine health,” says James. “It starts instantly and pulls eagerly through all the gears; the latter cogs shift nicely and it’s quite happy in or out of town, and cruises surprisingly well at modern traffic speed.”

We’ve had it out for a spin and it’s a peppy little tyke; it’ll never threaten a modern (or any) hot hatch, but in terms of smile-per-mile very little will match it. And the response from people we passed was tremendously positive.

Up front you’ll find a presentable engine (or should that be un-engine bay) bay, complete with fuel tank and spare wheel in situ, while lifting the engine bay hatch reveals a leak-free power plant still sporting original decals and a fine covering layer of Mediterranean dust.

Succinto: ah the wonders not of my linguistic skills, but Google translate. To be fair, I could have hazarded a guess at it but hey-ho. Where was I? Ah yes, succinct. Short. And very much to the point. That’s the best way of describing this car’s history file.

Its British V5c document, a selection of Italian Ministero Dei Trasporti documents and a very recent RAC vehicle history check printout combine to make up its contents.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of the paperwork to support our claim that this car is in lovely original condition and has been maintained to a thoroughly excellent standard.

Oh yes, please. Lynx Eventers, Citroen D Safaris and their like are all very well and good, but if you want to tug the viewing publics’ collective heart strings then there’s very little on the estate front that can compete with this charismatic little estate.

The colour combo works beautifully and the body is almost entirely free from corrosion; the later paint is good, although you can see some small touch-ins, so it could be gently improved if the next owner wished to make it cosmetically perfect. That original cabin though, is both lovely unrepeatable.

We think this lovely low-mileage survivor will sell for somewhere between £9,000 and £14,000, and for that the next owner will be receiving a Giardiniera presented in charming time-warp condition – it’s a lovely, lovely thing.

What could it be used for? A promotional car for a retro-funky business perhaps; a city-runaround; beach transport; the possibilities are endless, so we’ll let the next owner think about that decision.

Inspection is always encouraged, and this particular car is located here near Abingdon; we are open Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm, to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.