Fiat wasn’t kidding with that commercial from a few years ago where 500s were “swimming” for the US shore. We now know how that commercial was made, though, and it probably inspired the creation of these replica boats.
That idea of turning the 500 into a boat seems to have stuck, because that’s what was fished out of the river in what we assume is Vilnius, in Lithuania – it looks like it and the YouTube channel it’s featured on, 98.lt, should confirm it.
The shape we eventually get to see in the video is that of the facelifted 500, so this may have been an unfortunate accident that took place at the official presentation.
Thankfully, it was dragged out before it was lost for good, but it really made for an amusing spectacle, especially since onlookers were either shocked to see a Fiat 500 was floating in the water or perhaps because said 500 actually had a boat hull…
We also added an additional (older) video showing one of these 500 boats in action; there’s even a 500L boat, apparently.