Too much? Chinese customer orders $670k gilded Fiat 500

The beauty of the Fiat 500 is that it's loaded with Italian style, but comes cheaper than anything this side of a Vespa. So if you were in the market, how much would you consider spending on a Cinquecento? $20K? Maybe $30k for a fully-loaded Abarth? How about €500,000? That's equivalent to about $670,000, and stands as the absurd price some anonymous Chinese businessman has apparently paid for a particularly opulent tacky example of the retro minicar.

The order came to Fenice Milano, the Italian studio whose Liberace-grade work we've reported on previously. They started with a 500C Abarth convertible, slathered it in paint infused with real 24k gold flakes, decked the interior out in teak, replaced the brightwork with more 24k gold and gave it a diamond-studded iPad docking into the dashboard. And just for good measure, they let Romeo Ferraris have at it. Their tuning jacked the stock 140-horsepower engine up to 200 hp, and they added Brembo brakes and a custom suspension for good measure.

The end result is about as nauseating an example of nouveau-riche excess as you're likely to find. If the owner thinks that by tying in his investment to a solid commodity like gold to stave off the negative effects of depreciation, he may be in for a rude awakening come resale time. Check out the video footage after the jump and the updated high-resolution image gallery below.

[Source: Fenice Milano via CarScoop]

The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience.