Saleofcar.com :Fiat

Fiat Balilla 508B 4M spyder (1936)
for sale

Price: US $200.00

Description:

Up for auction is a 1936 Fiat Balilla 508B 4M Spyder. Fiat manufactured over 80, 000 of these cars in various versions, 2 door, 4 door, trucks, Cabriolet and Spyder Sport for racing. They were manufactured by Fiat in Italy, Poland and France and although similar they are very different cars. Of the 80, 000+ vehicles manufactured, less than 900 have survived World War 2. According to the Balilla registry in Torino, Italy, of the Italian manufactured cars, they only know of 47, 1936 Balilla 508 vehicles in various forms and of those, only 4 are 4M Spyders and this one is the only one in the USA. According to Valentina Alghisi, chief of registration from the 1000 Miglia, that this car, because of its rarity and Italian descent would be high on the acceptance list to run the prestigious Italian Mille Miglia. As a side note, the highly sought after Balilla Coppa D'Oro had only 79 built and there are 147 fakes they have found, so buyer beware of that car!
From my research, I found that this particular car was purchased new by a Dr. Vittorio LoTito from a small town by the name of Noto on the southeast coast of Sicily. He moved his family and practice to Ethiopia (see license plate) when the threat of war was eminent. From there he moved to New York City sometime in the 70’s and took the car with him. He drove the car for many years and finally sold it to a fellow by the name of Ronald Thompson from Texas. The car was driven in Texas until 1979 when it blew a head gasket. Unable to locate parts to fix it Mr. Thompson decided to put it in storage. I purchased the car from Mr. Thompson who was the second owner.
I located the head gasket, rebuilt the carburetor, cleaned out the fuel tank, rebuilt the brake system and started it up and drove it! It is not a ball of fire with a top speed of 40 MPH and takes it's time getting there! Although the car has been repainted sometime in the late 1940’s from Royal Blue (some blue paint is still evident) to black, most appears to be in original condition and the past owner claims to have made no alterations from when he bought from the original owner. I purchased this car a few years ago with the intention of just clean it and sell it but at the last minute decided not to. Since then I spent countless hours researching it and have talked to many knowledgeable people along the way. I have since taken it to many prestigious cars shows and had a wonderful time representing such a well preserved and unique automobile. Unfortunately recent purchases have taken up needed garage space and I have to offer the old gal up for sale to a new owner who will continue to have fun.
World Wide shipping easily arranged at the end of the auction. Seller reserves the right to cancel any and all bids from those with negative feedback, or for those whose end user information cannot be verified, or those that have shown that they do not follow through with their bids like Mr. Van Der Lagen from Norway Ebay name; vdlagen. Also, for those that would like to view the car before bidding, feel free to email me with your contact information, and I will be more than happy to show it to you in person, or if you like, you can send an independent mechanic to inspect it before the end of the auction. Bid victoriously on this once in a lifetime find. You certainly will not see another for quite some time!
Cheers
Tom Z.

_{update: 2015-07-22}