Fiat does not build many cars like the Fiat 508: a 4-door sedan / 2-door sedan / 2-door spider / 4-door torpedo with 995 , built from 1932 to 1937 when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together.
The background
The Fiat 508 Balilla was a compact car designed and produced by Fiat from 1932 to 1937. It was, effectively, the replacement of the Fiat 509, although production of the earlier model had ceased back in 1929. It had a three-speed transmission (increased to four in 1934), seated four, and had a top speed of about 50 mph (80 km/h).
It sold for 10,800 lire (or 8,300 2005 euro). About 113,000 were produced. The car was also assembled by Walter Motors in Czechoslovakia, in the Państwowe Zakłady Inżynierii passenger vehicle factory in Poland, by NSU-Fiat in Germany, and by SAFAF (rebranded in 1934 as "Simca-Fiat") in France.
The engineering
Under the skin sits 995 . Kerb weight is 685 kg. The gearbox is a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Where it sits in Fiat's history is not in doubt: the Fiat 509 came before it; the Fiat 1100 Balilla (508C) followed it; it was built at Lingotto. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Bugatti Type 57, the Chevrolet Suburban, the Datsun Roadster. Its Fiat stablemates include the FIAT 702 and the Fiat 1.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Fiat 508 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.