Fiat 509a Saloon

The bodywork of this Fiat, covered with artificial leather, is called a Weymann body and is designed to make the car lighter, allowing the use of a 900 cc four cylinder engine.

The coachwork of this Fiat 509A Saloon, covered with artificial leather, is called a Weymann body and is intended to make the car lighter, allowing the use of a 900 cc four cylinder engine. Just a few years earlier, such a small engine would have been unthinkable in a four seater sedan, because cars were too heavy. The Fiat 509 Saloon is received with open arms in 1925. It is Fiats first mass produced car; around 90,000 examples are built up to 1929. It is fully equipped, neatly finished and yet inexpensive, opening up the market for the less affluent motorist. It is also the first car that can be bought on finance. In England the car costs 195 pounds, and the version with Weymann bodywork 240 pounds. But the little Fiat is also popular with crowned heads: the Italian heir to the throne Umberto II owns two 509s, and his sister Giovanna also has one at that time, as does the queen of Yugoslavia. Among comic strip fans the car is well known because the comic character Gaston Lagaffe drives a 509 in taxi version.