Baby Belvedere in between bigblock extravagance

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If Carlisle Events organizes a swap meet you can be sure about one thing: there won’t be a shortage of American iron. ‘Thousands of vendors, acres of cars and tens of thousands of guests’, or so they say, and who are we to doubt it? But imagine our surprise to find in their next auction, in between all those 100s of pony cars, muscle cars, stepsides and rock ‘n roll machines, a Topolino (‘little mouse’). ‘A rare woody!’ the organizers call it, and indeed, the Fiat 500 Topolino Giardinietta Belvedere with ‘Carrozzerie Speciali’ by the factory, is something pretty unusual. What’s more: this 1949 example comes with just 15,224 miles on its clock. Yes, that’s miles and no kilometres. When exactly it came to the US remains unclear, though, as the Fiat’s history only dates back to 1963 when it came to Connecticut. From there it moved to a Pennsylvanian barn where it spent the most of its life. Time for someone to take it on a tour along the Italian lakes with the family or enter it in the Mille Miglia!

(Text Jeroen Booij)
      

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