The car was also assembled by Walter Motors in Czechoslovakia, in the Centralne Warsztaty Samochodowe factory in Poland, by NSU-Fiat in Germany, and by SAFAF (rebranded in 1934 as "Simca-Fiat") in France.
The action triggered a Genoese revolt against the Austrians and for this Balilla was celebrated as a local hero in Northern Italy through the intervening two centuries.
The story of "Balilla" is nevertheless one of many popular heroic tales from history to have gained in prominence in the early decades of the twentieth century, given the heightened nationalistic characteristic of the period.
Previously, a class of light Regia Marina submarines of the Royal Italian Navy, and a pony tractor by Milan-based firm Motomeccanica had also been christened Balilla, and Fiat themselves had earlier used the name on the small Fiat-Ansaldo A1 biplane aircraft of World War I.
A "Lusso" ("de Luxe") version also featured a better type of cloth covering for the seats as well as extra bright work around the lights, front grille, wheels and door handles.
The windscreen pillars and door hinges were chrome plated, and the removable fabric hood could be stored in a suitably shaped storage bag provided for the purpose.
The early "Spider Sport" models came with the same crash gearbox as the other cars, but the engine was fed by a special carburetor, which with its raised compression ratio of 7:1 gave rise to a maximum output listed as 30 hp (22 kW) at 4,000 rpm.
The body was a 2-seater aerodynamic Berlinetta, intended for competition use in colder climates such as those encountered in Northern Italy during the "Mille Miglia" (then run in late Winter).
A commercial version of the Balilla was offered, both as a panel van or as a small flat-bed truck, with a 350 kg load capacity, based initially on the 3-speed 508A and later on the 4-speed 508B.
As well as being assembled at Turin in Italy, three successive versions of the car were produced in Poland where it was branded as the "Polski-Fiat 508" and priced at 5,400 Zł.
The arrangement was based on an agreement dated 21 September 1932 and provided for the assembly of the car by Centralne Warsztaty Samochodowe in Warsaw.
In Germany a motor bike manufacturer called NSU Motorenwerke AG had recently been persuaded by the dire state of the economy (and by their bankers) to abandon ambitious plans to become an automobile producer, and to sell their car plant to anyone who could be found to buy it.
From the start, the French assembled Fiat 6CV was available as a "berline" (four-door saloon/sedan), a "coach" (two-door saloon/sedan), a "coupé" and a "roadster", and subsequently the range of body variant would be widened further.
[2] In November 1934 production at Suresnes came to an end when Fiat acquired the plant of the recently defunct auto-maker "Donnet", in the west of the country.
The move to the more spacious Nanterre facility permitted an increase in volumes which enabled the manufacturer to become one of the country's top tier automakers by the end of the decade.
In a culture of heightened political awareness and growing polarisation, there was some hostility to things Italian, at least from the French left, and especially in the buildup to Mussolini's Abyssinian invasion.
[2] By this time three slightly bowed thin chrome stripes had appeared on each side of the bonnet/hood, representing the tail of a comet, and for its final year in production, the car was rebaptised as the "Simca-Fiat 6CV Comète".
[6] Famous Belgian cartoon author André Franquin's goofy hero-without-employment Gaston Lagaffe, uses a Balilla 508 (some say it is the very similar Fiat 509) as a daily transport.
Though the car is "customized" with a checkered flag stripe (laboriously cut out of dozens of crossword puzzles), it is a hopeless piece of junk with a wheezy, smoke belching, misfiring engine.
He generously offers rides to (generally reluctant) office colleagues who invariably regret their accepting, except Gaston's pointy nosed, pony-tailed, bespectacled love interest, Mademoselle Jeanne.
The song is a burlesque and almost surrealist ballad called "La Balilla"about a small time cottage industrialist who sells soap, bleach and washing powder on town markets and makes a tidy income out of it, enabling him to buy a top of the range Balilla with an exotic option: a special custom upholstery made out of eel skin.