bought from Canada for $50, and transported to Seattle, this was one of many planes sold to gas station owners for displays after WW2

Fred Dyson of Seattle would purchase several former RCAF Kittyhawks for importation back to the United States in 1946-47, and for only $50 apiece, the transported to Boeing Field, Seattle via barge from Victoria, British Columbia. 

A little while later Tony Dire, who owned a Flying A service station in Everett, where the Kittyhawk was given a Flying Tigers-inspired look and an electric motor was installed to rotate the propeller as the aircraft sat atop the shop in downtown, becoming a local landmark for the next twenty years.

https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/a-stroke-of-marketing-genius-local-businesses-vintage-aircraft-and-their-unusual-association.html