Crossed the X1/9 off the list today

[speeder]

SCadaddle, that’s a great story. I think it’s cool that your family likes Fiats. My mom bought a new Fiat 500 convertible last year at their winter house in New Mexico but sadly, she died a month ago so I’ll never get to take the ride I was looking forward to with her in it. She had to stop driving around the time she bought it but I was going to take her out in it.

Didn’t mean to put a sad spin on this thread but family car stories always get me. Enjoy life and your people while you can!

[Jim Richards]

Sorry to hear about your mom, Denis. And your right, family car stories are great. Lots of great memories made while in our cars.

[Tervuren]

I am cursed in that I most enjoy small sportscars, yet I don't fit.

Ah well, can't have everything.

[jyl]

Acura motor swap - 270 HP in your X1/9
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/fiat-little-secret/

Or stay all X1/9 but massage to a happy ending
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/2011/08/X-Squared---1979-Fiat-X1-9/3701641.html

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by URY914

914 1.7 are better that those POS in every category.

Thank you, I was waiting with baited breath for some one else to say it .

[astrochex]

Since we're telling Fix It Again Tony stories, I have one to add.

My dad had a mustard yellow 1969 124 Sport Coupe. He commuted from Orange County to Culver City for about 10 years with few problems. It became my first car for the whopping sum of $150. My low point was when I dropped a washer into a spark plug hole and found out abut it when I started the engine. I forgot how many miles the car had on it but it was probably into te 300Ks. I sold the car to a coworker and last I heard the car was a spray paint canvas at a Grateful Dead concert. Makes me sad when I think about it.

The Fiat was fun to drive and very rare, especially today.

I drove it for ~6 years before I got my 911SC.

[DanielDudley]

An X1/9 is a lot like a 3/4 scale 308 with a four banger. I still have a soft spot for them, a lot like many have a soft spot for a beetle or a 914.

They took a few SCCA national championships, and I always admired how well the stock ones handled, and how nicely they soaked up New England back road pavement. Fiats were very good to me when I was a kid. It is true that they were not very quick, but they would get up to speed, and I never slowed down.

[SCadaddle]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

An X1/9 is a lot like a 3/4 scale 308 with a four banger. I still have a soft spot for them, a lot like many have a soft spot for a beetle or a 914.

They took a few SCCA national championships, and I always admired how well the stock ones handled, and how nicely they soaked up New England back road pavement. Fiats were very good to me when I was a kid. It is true that they were not very quick, but they would get up to speed, and I never slowed down.

I never did officially join the local SCCA region, but did participate in autocrossing with my Fiats. The X 1/9 being E Stock, my 2 main rivals were an MGA and a Mk 1 Spitfire. Both of those guys were founding members of the region. I could sometimes better the time of the Spitfire, but the MGA owner was an excellent driver and I could never beat his times.

Of course every time we competed, the timer would magically fail for those two guys on at least one run and it never failed for me!

What I eventually learned about owning a Fiat: Don't own more than one at the same time as you'll kill the one that you drive to find parts for the one you can't drive!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by jyl

Acura motor swap - 270 HP in your X1/9
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/fiat-little-secret/

Or stay all X1/9 but massage to a happy ending
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/2011/08/X-Squared---1979-Fiat-X1-9/3701641.html

The Acura motor car must be tons of fun.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by tadd

Reminded me of these: Pure sex.... Lancia Stratos

I agree. X1/9 has fewer curves but with a little imagination when you look back at your car walking away

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Hmmmm, I'll need to think about that one. Maybe I can just ship you 280Z hardware for restoration instead. BTW, that engine project should be fun. I loved my 2.7RS-spec engine that I had in the 73E.

Yeah, I am really looking forward to it. One of my favorite cars and the only car I have ever regretted selling was my 69E. This 2.7 ought to be that turned up to 11.

You know if I had your car I could take all the parts off, plate and Cerakote and chrome them and then put them back on. No extra charge.

[GH85Carrera]

One of my friends had one he got in a trade. He pulled into his garage at home and tried to open the door. The door handle snapped off in his hands. He cussed a little and managed to wiggle over to the passenger side. Pulled on the door handle and the handle snapped off. He ended up popping to roof off and slid it over to the floor and managed to get out. He sold the X-19 as soon as he replaced the door handles.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

An X1/9 is a lot like a 3/4 scale 308 with a four banger. I still have a soft spot for them, a lot like many have a soft spot for a beetle or a 914.

I've had many 914s, I daily drove them for years, probably put 400,000 miles on them in total, loved them!

I've also had a '79 Fiat Spider 2000, that was a great car. It looked great (silver over bright red) and was a lot of fun to drive.

I also had a 308, which I liked back then, and have started to re-appreciate them more these days.

And I had a '85 x1/9 (which at that time was badged a Bertone rather than a Fiat). I really tried to like that car, but never got there. Mine was a very nice example, and totally reliable, never had a problem with it. But I never really warmed up to the styling, and I didn't like the interior much, either. I also didn't like the driving dynamics much. To me, it wasn't much fun to drive. I would not call it a 3/4 scale 308 any more than I would call a 914 a 3/4 scale 917. They all are mid engined with 4 wheels, I guess.

[fred cook]

The best and easiest way to put som muscle into an X1/9 is to rip out the 850 cc engine and replace it with a 124 1600 cc engine. Almost a bolt in swap!

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by tadd

I always wanted one. Came real close just out of high school. Ended up with an MG Midget instead.

Reminded me of these: Pure sex.... Lancia Stratos

Should I ever come into a large sum of money, A Hawk replica is on the list.

[Deschodt]

We definitely should devolve that thread into "other" old cars with good reputation that you always wanted but did not make the cut with reality...

For me, hate away:

- The E30 M3 - sure it drives well but it was gutless, and a cheaper old boxster will drive just as well just as gutlessly for 4x less $.

- The 993: gorgeous as hell, but too 1980 inside, too linear power, too quiet, too soft. I'd still own another just for looks but not at these prices


There are more but this should be enough to get flamed...

-

[scottmandue]

A friend had a 850 spyder... it was hoot to drive... he worked as a waiter at a restaurant that had a huge chef... at the end of the day they would all walk out to the parking lot... chef would grab the front bumper and lift the car up in the air... "George, put my car down."

My buddy wanted to put a VW engine in it but I don't think it would fit. Unfortunately my friend was not at all mechanical and the poor little Fiat eventually fell apart.

Acceleration was weak but as best as I can remember no matter how hard I threw it around I couldn't get it to break loose.

[Steve Carlton]

I was an auto broker in 1988 when a customer asked for a Bertone X1/9, so I called the local dealer, who was also the distributor for Bertone. They found out their manager was taking gifts like a Rolex for taking a bunch of X1/9s and found out the had 660 brand new 1986s at the port. They got Bertone to take back all but about 64 of them, so I would buy one, display it, and sell off of it. They had some minor cosmetic issues, but I was buying them for $5-6K with an invoice of $10K. It was a fun time. I remember the tach was on the left and the needle ran clockwise. The speedo was on the right and ran counter-clockwise, so that was odd. They were cute little cars for the money at the time. They were built to some rollover standard that never took effect, so the body was pretty tough.

Years earlier I bought was supposed to be its big brother, the Fiat X1/20. Fiat gave the project to Lancia, at was known as the Scorpion. I bought it as some special thing from Fiat directly with low miles for dirt cheap. They must have had me sign about 50 pages of disclosures. Looked like this one:

[SCadaddle]

Originally Posted by fred cook

The best and easiest way to put som muscle into an X1/9 is to rip out the 850 cc engine and replace it with a 124 1600 cc engine. Almost a bolt in swap!

Nah.....the X 1/9 from inception in 1974 to 1978 had a SOHC 1300cc engine. From 1979 forward (larger single blade bumper cars) they went to a SOHC 1500cc engine. They all had a single weber carb up until after 1979 when they went to fuel injection. The 1300cc engine was straight out of the 128 series coupes and sedans. It was a real screamer.

The Lancia Beta Scorpion had a DOHC engine midship similar to the Fiat 124 series engines. They also produced a Beta Coupe.

[Jeff Alton]

New a couple of Fiat crazy guys just after high school. One had a 128 coupe and the other X/19. Both had worked motors, bored, cams, dual webers, headers etc. They were fun little cars but would still seem slow today. I liked the 128 better than the X/19.