RE: SOTW: Fiat X1/9 'Gran Finale'

[paul_k]

My Brother had the 1500
Great fun good handling but down on power. Serious rust issues, eventually no compression on one cylinder so ran like a dog then the gearbox packed up.

Got £200 in an auction for it...

[Lead]

Take off those bumpers and it will look half decent and probably improve the 0 to 60 time by a second!

[markoc]

I just can't stop thinking about these at the moment. There's one in not great nick near me which hasn't moved for ages and I'm sorely tempted to make a silly offer. There's something about Bertone the styling that I absolutely love, and the fact that an Uno turbo engine will go in is quite an attractive prospect.

Seeing M5jimmy's in the readers cars has only spurred me on to look at a resto project - as his is the sort of result I'd aim for:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

[williamp]

To go O/T for a moment, what sort of Volvo is that? never seen one before.

[Jgtv]

I really like it.

Now do I have the bottle, unfortunately I dont think so.

[Belfast Boy]

Love it!, I've been looking at these recently (not to buy though)
Another non generic SOTW good work!!!
The last time I saw a Volvo coupe was in Holland a long time ago.

[GTRene]

loved those cars, it was my first car ever when I was 18 back in 1981 I had a 1974 red 1300cc but I had over the years at least 4 or 5 of those also the 1500cc (nut I had many cars )
there are also still cars around with engine conversions and many many hp and made wider.

strange thing is...Bertone made those cars first as Fiat X1/9 Bertone and later as Bertone X1/9 I believe, but I found also De Tomaso pictures looking the same...

1970 DeTomaso 1600 (Ghia)





I did not know.
GTRene

[J4CKO]

Basically, the MR2 was a house trained and socialised X1/9. What the Japanese were/are good at, taking a good idea and making it less shonky.

[LuS1fer]

J4CKO said:

Basically, the MR2 was a house trained and socialised X1/9. What the Japanese were/are good at, taking a good idea and making it less shonky.

True to some degree but adding "before getting grander ideas and largely erasing the original idea". The MR2 went on to try to emulate the Ferrari Dino, the Celica once emulated the Mustang before actually going the rally route and then reverting to type, the Supra was a rans Am copy but then got ideas far above that. I'm not sure they've ever had that many original ideas at all.

[wested]

I had a rusty two-tone red/grey X1/9 with black leather interior back in the early nineties.

Great fun to drive and handled like a go-kart but one day the engine blew-up on a roundabout leaving a mix of radiator fluid & oil all over the road. Pushed it to side, phoned a scrap yard to come pick it up for free and left it there, broken down as I got a taxi to work!

Went to scrappy the next day and ripped out the leather interior which I sold for almost as much as I'd paid for the car. Was fun whilst it lasted.

[BlueSei]

At last a proper car as shed of the week - a Fiat!

[3Dom]

The Abarth version is a proper little beast.





You will not be able to buy an original however as they never fully reached production, being superseded in the development stage by the crazyly gorgeous Lancia Stratos.

There are a few very good replicas that can be seen at the various Italian car days.

[jimroyale]

The Volvo 780 coupe was primarily for the US market. Never imported to the UK. Cool as p155 though.

[Tim16V]

Oh no having finally got over the classic Italian stuff with my wallet vaguely intact I'm now tempted at £600 in that condition.

But the spares situation is reportedly poor, particularly for trim items and panels so no.

I had a Saturday job at a Fiat dealer in the late 1980's, they had a nice one there but it just wouldn't sell and sat around for months. Then one day they had a call on it so in anticipation of a visit it was cold started...and the cam belt snapped.

[EDLT]

jimroyale said:

The Volvo 780 coupe was primarily for the US market. Never imported to the UK. Cool as p155 though.

I think they were also sold in Europe, so getting one here could be quite straight forward.

[LuS1fer]

Has p155 suddenly become cool?

[MadmanO/T People]

I once had a 1980 1500cc model, the last of the carburetted cars. Brilliant car to drive but it kept falling apart faster than I could put it back together. It had a little rust but wasn't too bad. The real problems were on the inside. Reverse gear called it quits, which meant a gearbox rebuild at a dodgy garage who kept the car for two months. A distributor short once left me stranded but at least I was within walking distance of home. Carb needed a rebuild and it ate timing belts for breakfast.

Finally, when my patience and my wallet couldn't take any more, I told my mechanic to take it away.

And yet, I still miss the damn thing. On those rare occasions when everything was working, it was the most incredible car I had ever driven. To this day, I still regret letting it go.


Cheers,
Madman of the People

Edited by MadmanO/T People on Friday 20th November 13:43

[JayMan]

LuS1fer said:

J4CKO said:

Basically, the MR2 was a house trained and socialised X1/9. What the Japanese were/are good at, taking a good idea and making it less shonky.

True to some degree but adding "before getting grander ideas and largely erasing the original idea". The MR2 went on to try to emulate the Ferrari Dino, the Celica once emulated the Mustang before actually going the rally route and then reverting to type, the Supra was a rans Am copy but then got ideas far above that. I'm not sure they've ever had that many original ideas at all.

RX7 was a copy of the 924

[Hedders]

wested said:

I had a rusty two-tone red/grey X1/9 with black leather interior back in the early nineties.

Great fun to drive and handled like a go-kart but one day the engine blew-up on a roundabout leaving a mix of radiator fluid & oil all over the road. Pushed it to side, phoned a scrap yard to come pick it up for free and left it there, broken down as I got a taxi to work!

Went to scrappy the next day and ripped out the leather interior which I sold for almost as much as I'd paid for the car. Was fun whilst it lasted.

I won one in a game of pool in the states, obviously it was knackered. driving at night was hazardous as the electrics would intermittently cut out, sometimes though all the lights would get really bright and the car would run really well for a few miles. This was a normally a sign of imminent electrical failure

After a few weeks i went on a journey that involved a hill that was just too much for the poor thing and it died half way up, after releieving itself of all its coolant on the way up..I didn't even remove the keys from the ignition when i walked away from that car

[stephen300o]

varsas said:

TR7 instead for me please.

ETA: just noticed the anti-clockwise rev counter! Those crazy Italians....

Edited by varsas on Friday 20th November 10:55

TR7!? :NUTS: