RE: SOTW: Fiat X1/9
Discussion
i just saw this linked off the wiki page for the x1/9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matra_Bagheera
I had no idea it existed till now. What a nuts car - made of polyester, twin engines, 3 seats in a row. awesome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matra_Bagheera
I had no idea it existed till now. What a nuts car - made of polyester, twin engines, 3 seats in a row. awesome.
cjb1 said:
Aye, a scrapyard near me has a sign saying 'all scrap cars bought £ 150' so you might not have to wait!!
Thats what they said about mk2 escorts.. look at them now!anything fast said:
a 100 % bonafide classic, tempted to buy it and store it..
will be worth good money one day..
love these cars
will be worth good money one day..
love these cars
I had both versions, but prefered the earlier 1300 with the non nancy boy bumpers. As I remember it the gearstick in the later car looked like something off an atari console.
The 1300 was the best. I had one as a student at university in the eighties. Picnic basket in the front, top off, girlfriend at the side, in the hills and dales of yorkshire.
Happiest moment, 3.5 litre rover police car admitting they couldn't catch me and lost me due to the fact I wasn't bothering to brake for the bends.
Saddest moment, 3.5 litre rover police car finding me based on knowing where my distinctive car for a student was usually parked outside.
The 1300 was the best. I had one as a student at university in the eighties. Picnic basket in the front, top off, girlfriend at the side, in the hills and dales of yorkshire.
Happiest moment, 3.5 litre rover police car admitting they couldn't catch me and lost me due to the fact I wasn't bothering to brake for the bends.
Saddest moment, 3.5 litre rover police car finding me based on knowing where my distinctive car for a student was usually parked outside.
hidetheelephants said:
Crow555 said:
The X1/9 has been SOTW before has it not? My brother has been attempting to restore one of these but put it on the back burner to do a TR7 DH instead.
Masochism! Your brother have a thing for rusty wedges? 
The Bertone X1/9 he's been working on I think is a lost cause.
thirsty said:
Does it come with a tool box ? Biggest piece of junk Fiat ever built and probably the final nail in the coffin for Fiat USA.
No, just a dust pan and brush.A mate had one in the 80's until someone pulled out in front of him and damaged it, not too badly damaged but the roof panel was in the front compartment and we could not get it out to secure the car, interior ruined after that.
My cousin had one too, with a white leather interior, it was awful, yuk.
Owned an '83 X1/9 (black, with those daft, cream-coloured PLASTIC seats!) as a daily driver and, strangely enough, it was totally reliable even down to the electrics incl. the pop-up headlights, although having manual windows might have helped the score card there! A finely-tuned drive with steering, clutch and gearchange all having similar weighting. You could either chuck it at corners or 'think' it round them, the choice was yours.
Granted the rust was always nibbling away at a few of the low-down edges but mechanically it was tough. Helped the synchro life if you double de-clutched the gearbox until it was warmed up but had a bulletproof (although, yes, underpowered) engine which revved hard and always sounded smooth and keen while the gear ratios themselves were nicely spaced and co-operated well.
As others have said though, the X1/9's real trick in making up for the power shortfall was its ability to 'carry' speed through bends which gave it surprising ground-covering ability - but in any straightline drag race, forget it!
Drove mine all over the UK spectating on the 1990 RAC Rally, even sleeping in it (and I'm 6ft 2!) and it was a great companion, withstanding everything the sodden British forests and November weather could throw at it. A great driver's car, much under-rated, and my subsequent switch from X1/9 to twin-cam Montecarlo somehow wasn't the quantum leap I was expecting. Does that say more about the X1/9 - or less about the Montecarlo?
Granted the rust was always nibbling away at a few of the low-down edges but mechanically it was tough. Helped the synchro life if you double de-clutched the gearbox until it was warmed up but had a bulletproof (although, yes, underpowered) engine which revved hard and always sounded smooth and keen while the gear ratios themselves were nicely spaced and co-operated well.
As others have said though, the X1/9's real trick in making up for the power shortfall was its ability to 'carry' speed through bends which gave it surprising ground-covering ability - but in any straightline drag race, forget it!
Drove mine all over the UK spectating on the 1990 RAC Rally, even sleeping in it (and I'm 6ft 2!) and it was a great companion, withstanding everything the sodden British forests and November weather could throw at it. A great driver's car, much under-rated, and my subsequent switch from X1/9 to twin-cam Montecarlo somehow wasn't the quantum leap I was expecting. Does that say more about the X1/9 - or less about the Montecarlo?
Morningside said:
smartarse93 said:
Interesting, but it looks like a TR7, not nice :/
And I bet there are more TR7s left on the road.What what I remember of the X1/9 is that they were real rust buckets. more than what the other range of Fiats were.
Only good feature was the engine location.
I have a softspot for TR7s though, and decent ones are well over 2000. This is actually rather tempting.
firebird350 said:
Owned an '83 X1/9 (black, with those daft, cream-coloured PLASTIC seats!) as a daily driver and, strangely enough, it was totally reliable even down to the electrics incl. the pop-up headlights, although having manual windows might have helped the score card there! A finely-tuned drive with steering, clutch and gearchange all having similar weighting. You could either chuck it at corners or 'think' it round them, the choice was yours.
Granted the rust was always nibbling away at a few of the low-down edges but mechanically it was tough. Helped the synchro life if you double de-clutched the gearbox until it was warmed up but had a bulletproof (although, yes, underpowered) engine which revved hard and always sounded smooth and keen while the gear ratios themselves were nicely spaced and co-operated well.
As others have said though, the X1/9's real trick in making up for the power shortfall was its ability to 'carry' speed through bends which gave it surprising ground-covering ability - but in any straightline drag race, forget it!
Drove mine all over the UK spectating on the 1990 RAC Rally, even sleeping in it (and I'm 6ft 2!) and it was a great companion, withstanding everything the sodden British forests and November weather could throw at it. A great driver's car, much under-rated, and my subsequent switch from X1/9 to twin-cam Montecarlo somehow wasn't the quantum leap I was expecting. Does that say more about the X1/9 - or less about the Montecarlo?
I thought the montecarlo was a truly fearsome car. The one I had was the first car I'd ever been in that could accelerate strongly in top gear. Its a shame because both it and the X19 rusted to the MOT fail. But I thought both were blistering drivers cars. The Montecarlo however wasn't as good at handling and seemed to lock front wheels up before you even thought you'd touched the brake.Granted the rust was always nibbling away at a few of the low-down edges but mechanically it was tough. Helped the synchro life if you double de-clutched the gearbox until it was warmed up but had a bulletproof (although, yes, underpowered) engine which revved hard and always sounded smooth and keen while the gear ratios themselves were nicely spaced and co-operated well.
As others have said though, the X1/9's real trick in making up for the power shortfall was its ability to 'carry' speed through bends which gave it surprising ground-covering ability - but in any straightline drag race, forget it!
Drove mine all over the UK spectating on the 1990 RAC Rally, even sleeping in it (and I'm 6ft 2!) and it was a great companion, withstanding everything the sodden British forests and November weather could throw at it. A great driver's car, much under-rated, and my subsequent switch from X1/9 to twin-cam Montecarlo somehow wasn't the quantum leap I was expecting. Does that say more about the X1/9 - or less about the Montecarlo?
My Mrs had a Grande Finale X19 when I first met her. Absolutely top car to drive if a little bit "hair dresser". Can honestly say I enjoyed ragging it more than my own 911 at the time.
Into roundabouts at 40mph on those skinny little tyres and arse end out all the way round. Totally controllable on the throttle. If I'd tried that in my own car I'd have had to be travelling at twice the speed and with my limited skill and reactions no doubt have ended up in a ditch.
Great shed of the week
Into roundabouts at 40mph on those skinny little tyres and arse end out all the way round. Totally controllable on the throttle. If I'd tried that in my own car I'd have had to be travelling at twice the speed and with my limited skill and reactions no doubt have ended up in a ditch.
Great shed of the week
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