Friday 16th January 2009

SOTW: Fiat X1/9

Yes, Shed's back...

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X1/9. It’s not the prettiest name in the world, sounding more like a homicidal android from the 23^rd Century. That’s a shame really because it was the name given to one of the prettiest cars ever made.

The miniscule mid-engined Fiat’s lines were the work of Bertone, the Italian design house responsible for some of the best supercars the world has ever seen: the Lamborghini Miura, the Countach and the Lancia Stratos.

But the X1/9 wasn’t Bertone bunging together a supercar copy years after the exotica dried up, oh no. Bear this in mind: Ferrari’s first mid-engined car was the Dino which cropped up in 1968.

Arguably the use of this layout was in answer to the Lamborghini Miura, which had stopped the world in its tracks in 1966. The X1/9 first appeared in 1972, just a handful of years later, when the mid-engined concept was still seen as the reserve of the race track and the supercar elite.

It wasn’t until 1977 that the X1/9 arrived in the UK in RHD form and it soon attracted a cult following. At one point it was the biggest selling mid-engined car in the world and to many people it was their chance to drive a baby supercar.

It changed little over the years apart from the 1290cc unit changing to the 1498cc four from the Strada, and the addition of some extra bits of plastic.

The last production models were named the Gran Finale and were sold over the 1989/1990 period. They featured a rear spoiler and Gran Finale badges, although to many purists the best looking X1/9s were the simple early models.

So, you can’t surely get a decent X1/9 for under a grand, I hear you say. Of course you can – and it should look something like this.

Here we have a 53,000 miles ’86 X1/9 that has tax and test, reconditioned original alloys, a stainless steel exhaust and a very tidy interior that would suggest the mileage is genuine.

Obviously there is always the slim chance that underneath that shining bodywork the structure is as solid as a chocolate chip cookie, but hey, it’s Italian. All this for £950, and you get to walk into a pub and say you drive a mid-engined Italian sports car. Just don’t mention the F-word…

Autotrader ad reads: '1986 FIAT X19 1500 Sports 2dr Sports Coupe, 53,000 miles, Manual, 5 new reconditioned alloy wheels,stainless steel exhaust,elec windows,casette player,taxed & mot'd. £950.'

[infradig]

Has anyone ever bought a car from a backstreet with a handwritten sign in the window? I bet the shiny black 900 round the corner is his too. If I aerosol my engine does that count as reconditioning?
If this thing made it home and then through another MOT I'd be amazed-but if it did I suppose it would be a bargain. Good SOTW-welcome back!