Friday 20th November 2009

SOTW: Fiat X1/9 'Gran Finale'

Shed opts for a spot of Latin flair (and just a little rust)

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It's a horrific cliche that the majority of Italian cars of the 1970s and 1980s started to dissolve into a sorry pile of ferrous oxide the moment they rolled out of a showroom but, as with most cliches, there's more than a nugget of truth in it.

Between them, Fiat and Bertone churned out somewhere in the region of 170,000 examples between 1972 and 1989 (a fair chunk of which were UK-spec right-hook models) and yet a trawl through the online classifieds (and not just those on PH) turned up just six examples currently for sale in the UK.

By way of contrast, 115,000 Jaguar XJS coupes - a car with an equally flaky reputation - found their way out of Browns Lane between 1975 and 1996, and there are 30 of those for sale in the PistonHeads classifieds alone.

A quick google on the X1/9 is also likely to turn up more in the way of horror stories of rust and running repairs than glowing testimonials.

It's probably not hugely unfair, therefore, to expect any X1/9 (should you even be able to find one) to be a rusty, unreliable mess. And yet...there is a certain glamour to it, a Latin flair that all the best Italian sports cars possess. Drive me, it says, and you'll have fun. Girls will like you, even if you have a sudden urge to wear long jumpers over your shoulder, put on a pair of big shades and say 'ciao' a lot. Forget the rust and unreliability - the X1/9 is an opportunity to own a slice of what made the Lamborghini Miura or 246 Dino so cool. For pennies (well, £600).

There's another link to the Miura, too. The wedgy, mid-engined sports car was designed by Bertone under the stewardship of chief designer Marcello Gandini, the man responsible for the shape of the Miura, Countach and Diablo shapes.

This particular X1/9 is one of the 'Gran Finale' run-out specials, which was essentially identical to the 1988/89 'SE' model, but got a rear spoiler some Gran Finale badges. By this time, the X1/9's engine had grown from 1290cc to 1498cc and power was a heady 85bhp with torque rated at 87lb ft. It wasn't quick, but the 914kg X1/9 could at least hit 60mph in a relatively brisk 10.4sec on the way to a 112mph top speed.

The Metallic Dark Red paint (Mica Red, code 224.129-408 for all you paint fans) on this car was only offered towards the end of the car's life, when Bertone had entirely taken over production. This colour was also used on the Bertone-built Volvo 780 coupe (pictured, below).

So yes, it's a bit tatty, but it's got tax and ticket, was designed by the man who also drew the Lamborghini Diablo, and shares its paintwork with a rare Volvo. Oh, and the rust issue is apparently not yet out of control - what more could you want for £600?

^{(Thanks to SimonSaid for the paint-geek fact!)}

Late X1/9s shared paint with...

...a big Volvo coupe

Advert is reproduced below:

Fiat X1/9 'Gran Finale', 88,000 miles, £600

For sale my Fiat X1/9 Gran Finale. I put it up for sale last year with some interest but did not sell in the end. Genuine reason for sale, I am going to Australia for a year in 3 weeks, hence have dropped the price really low. I'll go through the good and bad points so no one contacts me only to disappointed by something.

First the Bad:

Some rusting, worst on the right rear arch, and on the top of the roll bar just below where water drips off the back of the roof. There are a few other small spots but nothing that could not be dealt with by a home mechanic.

Instrument panel lights do not work, Ok at night this could be annoying, but I've never found it too much of a problem myself.

Exhaust is rattling and may need welding.

Driver's seat has now come away at the seam, I'm considering fixing this myself however.

The Good:

MOT passed in April, so obviously the car is structurally sound, and the only thing the car failed on was missing split pins on the locking plates on the brakes, which I had removed myself and forgot to put back in.

All electrics apart from the instrument panel lights in good working order, including the headlights which actually pop up and down always!

Interior aside from the drivers seat mentioned, is all tidy and clean.

Comes with spare wheel Carpets in both boots

K & N filter fitted

New calliper fitted on O/S back

If there is anything I have not covered here please feel free to email me. The car does have tax, valid until March 2010. Also the mileage is around 88,000 Cheers!

Paul

See Shed of the Week on Facebook

 

[nav p]

Not the usual SOTW but a great find..but i couldn't be that brave!

Will be fun for someone though.

[ScottishSamurai]

Is that blibs stratos?

[CooperD]

Brings back memories for me. I owned an X1/9 in the late 80's. Great car to drive but cost a bomb to keep on the road. Lots of problems, mainly rust and the headlights failed to go up. I bought my car from an RAF motor technician and there was an alternator from a Land-Rover in the car. The choke was a nightmare to get right but once started it was great. Bought the car for £2000 spent about another £1000 on it in the two years I had it then sold it for £1000.

[bob1179]

Where can I get one of those Volvos? That looks like such a cool car, I don't think I've ever seen one before.

Interesting SOTW too...

[Richard-G]

it was the scribe 50 cent who wrote the immortal words 'hate it or love it'

i personally like it

[williamp]

Used to lvoe this car as a young boy. Now, I see it as simple and honest. But its still a 70s fiat with everything bad that involves

[SWoll]

Always love the owners write ups on the Sheds

"Instrument panel lights do not work, Ok at night this could be annoying, but I've never found it too much of a problem myself"

Could be annoying? Really?


"MOT passed in April, so obviously the car is structurally sound, and the only thing the car failed on was missing split pins on the locking plates on the brakes, which I had removed myself and forgot to put back in"

You have to wonder what else he "forgot to put back in".

Are these things actually any good to drive, just out of interest?

[uriel]

Had one as my first and second car. Love every minute of them, but eventually gave them up because I was worn down by the cramped interior (I'm 6'6").

[VladD]

These cars are a hoot to drive. I had 2 when I was in my early 20s. A bit slow by modern standards, but there are lots of engine converion options around. A bargain at £600.

Edited by VladD on Friday 20th November 10:28

[Travs]

I'm only 6'3", but when I drove one I couldn't indicate left without declutching as my knee got in the way. Decided that maybe it wasn't quite big enough for everyday use.

[hornetrider]

This car came up in a thread recently I'm sure - I think Rach* was after another cheap 'Scumball' type car.

[chris7676]

Cool car. But having been a passenger in one (and it wasn't a shed as such) its felt weak and body fragile. Get an MR2 mk1 instead?

[louismchuge]

Two posts from team Pistonheads this early in the morning? Are you guys trying to sneak off for a boozy lunch and not go back to the office?!!

[vrooom]

Fiat uno turbo engine swap is common on this car.

[varsas]

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

[leon9191]

My uncle had a wide body bertone version, he said there was only 2 in the counrty at the time. any one know about these?

Looked amazing and the rear wheels were about 2 feet wide! obviously when i was 13 that was important.

[shouldbworking]

Looks pretty good. A complete new exhaust is only £70 iirc and the interior which is the hard thing to repair / replace looks in good nick.

[Dr.Doofenshmirtz]

Great little cars. I think I was one of the first to discover that Fiat Uno electronic ignition distributors could be fitted to the X1/9 in place of the rubbish contacts type standard system.
When the rust on mine got more than I could cope with, I sold it and bought the far superior Toyota MR2 MK1 copy...which also rusted away eventually

[LuS1fer]

Great as a new car but at this age, it can only end in tears. There is (or was)a blue GF rotting on a local drive along with an R5 Gordini (may have gone now, it was a while ago)

[Tuna]

A cracking car that rewards chucking around. Surprisingly practical too, with loads of boot space front and back and a targa top that makes poor weather driving easy. The last few were pretty well put together (Bertone taking a bit more care than Fiat), and didn't suffer from the chronic rust that plagued early eighties Fiats. I believe the story with that was that they used to leave the new cars standing in a car park on the docks just long enough for the salt sea air to work its way into the metal.

The electrics were a bit flakey - the headlight switch in particular tended to cook itself - but some good examples proved to be better than their reputation suggests. Get an electronic ignition conversion and make sure the battery stays in top condition and it's a reliable starter and runs like a dream.

Check the drain on the top edge of the nose cone where the bonnet sheds its water (it blocks up and the channel collects water and rusts the whole nose cone). There were fibreglass replacements for the nose cone that fixed that particular design flaw.

Other than that, a cheap little car that's loads of fun.