Why did I buy an X1/9 ?????:idea:

Well,
I didnt actually buy it, but my uncle bought one for me... (Lucky me), as I kept going on and on and on that i LOVE Them. So he actually bought a reasonable condition one that he is sending from UK to Cyprus for me.

I have never ever ever driven one. No, i didnt dirve one before deciding i want one. I have only sat in one for not even 1 minute, just to see what it looks inside(dont really remember though). I have never ever been near one before that.

I always like old, classic cars when i see them, and i go through a phaze of wanting to own one e.g (Ford Escort, Toyota Celica '72 and later, Volvo P1800, Spitfire, Fiat 126, Mini, BMW 2002, Mercedes SL, ) just to name a few.

But i always had the X1/9 deep in my heart, and no matter what everybody in my family thinks, I think they are DAMN SEXY Cars , and I JUST WANTED ONE.
I remember seing one when visiting my aunty's house when i was about 5-7 years old. I am now 30, and i am sure that i will always own it, if not, own another one at least.

So it was like a childhood sweetheart , whereas as others have the Lamborghini Countach I HAD THE :worship: X1/9 .

So this is my story.

What is yoru story ????


George

thats great to hear, i saw my first X when i was a little boy around 4-5 and i remember it was green. looking back now i belive it was a '74 1300. i didnt know what it was or have seen one since, until around 13 when i found a dirty magazine and there was an ad from '77 that had compared a Ferrari, maserati,& a lambo to the X1/9. i tore the add out and have it to this day, and ive had 3 X's since an '83, '81, and '79 that i havenow

your gonna be hooked, and thats great!!! welcome to the club!

Been hooked on them since i was very little. My first two were toys
Got my first one when I was 20 and had five more since including a full on race version with the same sort of power to weight ratio as a mclaren f1.

They are just such enormous fun to drive! I can't help but keep going back to them despite having owned other great toys inbetween (TVR Griffith 500, Integra Type-R, etc)

The X1/9 appealed to my father, because it was made out of 128 bits and he had very high regard for the 128: he bought a 128 saloon for my mother in 1973 and she drove it until 1997, and he also owned a 128 Coupe from 1989 to 1997 when I inherited it.

You see, my father had promised me an X1/9 for my 18th birthday (I wasn't terribly keen on the idea!) and so after he passed away a week after my 17th birthday, I decided to restore the 128 Coupe instead. But I never actually liked that car very much - it was uncomfortable to drive and I found the handling rather sledge-like, so, I sold it two years ago and bought my '88 Bertone instead (75,000km on the clock)... and there you go!

I'm not sure that I like driving my X1/9 all that much in absolute terms; it doesn't handle as confidently as my Alfa Romeo 164 (and is about 120bhp short!) and it definitely doesn't have the pocket-rocket feel of my Uno Turbo. But everyone else thinks it's the best of my three cars! And most importantly, my father would have liked it. He would have hated the slush-box of the Alfa, and would probably have laughed at my 15" alloys on the Uno and the big-bore exhaust...

-Alex

I first saw a picture of an X19 when I was about 6/7 years old. It was "miss" August (from memory) of the Fiat Auto calender of 1972. Great frontal shot of a yellow series 1 at speed with some guy behind the wheel.

I was hooked since that day, and saw my first X19 in the fleash when I visited europe with my dad in 1977.

Since reaching the legal driving age I lusted after them. I bought my first one (78 series 1 with original 50k km) in 1985 and have owned that since (now twin cam powered), and several others including a 1987 bertone, but still prefer the earlier versions looks over the later.

SteveC

Well the X 1/9 was the first car i actually fell deeply in love with, not to mention the first car i bought.

Last year, when i was 15, i was just looking around and saw an ad for an 84 X1/9 in the paper for 2500$US. I didnt know what an X1/9 looked like, so i googled it. I pretty much got excited and went over to look at the car.

It was yellow.Engine ran great. Tranny needed a crapload of work. Exhaust needed replaced. Rust everywhere. I was determined to buy it. But my father said it was overpriced, i knew it was but didnt really care, i still decided to not buy it though.

So last week i had found an 88 Alfa Romeo Spider for 2200$US and it needed some work, but it was worth well over 2200. I decided to have my dad look at it on the way home. He liked it. I decided that i wanted to drive it.

So that nite, i started looking up the parts i needed on ebay and guess what came up?

A 79 Bertone X1/9, and the bid was $700. My ambitions for the Alfa were immediatly crushed and i bid until i won. It went for $1100US, with a little donated money i ended up paying about 900 for it.

It does need work. You can check out my post "Rough Idle, wont stay started.." if youde like to help me out.

This is the best problem i have ever had, since i am in fact mechanically inclined i can handle the work.

Im 16 now, dont get my license til summer, but the next best thing to driving my X is working on it.

Hi All

As some of you know I only bought my first X19 last week and it has been in the garage since as it broke down on the way back from London. Picked the motor up on Sat and I have had a great weekend driving it around the lanes around my house. Best of all the work only cost a hundred quid.

( Anyone know how much brake pads should cost by the way )

I am looking for any excuse at present to get out of the house to give me an excuse to drive the damned thing. I think I am hooked already!

Bought it as I read a great article in the Indie a couple of weeks ago. I only had a small budget for a two seater and the X19 looks a great car for the money.

Regards All

I was 21 in 1978 (that makes me 49 now!) when I first saw an X1/9. At that time I was the very proud owner of a 124 BC. To me the X1/9 was the latest and greatest offering from Fiat and although I wanted one then I couldn't afford it. The desire to own an X1/9 never really went away - it just got suppressed a little by other life enriching events like marriage, children etc. Around 18 months ago I finally purchased my X1/9. It needed a little work to get it back on the road but since then I have almost used it like a daily driver.
I wish I hadn't waited so long to own the best handling fun machine I have ever driven. The only thing that stops this car going around corners faster is my own apprehension and fear!
This is my first post on this forum having just discovered it today. By far the best, informative forum I've come across yet.

I just bought one a day ago. In fact I've never heard of the x1/9 until I saw one at the lot. Originally I went to go look at a Datsun Sunny that was advertised on the net. But when I arrived I saw other cars that caught my attention. There were two Nissan 300zx's and Two Fiero's but one x1/9. I got in the car and the rest was history. Just for kicks I went on autotrader.com and cars.com to see how many x1/9 were available. NONE. The rarity of the car is crazy. I see more porsches 911 than I do x1/9s.

Saw it across the road from where I work...been parked there for a long time. I liked the lines and it promised to make a nice project, although it was in very poor condition...Oh ya...it fitted into my budget.....and it was virtually rust free!!!

One year down the line.......it's not even 50% completed.....but it's starting to look/sound nice.

I was looking for one on ebay, lamenting the high cost of shipping, when I noticed one for sale...around the corner. At that point the decision was out of my hands ;-)

renaldo, i hate to break this to ya, but the choice was never in your hands....much like every other X owner, the cars are of the type either you love it or hate it, in which case it was appealing to you thus the diesision was made the first time you laid eyes on it , you just might not have realized it then...... by the way welcome to your future obsesion

I worked on them when i started work first of all as a panal beater about 23 years ago.We did a lot of work for motor services of Bath and had a lot of fiats and alfas.The x1/9 looked a class apart from anything else and i wanted one but could not afford one back then.I bought a lancia delta hf turbo and restored that but it was the x1/9 i wanted.Then on ebay i seen a black 87 with 58000 miles one but no pictures so i waited for the auction to finish with 1 bid but reserve not meet email the lady had a look at it and bought it for £250.i am in the middle of restoring it.

I bought my Dad a book for Xmas one year entitled 'dream cars'. Magic book with great pictures. In there was a piece on the X1/9 and while i knew of the car, the write up sold me on them.

It said there how Mr. Agnelli abandoned his limo so that he could drive himself to work in a X1/9 everyday because he loved the handling. That was me Sold! If it's good enough for the fiat boss, it's good enough for me!

I'm now in my 25th year and lucky enough to have 2 of them! one runs while the other is being restored for race.

Much like everyone else here, I was smitten by the X1/9 from a young age....I was 11 I think.... what really attracted me to this car was the Targa top and its styling which I thought was so similar to the Ferrari 308GTS which is my favourite looking car of all time. As with all cars ( and music my other love) it usually comes down to a mixture of nostalgia and the age you were experiencing new things in life that attracts you to them and makes you look back with such fond memories. For me taking my X1/9 out on a balmy summer evening is one of the small pleasure in life I wouldn't want to go without. Just when you think I might sell it and get something a little more refined/powerful/comfortable, you take it out for a spin and within minutes you realise why you've kept it for so long and will
never part with it. I can't afford a 308, and even if I could, would propably never sell the X. I love the fact its so seventies and doesn't have a computer chip in it, computers in cars just don't do it for me...nuff said.

My first FIAT was a stock 128 SOHC 1116cc that was a s c r e a m e r
Had Minis before that
But the 128's SOHC engine started my love of FIATs
Can't remember the first time I saw an X1/9
But it was love at first sight
The love of an X1/9s dropped nose and pop up lights was reinforced when a mate I shared a house with at Polytechnic bought a TR7, that was a simply AWFuL motor, I had tried to convince him that an X1/9 was a far better car.....
He sold the TR and bought an MG
When i got my first job after Poly I went back to a Mini cos it was cheap
6 months later I flew that Mini at 70mph into a 6 foot wide+deep ditch that was 12 feet from the edge of the lane
Bent EVERY panel accept the bootlid
Needed a car to get to work, had to get a car loan because the crashed Mini was worth NoWT
So decided if I was to going to be paying monthly loan payments I wanted
A car I LOVED
A car that went round corners fast
A car with a strong bodyshell
So I bought my first X1/9

I was 10 years old in the summer of 1979, when I saw my first X.
Since then I have wanted one, now that I`m in the middle of the 40 crisis.
I had an opportunity to get on. Found my X i Sweden in January.
Its an 1980 model, and are under some repair before registration next year.

What better way to fix the mid life crisis than with a mid engined car!, I am 50 and had dreamed of an X since the 70's when I got my first car a 1.6 capri, the X just stood out but couldn't afford one and not really practical for hauling tools and diesel around as I was in contracting at the time, Had a girlfriend who owned one,, you have to have a blonde with a targa top..... and so got the job of sorting out all the usual bits. anyway the urge went away, like the woman, and only ignited last year, now I have 3, 1985, 1988 and 1989 both GFs, I am now doing a complete strip down of my 1989 have sourced lots of new parts and with 2 donor vehicles hope to do a good job. Got gearbox parts new in Skopje as same as some of the Zastava out there also ignition switch etc. dearest car was €550 cheapest €200 so am willing to spend on refurb. have just built a rotissarie for it so body work can be done properly. I know the power is modest but I wan't to keep it original, I have a GTV 2.0ts for a good burn when I feel the need but the x is still my favourite. my 16 yr old daughter wants to drive it as well, she will drive anything and has, MF 220, JCB 3CX, Ulysse but can't wait to try the X, must say something about the car after all these years if it still appeals to todays teenagers.

My first Fiat was a 1975 124 Spider (with California emissions:bang . I went on to own a 131 coupe, 131 sedan, 128 2-door sedan, 124 wagon (quite rare in the US) and an '86 Yugo. However, I always wanted a mid-engined car so naturally the X1/9 was the logical choice. One day in 1996 I saw an '85 Bertone X1/9 with a bad engine listed the in the Seattle Times classifieds for $300. It had been sitting in a field at a military base for 5 years and was really dirty but rust free. I bought it, fixed it and drove all over the Western US and Canada for the next 4 years. It's been sitting in my garage for the last 10 years. Just drove it last week for the first time in a really long time.

I always seem to have been aware of them, but my interest peaked 4 or 5 years ago when I was looking for a random project car and they seemed just about perfect. My interest tailed off for a while, but then someone I knew slightly came to work in his gran finale, I sat in it for 10 mins - about a month later I had bought mine....