The parking lot of my local Sprouts Market that houses a branch of the Post Office within and has a UPS Store down the row along with a Starbucks and a few other places that we tend to frequent has become something of a honey hole for me over the last couple of years, allowing me to stash away some finds for when the urge strikes to write about something neither new nor completely used up. So today it’s the turn of this happy little car that I found at the beginning of June. The car is obviously a Fiat X1/9, the diminutive little sportster sold here between 1974 and 1989, first as a Fiat, and then as a Bertone starting in 1983 until the end.
I can’t pin down the exact year beyond it being a 1975-1978 version due to the “ladder” style bumpers front and rear. All X1/9s were powered in those years by a carb’d 1290 cc 4-cylinder engine producing 61hp coupled with a 4-speed gearbox. Later models would receive a 1.5 liter and a 5-speed. Weighing only around 2000 pounds, performance was spritely for the day but thankfully the quick and good handling provided by the mid-engine design allowed one to not lose too much speed in the corners.
I’ll admit to not usually being much of a fan of the X1/9 but in this color which reminds me a lot of the early 1980’s VW/Audi Mars Red color that I repainted my first motorcycle in, it speaks to me. The little steel wheels (13″ with 145 section tires as stock), the black trim, very limited chrome or stainless trim and targa roof are all things that work together well here. Under those wheels are 8.9″ discs all the way around, and alloy wheels were an option. Pricing started at $4,608 in 1975, but by 1978 was up to $5,700. Not cheap but not exotic car material either.
Designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, there’s obvious pedigree there even if the car itself didn’t necessarily benefit from the greatest reputation during its lifespan. As I look at these pictures I’m seeing a lot of little details I never really looked at before, like this little grille here but also the way they designed the very subtle triple pinstripe to flow along the flank of the car up the pillar and then back down it again and off towards the front of the car. Nicely done. The black air inlets lower on the flanks look interesting as do the metal door handles. I guess I grew up with cars that employed a lot more black plastic details as compared to chrome ones of earlier eras so that all works for me at least.
The large lamps are attractive as well and conform to the lines of the car too. Perhaps they aren’t really that large but the small size of the car makes them so. Those bumpers really are quite large but could have been so much worse if they were solid and that size, the double girder design at least adds some character I suppose. The black engine cover nestled between the buttresses is oh-so-gloriously 70’s as well.
These really weren’t on my radar all that much when I started driving and the Toyota MR2 came out (as well as the Fiero), interestingly while both obviously draw on the general layout, both of those come across as much stubbier yet wider designs, the Fiat has a comparatively longer front end, at least visually. Of course by that time they had become Bertone-badged and volumes were down significantly, even in SoCal where they weren’t completely uncommon. Total production (worldwide between 1972 and 1989) was right at 160,000 with about 19,500 of those badged as Bertone.
The inside looks well worn here yet comfortable and hardly beyond rescuing, the dashboard looks mirror imaged from left to right but curiously right hand drive examples weren’t offered until 1976, well into the run. I love the removable stereo cage that looks right from the 80’s and the vents and levers for the HVAC as well as the chunky switches are quite Italian. Noticeable also are the embossed door panels, that angling of the patters looks very much like the angling of the future /F/I/A/T/ logotype, doesn’t it?
Actually that angling also seems to align very much with what’s going on with the logo here as well. This particular car isn’t flawless, but it’s far from ratty, with a little attention to the seats this may in fact be one of the better ones still around, it seems to get driven and looks cared for. I later spotted the owner leaving the lot, he had stowed the targa top and was enjoying the sun as he wheeled the car out of the driveway. It certainly brightened up the usual assemblage of greige-colored cars in the lot that day.
I came across this video, while of what looks like a 1980 or 1981 model it starts off with the then-current public TV commercial for the car and afterwards becomes a dealer advertisement discussing the car, all set to great footage of someone wheeling the car (in what looks like the same color as the earlier model I found above) around the Laguna Seca racetrack outside of Monterey. Having driven on that track a number of times myself, I found it fun to watch and think the X1/9 would be a car that you could pretty much stay flat out in around most areas of that track, i.e. lots of fun to work on cornering technique and learning how to keep the speed up.
Related Reading:
Vintage R&T Review: 1974 Fiat X1/9 – A Pleasant Surprise
Curbside Classic: Fiat X1/9 – The Mid-Engine Revolution Arrives On Main Street
I don’t recall ever seeing those bumpers before (and my brain is seared now from seeing them). I assume most owners removed/replaced them.
Maybe some, but not having any bumpers in the US is a bit of a risk too.
I found another X1/9 recently, a later version, actually a Bertone X1/9, after Fiat left the US, which had a different and somewhat less brain searing design. But the X1/9 was of course designed before bumper regs, so it was a real challenge to make it conform.
That’s a great find too, the Bertone versions (from 1983) were quite rare with about 19,500 produced until the end.
I snagged a Bertone version a number of years ago. I knew they were not common, but that low production figure surprised me.
I love the Lancia Scorpion wheels on the yellow one.
Here’s the front:
I think those bumpers were only offered on the 1976-78 X1/9s. At first, US X1/9s had less obtrusive, dagmar-type bumpers, but these odd-looking ones like on our featured car came out two years later. For ’79 they were replaced by the bumpers like in Paul’s example above.
I meant to write 1975-1978 in the headline and changed it, thanks. I do see lots of references to them for 1975 (and images of cars) but they did change for 1979.
Yes, I have a feeling it may be ’75. I wasn’t sure at first, but I wrote 1976 because I have an X1/9 ad in my collection from an April, 1975 magazine. But Fiat quite likely recycled ads, so it could have been an that was produced much earlier, or maybe the bumper change was a running change made during the 1975 model year.
I remember that Consumer Reports did a job on this, I believe they rated the handling as unsafe.
IIRC, the some model years of the Porsche 914 had a serious issue with the shiny metal front end treatment blinding other drivers or disappearing into the pavement causing it to be in an unusual number of accidents. I could see the X1/9 having issues with drivers of large American cars in the mid-’70s not noticing them in time, and they certainly had a typical European load of quality issues. On the other hand, anyone who lost control of a stock X1/9 with sound suspension and tires was 100% at fault. This was a car of high limits, gentle break away characteristics, and limited power.
wasn’t that
CR said the handling made it unsafe – it spun around or something
had to be around 1976 or 1977
That would have been when they were warming up to say that the 1978 Omni and Horizon with power steering were unsafe because if you sawed the wheel back and forth before taking your hands off at full-lock then the steering wouldn’t self-center fast enough.
I knew a bunch of people who had no formal high performance driver training who treated X1/9s like they were amusement park Model-Ts with guide-rails to no ill effect. The mid-engine FIATs had well-located strut independent rear ends with no bad habits and none of the front-rear brake balance issues that the first generation Montecarlo/Scorpion suffered from. I just can’t imagine a car with more benign handling.
Years ago – 23, if you must know – I briefly drove one. The 1.3 four was like an evangelist, full of noisy enthusiasm but leaving me quite unmoved, or at minimum, moved not very far. Also, with the traditional Italian driving position in such a toy-size incarnation, my forward vision was badly impaired by my knees, in fact rising to brief total occlusion upon each gearchange.
No, that’s mean. It was enormous fun, and protective of the licence with it, as all sorts of revving and hoofing it didn’t much crack the given limits, and the handling was just beautiful. The interior seemed pleasantly Ghandini-esque of the time, and when buzzing about, I couldn’t see those slightly dubious looks he’d crafted for the outside. To be fair to him, many a designer has muffed it when trying to design a sweet-looking, small, mid-engined car. In fact, has anybody really achieved that? MR2, CRX, MGF, they all end up looking like a variation on a shoe to me.
I always understood that the requirement of the ’75 legislation was for 5 mph bumpers, leaving one to contemplate the level of confusion in Milan that resulted in Fiat fitting small farm gates instead.
“Small farm gates” – golden!
I desperately wanted one of these as my first car. I ended up with a ’82 Dodge (Mitsubishi) Challenger, which was likely a much more reliable and safe bet. Later I scratched the teeny tiny convertible itch with a couple of MG Midgets, but I still really want an X1/9.
Although you covered the way it looks (seemingly the top priority for commenters) the real interest in this car was the way it was packaged and engineered.
Imagine those cutaways the Italians are so good at drawing and then imagine stuffing all the components for a tiny mid-engine runabout into the smallest and lowest profile that still enabled getting two or three of your fingers wedged in around each component.
I owned two of these, a green one and a brown one (briefly for resale) and delighted in the way they were built (and thanking the gods that I wouldn’t have to work on the mechanicals). The spare tire, for example, had its own tiny storage capsule behind one of the seats. They were great fun to drive, especially in the sense of making use of the limited power to express your skill instead of the use of a dumb foot to get you in trouble.
They were fragile in the FIAT manner with tons of little 10mm nuts that broke off if you looked at them cross-eyed.
So not a long term keeper, which makes this one all the more special.
Fiat handled small style details better than most. Different model (124), but my favorite element, the trunk key lock integrated into the “2000” script.
Great details! And great eye!
A friend bought one during our final semester in high school. He had progressed from a 1600 cc Pinto. I had never cared much for the looks of these and could not really get enthusiastic about it. I like them a lot better now, but would prefer the Fiat convertible roadster any day.
Well-known Fiat specialist Midwest Bayless reengineered one with a 2.0 L Acura K20 engine plus 6 speed manual some years ago, turning it into a mini-supercar. Would love to have that one, but it apparently sold for $30,000 … bright yellow, best color to survive in modern traffic.
The car was craving for a bigger engine but I suppose your Fiat / Lancia dealer would steer you towards the Lancia Scorpion/Monte Carlo if your bank manager would let you. A friend and I flip keys. I drove his 79 X/19 1500 and he drove my Spitfire 1500. The Fiat was all about handling, high revs in low gear. He thought the Spitfire was all about…. 1950s motoring!.
Swinging rear axle and all noise and no play engine. Hard to believe there was only a decade between the cars launch date .
For a hot minute I thought this might have been the very X1/9 that used to by in my Mom’s neighborhood in Centennial, I used to take walk by it every day and was for sale for a while. Different bumpers though, later model as it turns out
Anyone else realize that ‘Mythbusters’ were headed down the toilet when they destroyed a complete and presentable Bertone X1/9 in one of their staged stunts? It is a shame that there isn’t a market for cars like this today, but there also aren’t many small sedans with drivetrains worthy of powering sports cars.
Was that the one they smashed between semi trucks? I found it irritating for how all for nothing it was, the experiment got screwed up multiple times from cable failures so the car was already smashed by the end, and difficult to definitively call whatever myth it was plausible or busted
Sad as it was I thought that was at the show’s peak. The automotive turning point for me was when they acquired several mid 60s Imperials to destroy to test “myths”(?) from the Seth Rogan Green Hornet reboot nobody saw. It was a blatant promotional stunt, really unbecoming to the premise of the show.
Thankfully I had tuned out by then. That would have stunk to watch. I liked the show early on, but they ran out of real myths to plausibly test and became reliant on destruction to appeal to an ever-less scientifically-curious audience. I heard that they eventually ditched their three supporting researchers, who were always my favorite contributors to the show anyway.
Yeah when they dropped them I was officially gone, I enjoyed them all more too. Sadly Grant Imahara passed away this month.
I did not know that. I see he died of a brain aneurism. The tributes from Kari Byron and Tory Belleci are nice. I get the impression that there is little sentiment for the two stars of the show.
https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/grant-imahara-kari-byron-tory-belleci-tribute-1234711843/
Another of the remaining 9 gave up the ghost earlier this year. My neighbor who had been driving it daily for 20 years finally switched to an SUV.
I drove a couple these in the late seventies when I was looking for a car to replace my ’73 Nova. The little Fiat was certainly fun to drive, in some ways it was like driving a go kart with body work. As others above have said you could drive it pretty hard and still not be in danger of exceeding the speed limit by very much. What finally convinced me that I didn’t want one was the limited room inside and, being a Fiat to be honest. Fair or not Fiats of that era had a reputation for marginal build quality as well as being not especially reliable. I ended up buying a VW Rabbit for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost to get the Fiat. I ended up driving the VW for well over 100k miles. finally trading it away as the body (the poor thing never was kept in a garage) was starting to rust pretty badly.
I’ll admit to being tempted by one of these for a fun car to go alongside the Giulietta, with a nice Italian and 70s (2 good things!) vibe about it. If onlty I could believe it would be fully dependable.
And those bumpers….well. I’ve seen worse. But also a lot better.
I had a 1974 X1/9 back in the late 80’s. Absolutely, without question, and by far the worst car (and I’m using the term “car” very loosely) I ever owned. I think the only day I had it that it didn’t break down was the day I bought it and drove it home. It was so bad I once offered a guy $50 if he would take it, and he turned me down. So I offered him $250. He still turned me down.
When I finally found a car to trade it in on (a 1976 MGB — which proved to be a paragon of reliability compared to the FIAT), it took me three separate attempts over the course of a week to drive the 20 miles to the dealer’s where the MG was. First attempt, the shift linkage broke, leaving me stuck in 1st gear. Second attempt, it started throwing oil all over the back glass and back deck. When I tried to open the engine cover to track down the issue, the cable from the lever to the engine cover broke so I couldn’t even get the engine cover open to figure out what had broken this time (turned out to be a busted hose). I probably spent $1,000 on that FIAT just to get it to the dealer to trade it in on anything else.
Probably the first time I paid attention to the FIAT X1/9 was when I saw one in the 1976 movie “Silver Streak” that was being re-run on a local ABC affiliate in the ’80s. I remember thinking it reminded me of a Fiero, and it had me scrambling to look through my books to see if the Fiero had been offered in an earlier iteration.
I also remember these cars being plentiful in and around the San Francisco Bay area about twenty years ago, and being misreferred to as the “X/19”. LOL I still call them the “X/19” in my head.
I’m surprised no one mentioned the European bumpers–or perhaps “bumperettes”.
I saw a few these “neat new Fiat sports cars” in the mid-70s, driven by US military stationed Athens, Greece. A couple had the dorky US bumpers wrecked the appearance of this otherwise great-looking car, but a couple had the very trim European bumpers, and looked terrific to my 11-year old eyes.
When the X1/9 came out the Porsche 914 was still fresh in my mind so it seemed like a smaller more sharply styled 914. The two coolest details for me were the two chrome levers in the door jamb for the engine cover and frunk and the symmetric tachometer and speedometer.
I still like the idea of a small mid engine car bu I’d get a first gen Toyota MR2 since it’s much better put together than the Fiat.
Still recall reading about these in a 1974 Popular Mechanics when these first came out, (I had just gotten my learner’s permit, and a car like this I was unlikely to ever drive….but it intrigued me, but it wasn’t until many years later (think it was 1987) I got a chance to test drive the Bertone version, new, at a dealership. Guess I should have know beforehand, but it was just too small for me, though I generally like small cars, it was “too” small. Remember the backwards spinning tachometer, and the sound of the engine just behind my head.
Guess I was in a “try them all” mode that year, also got a test drive in an Alfa GTV2000
a Mazda 626 (likely the hatch version…with the oscillating vent doors), a Mitsubishi Galant Sigma (came really close to buying it but reconsidered), a Honda Accord Hatch (would have bought but they didn’t offer fuel injection except on highest trim version that came with power windows/locks, which back then for me was a deal breaker) ..and I ended up with a VW GTi 1.8 8v, which I had until I bought my current (VW Golf) in 2000, keeping my VW streak since 1981 going.
I did own a Fiat 128 for a couple months early on in college..manual everything (including choke) ran premium fuel and tiny (7 gal?) fuel tank, car was a rustbucket and transmission lost a gear, ended up junking it…my only fore into Fiat.