(First Posted September 3, 2013) The chances of spotting two shiny Fiat X1/9’s parked nose to tail are low, 23 years after the last one rolled off the assembly line. The chances that they both will be red, without any red from rust in a country that receives massive amounts of snow each winter, are very low. A lot of effort by a Fiat X1/9 enthusiast must have occurred to create this curbside scene in Sweden.
X-1/9s were a lot of fun to drive and basically helped to drive the final nail in the coffin of British “sports” cars. The great handling helped to make up for the fact that the original cars only came with a 1300 cc motor. I think that the ones that were photographed had 1500 cc mountain motors. They obviously have not been driven in winters as Fiats from that era didn’t do that kind of stuff well. The person(s) that owned these cars knows a good thing and wants to preserve it.
Amen! The Triumphs and MGs were archaic technology compared to the Alfas and Fiats. The Brits were prone to leak oil like BP and with the suspension of a buckboard. FIATS receive far too little respect for both the spiders and X1/9s.
Nice. These cars have an enthusiastic following; there’s several in similar fine shape here. It’s very easy to indulge in the usual Fix It Again Tony stereotypes. Like almost any car, with a bit of readily obtained knowledge (via the web) these are quite easy to keep in good order.
I do suspect that these were likely imported from Italy or somewhere in the more southern regions of Europe. Sweden is an affluent country, and its car enthusiasts are among the bigger net importers of special interest cars from wherever they can be found.
These X1/9’s coming from a sunnier part of Europe or even from California is a thought that I had also. Having seen a number of US-spec European make cars in Sweden, there are clearly a lot of re-imports from the US occurring.
The most common are R107 Mercedes SL’s, whose large US-market bumpers are easy to spot. I often have read that the 560SL was a popular re-import in Europe since it had the biggest engine of the R107 series, and they are indeed frequently seen in Sweden, but surprisingly I have also seen several 380SL’s. The 380SL is often declared to be the version to avoid because of valvetrain durability issues, stemming from a relatively weak single-row timing chain, but that issue clearly does not deter Swedes from buying them.
For some reason, the bigger engined SL:s were never imported to Sweden in the 80´s. We got the 300SL and the 380 and 420SL, but not the 500 and 560SL:s. So, seeing one of the latter cars, they are probably later imports. It had something to do with the harsh regulations and closed markets, were Sweden only had the same regulations as Switzerland and like, Austria.
The same with the W126, at first we only got the 280SE and 380SE, from -82 onwards we got the 500SE. From the Series 2 -85 onwards we got all the engine options.
Perhaps these cars belong to twin brothers? And if not, which one is the parts car? Or is the owner following DougD’s idea of owning several identical old cars, in order to approximate the reliability of a newer car?
I rather liked the final impact-bumper design on the X1/9 like we see on the subject cars. The early ones were even better but in the middle were these bizarre cage-like things as if the Italians only had enough time to meet the regs and not also to make them look nice.
I don’t know enough about Fiats to say if the Euro-market cars had US-style impact-bumpers too, that was usually not the case for the Germans, except Porsche. Considering Sweden’s appetite for classic cars it wouldn’t surprise me if these were sourced out of California.
I think you may be right. I haven’t seen an X1/9 in awhile, but those bumpers look like US-spec pieces. I guess it’s possible that they may have standardized the bumpers for all markets to this design at one point, as I think the US was taking the majority of these (and the 124 Spider) towards the end of their run. Google image search isn’t helping much in this instance, maybe it’s confused by the forward slash?
These X1/9’s coming from California is a thought that I had also. Having seen a number of US-spec European make cars in Sweden, there are clearly a lot of re-imports from the US occurring. The most common are R107 Mercedes SL’s, whose large US-market bumpers are easy to spot.
The Series 2 cars (82-89) assembled by Bertone all hade the US-spec bumpers in all of Europe. I guess it was just a convenience.
Incidentally, I always liked that dark maroon metallic, a color special to Bertone. The Volvo 780 was also quite common in that shade, as they were assembled alongside each other for a while.
I don’t think they were imported second hand, Fiat Imported quite a few of these to Sweden in the 80’s and sold them alongside its regular programme. This and the Alfa Spider, the R107 SL, and the 911 cabriolet was the last of the dinosaurs for a while, until the car makers started making roadster again with the Mazda Miata and the lot.
Here is the cage bumper…
First step to prep the car for Death Race…
What the TR7 could have been?A long time since I saw one on the street in the UK,our climate saw off quite a few of them.I can’t put my finger on it but the X19 style works and the TR7 doesn’t
these little spiders were possibly more common abroad than in italy, not many people loved the styling, the much more classic 124 spider was, and still is, better liked. As pointed before the later models all had those awful us-spec shelf bumpers that ruined the lines of every non american car…
Here’s my pride and joy… a NorCal car…
Had one briefly during…my best buddy and I had visions of repairing the side body damage and selling it for fast money. In what turned out to be the biggest fiasco known to mankind, the car actually got “lost” and I never recovered any of the money associated with it. For the short time I had behind the wheel, I really enjoyed it, and often think that having a decent weekend playtoy X1/9 would be fun…
X1/9 x 9 = 1
BMW X1?
The neighbor across the street has an X1/9. He drives it every day, winter and summer, and doesn’t seem to spend time working on it. Maybe this is the only good one, or maybe the bad reputation is overstated?
If Car & Driver is to be believed, the answer is no. There was once an editorial back in the seventies where the author claimed the car most likely to be found stranded on the side of the road was no longer the Vega, but had been replaced by the X1/9.
I actually saw one of these the other day and I had forgotten just how tiny they are.
I honestly don’t know if I could fit in one, with my height and gobs of muscles.
Well, okay, fatness. But this is the interwebs and I can say anything.
I always thought they were cool looking and I bet they’re a blast to drive.
…When they run, anyway.
I bet two could almost fit in a regular parking space as well.
It says my comment is awaiting moderation.
My comments are usually pretty pointed and not so moderate…
There is a burnt orange one of these for sale on the route I walk when I stay in Denver, and every time I slow way down to gaze at it I need to tell my right brain NO!
Speaking of Italian cars that you rarely see ……..
https://barnfinds.com/5k-genuine-miles-1984-pininfarina-azzurra/
Saw one of these “stuffed” under a 70’s Dodge van at a stop light, the X 19″s A pillar and the windshield were on the vans bumper, the driver was pretty shook up but okay.
Sometimes the idea of a car is better than the reality, and at least for me that was the case for the X1/9…I really liked the car in the early 80’s but never got a chance to drive one until probably 1984 when I took a test drive in the replacement Bertone X1/9. Being long legged for my height, I barely fit into it, the dash seemed very close, with the reverse spinning tachometer sticking in my memory..it did handle great, but so did the Scirocco I had at the time (which fit me much better). The more practical storage available in the Scirocco was another advantage which of course I should have known before the test drive. The open-air of the removable roof panel was also nice, but I’ve never been a removable nor T top nor convertible fan so allure lost here.
The test drive did cure me of my fascination with these…though nice cars, they just aren’t for me (anymore). I am a former Fiat (128) owner, so otherwise I would have been on-board with it.