Junkyard Find: 1978 Fiat X1/9
The Fiat X1/9, like the Fiat 124 Sport Spider, is one of those old European cars that hasn’t held its value so well, which means you’ll see plenty of them in the sort of self-service wrecking yards that I frequent. We’ve seen this ’78, this ’78, this ’80 and this ’86 so far in this series, and now I’ve got another ’78 to show you.
Bertone did the design on these things, and Malcolm Bricklin kept bringing Bertone-badged X1/9s in after Fiat retreated from the United States market.
The running gear was Fiat 128 stuff, swapped from the front of the 128 to just behind the driver in the X1/9. Power wasn’t much, but the car was quite agile.
This one will go to The Crusher with the steering wheel lock still in place.
The incomparable, dynamic Fiat X1/9!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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Years ago, I saw one of those Fiats in Denver perched high atop a jacked-up 4x4 chassis. Beyond weird!
I've owned one of these. it was the most fun car to drive on a winding road. It was small, light, neutral handling. it would break down and I'd think to myself it was time to sell it. then I'd fix it and take it out for a test run up the coast highway and fall in love again. I'd like to get another pre-smog X1/9, do nice restoration, hotrod the engine and have some fun. I miss that car.