autofuturist
New Member
I ran across a thread involving questions about X19s that have been made into full convertibles. I am the guy you are looking for. My name is Tim Barton, and my partner (Dave Anders) and I built 33 "LITTLE SISTER" X19 topless conversions. Our company in 1979-1980 converted production cars to full convertibles, targas, T-Tops, etc. We were the first to do Mini Truck ragtops, and won the first SUPERBOWL OF MOTOCROSS with two converted Toyota Trucks.
In the late 1970s, Fiat dealers were strruggling. You could buy old 850s for $200.00. They were around. The X19s and the 124s were not selling well at all. We approached Henry S. Perrin Fiat in Alhambra about converting some X19s to full topless, with tear-down tops and full tonneau covers. Even though the X19 was already a Targa, the difference was amazing. We started converting the cars and Mr. Perren started selling the cars through his dealership.
We introduced the "LITTLE SISTER" at the LA AUTO EXPO car show in 1979. We had three cars on the floor. Part of the top conversion also involved removing the bumper spacers, which retracted the bumpers a few inches both front and rear. This was needed visually. The bumpers were already overkill, and with the top removed the look was a problem. There were a few other details added.
At that time, the Vice President of Fiat USA, Mr. Reccia, was coming to Riverside, California and asked to meet with us and look at the car. The driving experience after the conversion was quite different. It was far less claustrophobic and the engine singing away behind the cockpit was very pleasing. He bought a car from the dealer and sent it to Bertone in Italy for evaluation, so they might consider wider production of our modification. It did, indeed, help the flagging X19 sales.
Weeks passed. Word came back that Bertone passed on the project, ostensibly because the removal of the targa bar affected the structural rigidity. I countered that arguement, because in cases where cars needed more rigidity built in, we did so. That was job one! The first thing we did with the prototype was to do a torsional test. Remember, it was already a targa, so there would be no sagging in removing the bar. The torsional test (twisting the body like a rag) showed that it lost (measurably) no strength in removing the targa bar.
A few more weeks passed, and we noted that BERTONE had put one over on us. The 2+2 seat FERRARI MONDIAL (sometimes referred to as the "Ferrari Buick") was experiencing awful sales in the USA. It was also a mid-engine design, and also built by BERTONE. The Mondial was shown with a full soft top (using the "TOP SAILS" we developed for use on the Little Sister. They imported a few of the new Mondials. They immediately used one in a popular John Hughes movie. Sales took off, and they never looked back. Bertone also built a couple of examples of the X19 in Italy.
Although FIAT did not produce our top conversion design, BERTONE, who produced the X19 as well as the Mondial did, albeit for FERRARI. There was a little bit of satisfaction, however. ROAD & TRACK Magazine featured the Little Sister at that time, and properly credited us with being the world's first MID-ENGINE SOFT TOP PRODUCTION CAR.
There was one more element to the story. A couple of years later, Malcom Bricklin began negotiating to import only the X19 and the 124, but not the rest of the Fiats. Malcom contacted me about again starting up with the conversion, to be called something better than LITTLE SISTER, which was the first dealer's choice of name. He called the X19 the BERTONE, and I forget what he called the 124. He also contacted a firm to develop a turbocharger for the X19. We talked through his attorney for about six months, but he never had the funds to follow through. Too bad...it would have been great.
These days I live in Burbank, California, and still build cars and write automotive sheet metal coachbuilding books. Please visit my website at: www.autofuturist.org. I can be reached by email through the website. My old partner Dave Anders is still building new projects. He lives in Hesparia, California. A bit of trivia, the flyer shown elsewhere in the forums showing a lady dressed in a tennis outfit, standing next to the prototype LITTLE SISTER X19 is Dave's wife, who passed away some years ago.
One more thought. A few months after we started building the cars, the brown-colored prototype was in a major accident. The nose section crushed right up to the windshield, destroying the car. We took photos and sent them to BERTONE, showing that the cockpit was not affected at all in the accident, which destroyed their argument. That was met with silence as well. There was another agenda at work.
There you have it. The Fial X19 "LITTLE SISTER" was the world's first topless min-engine production car. Hope this helps to shed some light on our project history, and an important footnote in Fiat history as well. I do still have the VINs for all that were built in my storage room. Maybe some day...
My best,
Tim Barton
In the late 1970s, Fiat dealers were strruggling. You could buy old 850s for $200.00. They were around. The X19s and the 124s were not selling well at all. We approached Henry S. Perrin Fiat in Alhambra about converting some X19s to full topless, with tear-down tops and full tonneau covers. Even though the X19 was already a Targa, the difference was amazing. We started converting the cars and Mr. Perren started selling the cars through his dealership.
We introduced the "LITTLE SISTER" at the LA AUTO EXPO car show in 1979. We had three cars on the floor. Part of the top conversion also involved removing the bumper spacers, which retracted the bumpers a few inches both front and rear. This was needed visually. The bumpers were already overkill, and with the top removed the look was a problem. There were a few other details added.
At that time, the Vice President of Fiat USA, Mr. Reccia, was coming to Riverside, California and asked to meet with us and look at the car. The driving experience after the conversion was quite different. It was far less claustrophobic and the engine singing away behind the cockpit was very pleasing. He bought a car from the dealer and sent it to Bertone in Italy for evaluation, so they might consider wider production of our modification. It did, indeed, help the flagging X19 sales.
Weeks passed. Word came back that Bertone passed on the project, ostensibly because the removal of the targa bar affected the structural rigidity. I countered that arguement, because in cases where cars needed more rigidity built in, we did so. That was job one! The first thing we did with the prototype was to do a torsional test. Remember, it was already a targa, so there would be no sagging in removing the bar. The torsional test (twisting the body like a rag) showed that it lost (measurably) no strength in removing the targa bar.
A few more weeks passed, and we noted that BERTONE had put one over on us. The 2+2 seat FERRARI MONDIAL (sometimes referred to as the "Ferrari Buick") was experiencing awful sales in the USA. It was also a mid-engine design, and also built by BERTONE. The Mondial was shown with a full soft top (using the "TOP SAILS" we developed for use on the Little Sister. They imported a few of the new Mondials. They immediately used one in a popular John Hughes movie. Sales took off, and they never looked back. Bertone also built a couple of examples of the X19 in Italy.
Although FIAT did not produce our top conversion design, BERTONE, who produced the X19 as well as the Mondial did, albeit for FERRARI. There was a little bit of satisfaction, however. ROAD & TRACK Magazine featured the Little Sister at that time, and properly credited us with being the world's first MID-ENGINE SOFT TOP PRODUCTION CAR.
There was one more element to the story. A couple of years later, Malcom Bricklin began negotiating to import only the X19 and the 124, but not the rest of the Fiats. Malcom contacted me about again starting up with the conversion, to be called something better than LITTLE SISTER, which was the first dealer's choice of name. He called the X19 the BERTONE, and I forget what he called the 124. He also contacted a firm to develop a turbocharger for the X19. We talked through his attorney for about six months, but he never had the funds to follow through. Too bad...it would have been great.
These days I live in Burbank, California, and still build cars and write automotive sheet metal coachbuilding books. Please visit my website at: www.autofuturist.org. I can be reached by email through the website. My old partner Dave Anders is still building new projects. He lives in Hesparia, California. A bit of trivia, the flyer shown elsewhere in the forums showing a lady dressed in a tennis outfit, standing next to the prototype LITTLE SISTER X19 is Dave's wife, who passed away some years ago.
One more thought. A few months after we started building the cars, the brown-colored prototype was in a major accident. The nose section crushed right up to the windshield, destroying the car. We took photos and sent them to BERTONE, showing that the cockpit was not affected at all in the accident, which destroyed their argument. That was met with silence as well. There was another agenda at work.
There you have it. The Fial X19 "LITTLE SISTER" was the world's first topless min-engine production car. Hope this helps to shed some light on our project history, and an important footnote in Fiat history as well. I do still have the VINs for all that were built in my storage room. Maybe some day...
My best,
Tim Barton
