Style and design, the X1/9 at its best.

I always fall for that -- must be the subject line. :)
Not sure which modification I admire most... The cow-catcher front end, the wheel wells that look like they were formed with tin-snips, or the new side mirrors, mounted up high and away from the body, not because the vehicle is pulling a large horse trailer, but because the body mods accommodating the large V8 engine actually obscures the line-of-sight of the factory mirrors.

"What has been seen cannot be unseen!"
 
I think this vehicle has to be the longest running eBay listing, ever! When you imagine "eBay X1/9"; what two cars instantly come to mind? This one and the modified silver one with side skirts, gold wheel and missing dizzy cap! That should be a clue to the seller.
Note:
The Brown FL car is creeping up though and poised to give these two a run for their money.
 
I posted that on one of the other threads as a joke a while back.
That picture has always been one of my favorite examples of ugly.
I guess you could give the front some leeway and pass it off as a funny car dragster but the back looks like it should be sitting on a construction site selling lunch.
Who ever did the body work must have had a discount card at Ace hardware. They couldn't even do a decent job on the wheel well arches.
 
And that rear spoiler to top it off - makes all the difference I'm sure. I agree that the rear view looks more like a lunch van.
 
lookforjoe said:
And that rear spoiler to top it off - makes all the difference I'm sure.
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I agree with you, no only does it look great but its very functional as well! [more sarcasm] Here is the proof....

Fiat-X19-with-a-Yamaha-R1-inline-four-01.jpg

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Looks like a stretched wheelbase- wonder what's it got under the "hood"? (No. 53, I mean)
 
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Tedd said:
It seems like the 79s get no respect
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Not so. My '79 was my first, and up until a couple of years ago, the only X1/9 I ever owned. It was the first year of the 1500/5-speed plus the styling refresh and I am very fond of mine. Yes, it was unfortunately burdened by a lot of emissions hardware, but that can all be dispensed with, unless you live in California, I guess. The great thing about the X1/9s is that Fiat/Bertone continued to evolve and improve them and most of the parts from the newer ones can be swapped onto the earlier ones. Sometimes easy, sometimes not so, but always fun to make it what you want. Hang in there and have fun with yours.
 
I believe '79 was the greatest number of X's sold for any single year in the US. So there are a lot of them out there to be criticized. And as the first year for a new drive-train/make-over, there were some development issues. It also happened to be a time when US regulations were difficult to meet for small automakers. And as mentioned emission controls were a big burden on them (it was before the EFI system was added).
But I think the exemplary example at the beginning of this thread shows just how much potential they had. ;)
 
My comment comes from noticing a number of 1979 project cars available in the last month I have lived the X life. Maybe limited sample size.
 
JimD said:
They do move.
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At first I thought they were just flexing around due to wind pressure deflecting them. But looking closer, on some turns they do pivot to help steer the car. However not every corner, so they must be manually controlled, and not tied into the steering system.
The rear wing also goes up and down at times. He must have 4 arms to drive this car.
Unfortunately the added close-up views of the car toward the beginning of the video make it even harder to look at.
Being bike engine powered, and with everything removed, it must be very light.
 
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