‘74 X On CL LA

My understanding is that it can be an advantage to have a later model car titled as a '74 if you live in Cali.
What do you do when some eagle eyed DMV employee figures out it's not a '74?
 
Well, it has shock tubes for the bumper mounts, the wrong rear valance and the wrong engine cover for a 74. My guess would be a 75-77. Is that custom striping on the gauge cluster? It looks pretty nice and I don't recall seeing that pattern before.

It has a MWB magnet in the trunk. ;)

Is 75 OK for mods in CA?
 
You know, a lot of people like the rocker panel painted black, I'm not one of them.

As others have already noted, NOT a '74. $14.5k? Uh, no....
 
MikeHynes said:
My understanding is that it can be an advantage to have a later model car titled as a '74 if you live in Cali.
What do you do when some eagle eyed DMV employee figures out it's not a '74?
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The advantage to having a '75 model year or lower is that they are exempt from bi-annual smog testing. Doesn't mean it's legal to remove emission equipment because it's not. To modify as you please, the vehicle has to be '66 and lower which are pre-smog (produced before the smog laws were in effect, although there was retro legislation that does require even pre-smog cars to be retrofitted with a PCV valve to eliminate road draft tubes). Everyone modifies '67-75s because the chance of getting caught and/or anyone caring is slim to none. The consequences for titling a car with an incorrect model year is complex. It depends on the circumstances. If a licensed dealer sold the car new and they processed the initial paperwork with the correct VIN, but listed '74 as the model year on a '75 car in error and it went through the system, it would require CHP to verify the actual model year and correct the registration in the very slim chance the error was ever discovered. DMV's policy position is to never put the consumer in harms way in dealer transactions. If a dealer did it, the dealer must correct it without any negative impact to the consumer. If the model year issue is due to an intentional alteration of the VIN, it again depends on circumstances. If that were discovered the vehicle would be seized by DMV. If the car was purchased from a dealer with an altered VIN, the consumer would have to be made whole (financially) by the dealer, regardless of how long ago the error occurred. If the dealer purchased the car that way unknowingly, the process of going back against the entity they acquired the car from is a long and winding road, but suffice to say everyone in the chain has financial liability to each other (auction to dealer, dealer to dealer, etc.). If the dealer actually altered the VIN, they could (and most likely) lose their license, be slapped with a massive fine, and possibly do some jail time. Dealers are the largest generators of sales tax in the State, so if it's a small used car sled lot the penalties will be big. If the dealer is a substantial new car store generating hundreds of millions of dollars in gross sales the penalties will primarily be financial (the State is usually not stupid enough to bite the hand that feeds them too hard). If Joe Blow hot-rodder intentionally alters a VIN, the vehicle is seized and the owner is facing a felony. Under Cali law, DMV Investigators are armed peace officers so they have seizure and arrest powers. Yes, people do alter VINs and many don't get caught, but for the minority that do, I doubt any car is worth the risk of a felony conviction.........
 
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SuperTopo said:
You know, a lot of people like the rocker panel painted black, I'm not one of them.
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And if you are going to paint the rockers black, make sure the top paint line on the door and fenders is at the same height. :)

When I see rockers painted black, I think rust repair. Like on my first car, a 69 Mustang that I did a lot of bondo work on prior to paint. I had the rockers painted black. ;)
jimd_69_mustang.jpg
 
Looks like a decent $5,000 X with the kinds of mods I'd like. Obviously cracked dash and the door panels are not getting it in matching yellow. Maybe it was a September 1974 build date and someone got confused.

When AI takes over DMVs, this will show up as a 2001 Buick Lesabre.
 
Is this one of our members? It kind of looks vaguely familiar.

I don't mean to criticize the car, it actually appears to be quite nice. However I've never quite understood color matching interior bits with the body....especially if it has a bright, non-traditional interior color on it.
 
JimD said:
rockers painted black, I think rust repair.
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yeah, not so much "repair" as bodge up and paint black. Knock the holes out a bit stuff with chicken wire and newspaper and fill over... Rattle can black, good as new. I hate the everything sprayed black underneath for the same reasons - the very best way to hide a multitude of sins.
 
ng_randolph said:
I'm curious what the large plastic reservoir in the engine bay (left side) is for. Odd placement if it is windshield washer fluid.
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My thought on that is CA probably frowns on dumping coolant on the ground. From what I can see, the clear tube comes out of the reservoir neck and is routed to that "catch tank". Of course, it looks like the catch tank would ultimately dump on the ground if it filled up. Lots of capacity in the 2nd tank, so you would have plenty of time to monitor the fluid level. :)
 
I think I recognize this car from 20+ years ago? It is (was?) owned by a woman named Claudia Naggiar in the L.A. (Highland Park/Eagle Rock?) area. Her brother Christian has had multiple hotrod X1/9's in the past (some shown here on Xweb), & both of them have had their cars at the Best of France & Italy show several times through the years. Christian also had a white 128 Sedan (modified of course), & IIRC he may have also bought Bob Turchan's Honda-powered X1/9?
 
Jeff Stich said:
I think I recognize this car from 20+ years ago? It is (was?) owned by a woman named Claudia Naggiar in the L.A. (Highland Park/Eagle Rock?) area. Her brother Christian has had multiple hotrod X1/9's in the past (some shown here on Xweb), & both of them have had their cars at the Best of France & Italy show several times through the years. Christian also had a white 128 Sedan (modified of course), & IIRC he may have also bought Bob Turchan's Honda-powered X1/9?
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On the money. https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/project-midnight-sunrise.40010/#post-365437
 
Hello Everyone. I have debated replying to this thread for a few reasons for a while now. I hope to tell my honest story with this car in case there are any interested parties that may see it.

This was the second classic Fiat I bought. It has been a great learning experience. I am a younger enthusiast that caught the Fiat bug a few years ago. I bought a 124 Spider that was a bit rough but lot of fun. I always heard that the X1/9 was a true driver's car. I saw this one for sale and my interest was piqued. It was unique but had many of the now hard to come by parts. As you can tell, I bought the car. I didn't know any better at the time regarding titles and vins, or the unique features of a 74. It was not made explicitly clear to me the nature of the car, and in fact it was originally listed as a 75 (I kept a record of the original listing and there are still fragments of the ebay ad out there). I didn't put all these things together at the time. I am clearly in a pickle that is partially my own fault. At this point I am strongly considering parting the car out because of my fear of liabilities in a sale. I just bought a 69 124 Spider that my inlaws are kindly letting me store in their garage, but I hope not to keep it there much longer.

To answer some of your questions/comments: the rockers are painted a matched purple to the other body trim. I have not had any reason to dig into them, but they seem solid to me. The rust that I know about is around the exhaust box under the trunk (which is not excessive), and the rear corners of the rear fenders (they are partially gone). There was one rust hole in the front trunk floor that was repaired before my purchase. The reservoir in the engine bay is an expansion tank for the coolant system -- this makes it an open system. As the engine temp changes the volume will increase and decrease in the tank. It was on the car when I bought it. I think it helps with bleeding the coolant, as you no longer have to wait for heat cycles to open the regular coolant tank's radiator cap. As pointed out, this car does have a long history in the LA area.

I have done my best to make this a well driving car. All the work mentioned in the listing is accurate. It does not over heat or have issues starting. The DCOE's do have a bit of a heat soak issue, but it has only happened in stop and go traffic. I just keep the idle a little higher so I don't have to baby the throttle if that occurs. If you shift 2 to 3 too fast it will grind. On the streets I have taken to double clutching just as insurance. 95% of the time it isn't an issue.

Regarding price: I certainly went high. The advice I got was to go high because you can always come down. I am open to offers. It is not a collector's car, but can be a driver. The paint cleaned up much better than I thought it ever would. I have a patch panel for the front fender dent if there was interest to fix it. But maybe because of the issues with this car that won't be in the cards.

My plan more or less is to park it as I am eager to start on my 69 Spider. I know parking cars is what kills them, but there has been little interest and I'm not sure what else to do. I don't have the ability to lie about what it is to get rid of it. It's not who I am. What's a running 1.6 SOHC worth these days? PBS crank, high compression pistons, John Edwards head...

I appreciate your guys good attitude and honesty all the time. Xweb is the best Fiat forum on the web. It's why I keep coming back.
 
All old cars have issues :) It is just a question of value. The real problem sales wise I think, is that the start price is way, way too high given the issues. That means you don't get offers as people are seeing maybe 5 or 6k value but the ask is 3 times that. If you want sell it, you need to meet the market. A thing is only worth what somebody will actually pay for it.
 
Ya,
All old cars have issues.
Not many eagle-eyed DMV people out there in my experience.
Why part it out?
Just be honest and price it fairly and it will all work out fine.
 
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