Bobkat
1979 x1/9
Not sure if there would be a market. The market is kind of tiny. I may see once the all the other stratosish parts are all finalized to see if there is interest.
Fiat x1/9 Stratos style
- Thread starter DanielForest
- Start date
Not sure if there would be a market. The market is kind of tiny. I may see once the all the other stratosish parts are all finalized to see if there is interest.
Dr.Jeff
True Classic
There was another member that came up with some very cool bumpers and other custom parts - including some in carbon fiber. He was hoping to sell them for a little profit. It did not go very well. In fact it appears he is no longer active on the forum after the disappointment. Another experience is one of the popular Fiat vendors that invested in some improved suspension components after a member helped to develop them. He still has a container load of those components waiting to sell many years later. And there have been more examples of the same thing; yet another member has sold some of the products he came up with, but he's mentioned the overall results were not great - some of the lesser expensive items paid for themselves while others have not. On the whole we tend to be a frugal crowd and few X owners will spend a lot of money for non-essential parts. So it might depend on the cost to produce the components and therefore the selling point. I certainly don't intend to discourage the effort, just passing along known experiences of others for reference.
Bobkat
1979 x1/9
I have long given up on trying to produce parts then try to sell them. Prepaid before molds are made is the only possible way to cover small runs. The cost of producing molds is way to high and the break even point is usually 30 -50 parts. I am getting way to old to work for free or at a loss. It is always strange that there are a lot of people that don't understand that you can not sell a part for $150 that cost you $300 to make. On the stratos full conversion. I will most likely make a short run molds for 3-4 sets.
Black-Tooth
Tony Natoli
Bob, Doc...
The "fan base" and the actual minimal sales of our cars rather limit us from seeking a huge retirement from producing parts... especially for a profit.
Also, as Doc said, we do appear to be a very frugal bunch as well as getting older by the day.
BUT... if you were to produce 3 or 4 of these kinds of thing, you mostly likely could recover some of the costs it took you to produce ONE for yourself.
The parts would be somewhat of a ONE-OF-NONE item and could be sought after by others.
Just some thoughts...
Oh, and one last thing... I am really not interested in getting one of your bumpers but I am still indeed enthused with your design and apparent craftsmanship. Lots of folks like the '74 bumperette and block look and sales of those, as well as the repops and aesthetic kits seem to do relatively well. Good luck with your build and keep us posted!
Bobkat
1979 x1/9
I started out by making some early style bumperettes but was not really happy with the look, still too big. I was going to cut them down to make thinner versions but went a different way. The problem with selling those over something like my thinline bumper is the 74 style requires 4 molds rather than 1. Even worse for cost recovery.
Bobkat
1979 x1/9
Still need it I just got side tracked looking for shipping. I will try again Monday and PM you.
CnC79X19
True Classic
Honestly no hurry Bob, just wanted to make sure its still in your plans. Its not in the way and I'll keep it for you regardless, just let me know when you figure something out shipping wise. I'm slowly picking away at what I can and sending stuff to guys here to help them get their projects farther along.
Cliff
JNewm
True Classic
If you ever decide to make a limited run of some of these parts, sign me up for a set of those side-marker lights/mounts! And I'd be sorely tempted by that rear spoiler--that thing is downright seX1/9y. Really fun to see this one coming together.
RickSwanRacing
Daily Driver
Greetings! This is my first post to this site. I am a brand new X19 owner.. I have been involved one way or another with rally for a couple decades now and stumbled across this discussions in my search for Louvres and a spoiler similar to a Stratos. So needless to say I was very excited to see this chain. While my competition car is a 2002 WRX, I have always wanted to build a historical style car and thought it would be great to turn an X19 into that sort of styling. So question would be for BobKat I suppose: where did the Stratos style spoiler and lights come from? Did you fabricate those? Sadly my construction season is coming to an end here in Vermont as I don't have a garage and all work being done to both the X19 and WRX are done in teh driveway. Thanks for including me into the group and thanks for any helpful feedback.
Dr.Jeff
True Classic
Welcome to the forum Rick. I'll let BobKat answer your question about his build.
But I'm curious about your idea for a historical style race car. Do you mean a rally style car? Possibly something along the lines of the ones from Abarth back in the day?
Black-Tooth
Tony Natoli
Just adding my "welcome" to this forum, Rick.
I think you'll find this (weird) group of enthusiasts are some of the most knowledgeable, friendly and helpful on the planet.
BTW, I always thought you folks in the upper NE had construction seasons lasting 9 months... usually in a basement somewhere. From the way you describe yourself and your interests, I would think your first priority would be to build a well insulated garage... heated of course.
HA!
Welcome again to the dark side!
RickSwanRacing
Daily Driver
Hey Dr Jeff. Id like to something sort of like this but with my own spin. I dont necessarily want to do the Prototipio ( I think?) with the wide body, rather Id like to do the flares as in the picture above, as well as the recessed Cibie or Hella lamps in the corners. I want to retain the pop up lights. I wouldnt mind a duckbill spoiler but those seem impossible to find. SO likely I would attempt to fabricate my own stratos style spoiler or rather purchase one if I could find one. For now I will retain the 1.5i engine and see how that goes. I have only had the car about 2-3 weeks so I dont even really know if the engine in it is intact. Crossing fingers
RickSwanRacing
Daily Driver
Hi Tony! Yes the building season here is ... well.. unreliable lol. This year not so bad... relatively early spring. The fall has been odd. A week ago here is was about 30F and 4" of snow, today and for a few days about 72F. So the cover came off the Fiat and I began patching the floor. This project wasnt really planned for but if was an opportunity I couldnt pass up. A garage had been on the table for this summer but due to covid I was furloughed in March and that has turned into an unemployment. So this summer was full of house projects, sadly just not a garage. Therefore everything gets done in the driveway, weather dependent. I am including a picture of my 2002 WRX rallycross car that was entirely built in my driveway. You havent lived until you are welding on a wet ground in gravel. My 19 year old is trying to convince me that he thinks we can get the Fiats motor out and into the basement this winter for a once or twice over but I am unsure... Id like to know the weight... I had thought somewhere I had seen the weight as about 180lbs.
Dr.Jeff
True Classic
Sounds like a great project. I'm with you, I wouldn't want to try and copy a particular model, but rather create my own version. I mainly wanted to show the Prototipo as a "rally" example, to see if that was along the lines of what you were talking about. Having said you race rally I assumed that was your interest, opposed to a hot street version. There are plenty of better examples of actual rally X1/9's on Google Image for inspiration.
The ducktail spoiler for the X is still available, either as a add-on item to the stock trunk lid, or as a complete trunk lid replacement. But I don't currently see it listed on Matt's site. Maybe check with him to see if he has any available
www.midwest-bayless.com
The ducktail spoiler for the X is still available, either as a add-on item to the stock trunk lid, or as a complete trunk lid replacement. But I don't currently see it listed on Matt's site. Maybe check with him to see if he has any available
Fiat X19 Air Dams - Grilles - Spoilers
Shop from a wide selection of Fiat X19 Air Dams - Grilles - Spoilers at Midwest Bayless, the leader in Fiat and Lancia auto parts.
www.midwest-bayless.com
RickSwanRacing
Daily Driver
Sounds like a great project. I'm with you, I wouldn't want to try and copy a particular model, but rather create my own version. I mainly wanted to show the Prototipo as a "rally" example, to see if that was along the lines of what you were talking about. Having said you race rally I assumed that was your interest, opposed to a hot street version. There are plenty of better examples of actual rally X1/9's on Google Image for inspiration.
View attachment 38162View attachment 38163View attachment 38164View attachment 38165
The ducktail spoiler for the X is still available, either as a add-on item to the stock trunk lid, or as a complete trunk lid replacement. But I don't currently see it listed on Matt's site. Maybe check with him to see if he has any available
Fiat X19 Air Dams - Grilles - Spoilers
Shop from a wide selection of Fiat X19 Air Dams - Grilles - Spoilers at Midwest Bayless, the leader in Fiat and Lancia auto parts.
Excellent, Thanks for the feedback. Yes the rally style is what I am shooting for. I like the looks of the sterotypical Fulvia's: red with flat black hood. I was thinking that route with flares and a spoiler, then I saw the X19 stratos concept you just shared above and kind of got the: hmmm thats doable... Idea..
DanielForest
True Classic
It could be easily done. Drop the engine and transmission on the ground. Yes, on the X19 you could lift the engine, but the usual method is from underneath. Remove the transmission from the engine. Now, you will have 3 choices...
1) Ask your 19 year old son to help you move it down in the basement.
2) Using wood planks, make it slide downstairs
3) Remove the head from the block. Then you will be able to move the head and the block separately all by yourself. But I would go with #1.
I did it with a friend when my garage wasn't heated. I had a woodstove in my basement. So I did a rebuild there. Then I used my friend to lift the engine back in the garage in the Spring.
DanielForest
True Classic
So, if you prefer the kind of flares you got on your WRX, you probably like the Dallara X19. The body kit is still available. In fact, MWB was offering one with slight imperfections at a discount. Not sure if it's still available...
RickSwanRacing
Daily Driver
Thanks Daniel. So to make sure I understand: with transmission separated from the engine the engine is a doable 2 person lift? Unfortunately basement is the only warm and dry workspace I have at the moment. Thanks!
dllubin
Don
Last time I moved my 1300 into the basement, I just put it on a hand truck and rolled it. Wish I would have thought of that the time before that when I ended up carrying the block with just the crank and pistons a 100+ feet from the car to the basement. I sould have cleaned it a little better before I moved it. It ended up much cleaner by the time I made it to the basement at the expense of what I was wearing. Using the hand truck was uneventful.