How many X1/9s are still on the road ??

I think most guesses are far too low. For fun I checked numbers of X1/9 in Sweden and here are 402 of them, and I assume 50% are in traffic. Sweden is a tiny country compared to US and the car was not very popular here. I thought X1/9 was rare here but obviously it's not. A different story with my other classic, a Ford Probe GT with only 70 cars left.
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Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
A person named Dierk in Germany used to maintain a list of USA serial # / VINs. The lowest number is 4823 dated 11/73, which would make sense as FIAT first brought the X1/9 to the USA as a 1974 model. If one assumes that FIAT started X1/9 serial numbering with 000001, then cars #1 thru #4282 were the first '72 and '73 models made for the home market and Europe. The highest recorded USA market serial #/VIN on Dierk's list was 166034 from 5/88. That also pretty much jibes with the last cars to be brought in thru Miro Kiefert's MIK Motors.

Again looking at the list, if you assume sequential numbers, then a VIN occurring in a gap between the numbers on the USA list could either be a VIN assigned to a car sold somewhere other than USA, or could be a USA VIN that was never specifically captured by the list as a USA VIN.

The point of this ramble is to say that it's a fair assumption to think that the highest known serial #/VIN number should represent the total number of cars built. Since the highest known VIN is 166034, one could say with reasonable accuracy that around 166,000 X1/9s were made over its lifetime. If there exists a still-higher VIN say in Italy, Germany, or the UK, then that car's VIN would tell us the ultimate quantity of X1/9s built.
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Ok my numbers are off, 180k, I presume world wide according to this:

Road test; Fiat X1/9 - Motor Sport Magazine

Soldiering on • • After 17 years, everybody’s favourite Fiat is being phased out. The last X1/9s have rolled off the Bertone lines, and about 300 are on their way to this country to satisfy a demand which has tapered off over the years but never quite disappeared. In fact, last year Fiat UK sold […]
www.motorsportmagazine.com www.motorsportmagazine.com
 
Bjorn Nilson said:
I think most guesses are far too low. For fun I checked numbers of X1/9 in Sweden and here are 402 of them, and I assume 50% are in traffic. Sweden is a tiny country compared to US and the car was not very popular here. I thought X1/9 was rare here but obviously it's not. A different story with my other classic, a Ford Probe GT with only 70 cars left.
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hah...interesting world in which a Ford Probe is considered a "classic" :) I must be getting old.
 
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bjwhite said:
hah...interesting world in which a Ford Probe is considered a "classic" :) I must be getting old.
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Yeah, I agree in a way. I bought it new 1993 so it is only 27 years old, but it feels like yesterday so I must be getting old too. But it is still looking modern in a way compared to most other American made cars from the early 90's.
 
Bjorn Nilson said:
Yeah, I agree in a way. I bought it new 1993 so it is only 27 years old, but it feels like yesterday so I must be getting old too. But it is still looking modern in a way compared to most other American made cars from the early 90's.
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I think there are more Mitsubishi Eclipse's still on the road here than the Ford version of the platform. :D
 
lookforjoe said:
I think there are more Mitsubishi Eclipse's still on the road here than the Ford version of the platform. :D
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IIRC the "other" version of the Ford Probe was the Mazda MX-6.

Ford's traditional Asian partner IIRC since the Ford Courier mini-pickup has been Mazda.
Chrysler's Asian partner has been Mitsubishi.
The General's Asian partners have been Isuzu in Japan and Daewoo in Korea.
I don't think AMC ever hooked up in the Far East, but they did work with Renault and some of their cars had Audi engines for a couple of model years, don't recall which ATM.
 
lookforjoe said:
I think there are more Mitsubishi Eclipse's still on the road here than the Ford version of the platform. :D
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You are mixing it up Huss. The Probe is built on the Mazda MX6/626 platform. Very little Ford tech in it (which I appreciate). The MX6 never came to Sweden.
 
Bjorn Nilson said:
I think most guesses are far too low.
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Bjorn, we are talking about car actually licenced for the road. In my case, I have 2 cars, but one got plates only a few months a year, just to avoid going thru inspection the next time. The other is in restoration for a long time. I guess there are many sleeping x19's into garages that are not licenced. And a big part of it will end up as parts car... :(

So my guess is 150 for Canada
and 1650 for US
 
Well....we certainly have a wide divergence of opinions here.......

And thanks for playing along Bia. Up until your guess a couple of minutes ago, Daniel was the only Canadian who ventured into the fray...and would have won by default. Much as we all love Daniel.....we did not want to see that !!

I'll announce results...even broken down by year....and winners at 10 am Eastern time Friday morning.

Keep guessing til then.. Stay tuned.
 
rx1900 said:
Well....we certainly have a wide divergence of opinions here.......

And thanks for playing along Bia. Up until your guess a couple of minutes ago, Daniel was the only Canadian who ventured into the fray...and would have won by default. Much as we all love Daniel.....we did not want to see that !!

I'll announce results...even broken down by year....and winners at 10 am Eastern time Friday morning.

Keep guessing til then.. Stay tuned.
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We definitely can’t let Daniel win by default! Lol
 
rx1900 said:
Well....we certainly have a wide divergence of opinions here.......

And thanks for playing along Bia. Up until your guess a couple of minutes ago, Daniel was the only Canadian who ventured into the fray...and would have won by default. Much as we all love Daniel.....we did not want to see that !!

I'll announce results...even broken down by year....and winners at 10 am Eastern time Friday morning.

Keep guessing til then.. Stay tuned.
Click to expand...
I will win anyway... 😇
 
1400 US
500 Canada

Car survival is an interesting thing, a combination of reliability, desirability, and a certain, je ne sais quoi, which kind of relates to original use market and desirability.

Cars like Mercedes 450SLs were built in relatively small numbers, lead pampered lives in garages, often as 3rd or 4th or whatever cars, and at least according to how many I see on CL and Facebook Marketplace survive in proportionately big numbers.

Cars like Chevettes, Vegas, Chrysler K cars, were built in huge numbers and were driven in the ground and scrapped. Hardly any still around.

Cars like Fiat X1/9s and first generation RX7 live in a middle ground, built in decent numbers, went from desirable to (for most) dated sports cars that were bought cheap by owners that couldn't afford to maintain them, accelerating their spiral into the perception that they are craptraps and nearly worthless.

But unlike Ford Fairmonts and Dodge Aspens an appreciable number of people felt they were special enough to squirrel them away in their garage or keep driving them, and a combination of newfound scarcity, nostalgia and an appreciation of fun cars keeps a chunk of them alive.

How big a chunk I don't know, my numbers are a wild ass guess. Coming from the British car world I know that nearly half the Austin Healey 3000s sold in the states are still accounted for dead or alive, but Sprites, sold in bigger numbers, survive in fewer. I may be low on my guess here, but sticking to it.

The RX8 in my opinion is going to go through an accelerated version of the middle class sports car collector curve, the reliability causing rapid depreciation and scrapping, and in a few years the sudden scarcity will prop interest back up.

TL/DR cars get cheap and scrapped until they aren't anymore.
 
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