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

glemon said:
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
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Sounds like You are describing my x19 😅
 
Thanks to RX1900 for sharing this information. I had a feeling these registrations would be much lower than most people assumed:(. I've been watching the market closely for the last three or four years and the cars just don't show up anymore. There are often two or three classic spyders for sale in my general region on a given day. But there have only been THREE X1/9's in the last TWO YEARS - and only one was currently registered.

I was surprised the '79s were not better represented in the numbers. Based on recent ads I would have thought at least 20% would be '79s followed by the '86s at about 10%. I think those two years saw a surge in new sales. In 1979 there were perhaps a lot of potential buyers waiting for the restyled 1500 and Fiat likely promoted the improved car heavily. I'm not sure why there are so many '86s but perhaps there was a big promotional push by Bertone. I've seen a lot of ads and brochures from 1985 and 1986. We should also consider the X1/9's competitors and their influence on sales. Fieros were off the charts at introduction in 1984 but soon withered.

Finally, these numbers are incredibly low for such a popular volume produced car. If it wasn't that clear before it should now be obvious that we should do everything we can to preserve and protect them. The attrition rate is still surprisingly very, very high. The key to preservation is market value. A $20,000 car will be taken care of. A $2,000 car will be used as a halfway house for disadvantaged raccoons. Just my $0.02.
 
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Wasn't 86 the year of the big price drop as a lot of content was removed in order to make the cars more affordable? I think the 86s got standard cloth seats, with optional A/C, and optional 2 tone paint. Earlier Bertones had standard leather, A/C, and two tone paint.
 
That makes a lot of sense from option content I've seen in the various models. Bertone tried to take the car upmarket in '83-85, but retrenched in '86? The '83s and '84s seem to always be better appointed than later Bertones (and rare). I have never seen a leather interior after '84.
 
I am a little bit chocked about the low numbers of X1/9's in US and CA.. We have a completely different system in Sweden so I cannot tell how many cars are in use here. However, in Sweden there is 402 X1/9's registered (they all have a number plate). I assume 50% of them are in use during the summer,time and the others are scrap/parts cars. Think about that the population in Sweden is just about 10 million, just a little above the number of inhabitants in New York. Obviously there is not 200 X1/9's running in New York. (Probably just @lookforjoe and a few others ;-)
I can't say that the X1/9 was cheap to buy here during the 70's and 80's. As a young guy during those years I couldn't afford it. So why is so many cars left in Sweden? -Could it be that Swedes takes better care of their cars than americans because of the pricetag? Or do we manufacture better cars (Volvo)? A car was (and still is) a big investment here because of the high tax. Could that be a reason? By the "high" number of Fiat cars here the prices are low, so even importing a Swedish X1/9 to US might be an idea as many of you are drewling about Euro cams, Uno Turbo engines etc that's hard to get over there?
BTW a lot of classic American cars are exported back to US because the market is low for them here. But we return them in better shape than when they came here.
 
EricH said:
It’s worse than you think - the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association has a vintage Miata class.
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Yeah. And my May 1989 production Spec Miata is now vintage eligible. Wow.
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Proud to say you can add my 79 to the bunch. I registered her last week and she is finally on the road!!! I've been tear assing around north jersey all week. It's been thrilling, reliving what I remember from my first one, and this one is "so much faster". An absolute blast to drive.
 
Regardless of the actual number of exxe on the road, registered or in what ever condition this discussion nicely illustrated the market value Brand Identity.

Consider what the market value of any highly valued moto status brand from Germany, US of A, Italy, French, UK or ? would affect the number of cars registered, parts availability, market value and the moto status conveyed to others directly due to ownership-driver etc of any widely accepted moto brand.

Actual content or technical excellence often does not enter into the market value of any given moto as moto folks are often focused on how many races won, what the published "specifications" are, moto folk myth of what any given moto should be and all that. It is much about moto folks dreams and fantasy much less about the harsh reality of what any moto actually is.

The above applies to a LOT more in life than just cars.


Bernice
 
Bjorn Nilson said:
I am a little bit chocked about the low numbers of X1/9's in US and CA.. We have a completely different system in Sweden so I cannot tell how many cars are in use here. However, in Sweden there is 402 X1/9's registered (they all have a number plate). I assume 50% of them are in use during the summer,time and the others are scrap/parts cars.
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I think we should maintain a healthy dose of skepticism when looking at any new data regardless of source. In looking at your Swedish vs. USA numbers I wonder if we are comparing cumulative vs. current? I suspect the Swedish number may be total unique VIN's ever registered while the USA numbers include only cars with current annual registration in year 2018. If that's true many of those Swedish cars may no longer be in country or even exist. One thing I wonder is if the person that did the USA query included "special registrations" (i.e. antique auto, planned non-operational, etc.) or if it is only standard registrations. We just don't know.

That said, culture and perception have surely had an impact on the survival rate of classic cars from one civilization to another. It's been my observation that US culture puts a premium on the HORSEPOWER and size of a car above almost all else. Most here drive huge trucks and SUV's with thirsty V8's. Perhaps it's the open spaces, large people, and cheap gas? Who knows? But Fiat X1/9's have traditionally been perceived as barely a car because of their low horsepower number and tiny dimensions. By contrast, Italy's crowded cities, outrageous fuel prices and high tax burden make an X1/9 look much more attractive to even the most macho driver. Heck, everyone drives tiny cars in Italy. The Chevy C8 has a 495 hp rating for the BASE model.
 
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I was under the impression 10% of the North American market for the x19 was in Canada, which is what Doug's number reflect. But I would have think the disappearance of the car in Canada would have been faster because of our hard winters and our liberal use of salt. But it may also reflects the fact many car in the Southern states were used all year long and are tired, while most users in Canada are keeping them into heated garage over the hard season. So the disapperace factor was right in the earliest year, but not now.
 
In Latvia we have one X19 in register. But actually here they are 4 that I know.
4 cars on 1.6 million population

System here is that You can put a car that You are owning at any time off and on register on app (that costs 13€). If a car is off the register- anuall taxes must not be payed, taxation period is one month.

X19 tax is 38€ per year.
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Members in this forum

Hi, I read, in the right bottom corner box, there are 3668 members in this forum. I believe 95% are from North America. That would mean around 3500 members. Knowing many of them got more than 1 x19, that lead to a 4000 of x19 still alive in America. OK, I guess all members don't have x19, but...
xwebforums.com
 
Cratecruncher said:
I think we should maintain a healthy dose of skepticism when looking at any new data regardless of source. In looking at your Swedish vs. USA numbers I wonder if we are comparing cumulative vs. current?
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The swedish data is current, but I cannot tell if all cars in the registry are in use/activated. Even my car is not activated at the moment because I don't drive it during the winter season. That saves me some money as I don't need to pay road tax and insurance fees etc. I will "activate" it again next spring. But all the 402 X1/9 cars listed exist and have a licensing plate, and thereby the owner must pay an annual registration fee (6 USD). If a car goes for destruction or exported, it will lose the licensing plate and VIN and will be removed from the registry.
 
I took the production numbers JIMD posted in the link Daniel provided then converted them to model year sales using a simple July1 to June30 split. As Daniel has mentioned the Canada numbers get a bit confusing in the Bertone period but here they are.

USA survival by model year:
1974 0.74%
1975 0.13
1976 0.14
1977 0.24
1978 0.37
1979 1.09
1980 0.68
1981 1.51
1982 8.84
1983 4.29
1984 5.11
1985 4.89
1986 9.65
1987+ 6.72

Canada survival by model year:
1974 0.94%
1975 0.11
1976 0.41
1977 0
1978 0.16
1979 0.67
1980 0.16
1981 77.
1982 38.
1983 7.32

The ladder bumper cars have all but disappeared considering they were the peak of the importation numbers. They averaged 0.22% survival. The bikini bumper cars did better at 0.74%. The carb'd 1500 models did slightly better than the bikini cars at 0.89%. But the best survivors are clearly the Fuel Injected cars at 6.6%. I didn't include Canada numbers in this paragraph because I fear the numbers are too small to have meaning when we start averaging.

I expected to see the FI cars do well due mainly to reliability. I agree with the reasons mentioned by RX1900 for the demise of the ladder bumpered cars. I am still a bit surprised/shocked the carb'd 1500's have done so badly. Maybe it's because many fell into de-smog limbo and just disappeared.
 
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