Jeff, I have to agree with you. Those front parking lights are really too big for that small 850 body. Do you have any suggestions for something smaller?
I think the width of each lamp housing is probably ok, but the height needs to be trimmed down to make them less visually obtrusive. Mentally dipping into the Fiat parts bin, I think maybe something like the front lamps used on the later European 850 Spider/Racer & 850 Sport Coupe? They are close in size to the original USA 850 Spider/Racer front lamps used on your car, but are slightly shorter in height (about 2/3). The lamp wiring is on the backside of the housing & exits to the side. Lenses come in either amber/orange color or clear/white. The Euro lights look like this:
Or...you could adapt a pair of the early USA 850 Spider front turn lamps (though they're often harder to find & pricey because they're also used on big-$$$ Alfa/Maserati/Lambo/etc. cars). These are much smaller in both width & height, & look like this when mounted on the car:
The lamp socket & wiring exit on top of the light, but all that's needed to mount them is to drill a hole on the underside of the bumper for the lamp socket to fit up into. The lamp housing can be held in place either using the stock mounting bracket or simply using the 2 holes already running vertically through the housing, with 2 long screws/bolts holding them to the bottom of the bumper. (I'll try to find photos of this lamp assembly/layout, it's hard to explain in writing).
I may still have an extra pair of the first lamps I mentioned, I'll have to look in the parts stash. Last I saw them, the chrome was pitted, but since you're opting for black that really doesn't matter, all you'd have to do is sand & paint 'em to suit your taste. I may also have some NOS lenses, if not, C. Obert &/or eBay.it has them in either color. My spare lamps look like this:
I may also have a pair of the early USA 850 Spider lamps, but I'm not sure if I want to sell those or not. If you have any parts removed from your Racer that you didn't use, I might be interested in a trade...I'm in need of the driver-side rear 1/4 glass, a driver-side interior door panel & a factory center console in good shape for my own 850 Racer. Got any of those? :excited:
Also thinking of aesthetics on the front of your car, I might suggest lowering the (horizontal) bumper level maybe an inch or so if possible, maybe bringing it closer to the same level as the factory body seam on the nose of the car (your bumper currently sits above this). This can be done using the original early-model bumper bracket bolt-holes in each frame rail, & some slight sheetmetal modification on the nose of the car.
Early 850 Spiders had the bumper mounted just slightly below the horizontal body seam on the nose of the car, that is, the bumper brackets exited through the body just below that seam, & held the bumper at a level where that body seam was directly behind it (picture the bumper blade being a "C" shape, with the bumper bracket protruding into the center/interior of the "C" & the body seam just above the bracket protruding into the upper interior part of the "C").
The later 850 Spider & the 850 Racer had their bumper height raised to meet USA Fed/DOT regulations, which was accomplished by Fiat simply welding a square-profile tube onto the top of each front "frame-rail" inside the trunk, cutting 2 new holes in the nose
above the body seam & fitting the bumper brackets into these using the 2 original bolts (per side). The 2 new bracket pass-through ports (holes) were punched into the nose sheetmetal in front of & slightly above each framerail, so the bumper brackets can slide right into their "new" mounts. The horizontal nose body seam is now below the bumper brackets, with old/original 2 bumper bracket pass-through holes in the nose welded-up (ie: not factory-cut).
Providing that there's enough clearance between the backside of your X1/9 bumper blade & that body seam, you can lower your bumper height without modifying the current bracketry/mounting by simply cutting 2 new square holes (slots) in the nose below the body seam & directly in line with your current "later" pass-through holes, in order for the bumper brackets to pass through. If I remember correctly, the "old" mounting bracket bolt-holes are still there on each inboard-side of the frame rail inside the trunk. Here's where the old bolt holes should be: