Were all black interiors rare on X 1/9s, or what?

WantAnX1/9

WantAnX1/9

Stuck in gear, leaking fluids, fire in progress...
At least based upon my serious searching for a '79-later 1500cc X 1/9, the cars I am finding seem overwhelmingly to be white/off white/beige interior.

I know tastes change, but I'd like to find a car with brown or black interior...but boy, is this looking to be a task!

I have several books on the X 1/9, but none outline year-to-year changes in exterior or interior colors, and it is hard to pin down what years had what paint colors, and what years had what interior colors.

Can someone shed some light on this? I used the search function for "interior color", but came up with empty leads.
 
If you are looking at 1979/80, you will find a lot of cream/offwhite or caramel/tan interior with Brown dashes. Some blue/blue or black/black or even blue seat with black dashes were throwned in. Bertone (1983 and up) had more all black interior in leather or black and light green or light red inserts in the seats. A few red leather also. There is a little more variety in the 1300cc engine generation. With some dark Brown/redish interior. Again, black or Brown dashes (I'm not sure about the Brown). It's just my experience, I have no documentation on this.
 
Daniel Forest said:
If you are looking at 1979/80, you will find a lot of cream/offwhite or caramel/tan interior with Brown dashes. Some blue/blue or black/black or even blue seat with black dashes were throwned in. Bertone (1983 and up) had more all black interior in leather or black and light green or light red inserts in the seats. A few red leather also. There is a little more variety in the 1300cc engine generation. With some dark Brown/redish interior. Again, black or Brown dashes (I'm not sure about the Brown). It's just my experience, I have no documentation on this.
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Thank you, Daniel.

I know the later Bertone cars, you would sometimes see all black, or all red seats.

I must admit, the early 1300cc cars, with the matching fitted luggage in the same fabric, and striped cloth interiors, they are kind of growing on me. Fabric is so hard to keep clean, though.

Those striped interiors look so 1970s, I fell like hanging a mini disco ball from the rear-view mirror!

I would really like to find a car with black or brown interior...I keep coming up with the white/beige, time and again. I may have no choice, as no reproduction door cards, rear cabin tire covers/firewall covers, and other interior inserts are being made (save for the seat covers and carpet sets). I envy those of you with brown or black interiors---looks a lot softer and upscale, at least to my eyes.
 
Depending on where you live, I was going to convert mine to a black interior and didn't. I have two leather door cards, a set of Vicks black vinyl seat covers and three seats in reasonable condition. I would part with everything for the price of the Vicks seat covers...

I am in NOVA...
 
Although a black interior is certainly easier to keep clean than a lighter colored interior, I would not want one in an X1/9 as those black seats and interior would really heat up in the summer with the top off. My X1/9 has cream colored seats with a brown dash. Never regretted having that lighter color.
 
mwp8101 said:
Although a black interior is certainly easier to keep clean than a lighter colored interior, I would not want one in an X1/9 as those black seats and interior would really heat up in the summer with the top off. My X1/9 has cream colored seats with a brown dash. Never regretted having that lighter color.
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Ditto.
My biggest gripe with Aussie car dealers is this insistence that ALL cars come with black interiors. For the hottest continent in the world! Bat poo crazy!
 
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I have two 1982's One has the cream/off white seats while the other is all black. Both get hot in the summer. I actually like both combinations. Really depends on the color of the car for me.

Interior.JPG DSCN0081.JPG
 
i Love the multi contrasting coloured interiors it suits the cars 70’s futuristic styling, although I draw the line at the orange interiors I’ve seen. Black is just boring...
 
My ‘79 had a dark brown interior from the factory, but the original seats were long gone when I got it. I ended up finding some perfect (like, pulled when new) early 1500 type seats that were black and I dyed the dash, trim & door cards black. I like it. I really like black interiors on all cars (and I’m NOT Australian), even though on anything the top comes off of it is exceptionally impractical during the hotter months. On the other hand, having driven convertibles for more than half my life now, I am well trained to always look for shade & ways to make shade when parking.
 
If you find a nice car that has an acceptable color dash, trim, etc., you might do well to get the seats and door cards redone. That way you can get exactly what you want in terms of color and material. I had my seats reupholstered when the car was a few years old and it was not too expensive. They used a black material used in the cabs of semis. So far it is still good. The 74 seat upholstery was real garbage. In fact, you could probably find Hefty bags that used thicker material. It was hard to get more than a couple of years out of them before they split unless you were a real lightweight. It also had fake seams on the inserts which made them look cheap.
 
My original 1981 X had black exterior paint with brown corn-row carpets and the saddle/medium brown (as opposed to the tobacco/darker brown) vinyl seats with the cloth "elbow patches." My inclination is to say the dash was brown, but at this point I cannot say that with metaphyscial certitude.
 
WantAnX1/9 said:
At least based upon my serious searching for a '79-later 1500cc X 1/9, the cars I am finding seem overwhelmingly to be white/off white/beige interior.

I know tastes change, but I'd like to find a car with brown or black interior...but boy, is this looking to be a task!

I have several books on the X 1/9, but none outline year-to-year changes in exterior or interior colors, and it is hard to pin down what years had what paint colors, and what years had what interior colors.

Can someone shed some light on this? I used the search function for "interior color", but came up with empty leads.
Click to expand...

One way to get a handle on such esoterica would be to hit up ebay looking for listings of FIAT dealer brochures. If there are listings from the years of interest, maybe the accompanying item pix might shed more light on what was being offered from year to year...
 
ecohen2 said:
Depending on where you live, I was going to convert mine to a black interior and didn't. I have two leather door cards, a set of Vicks black vinyl seat covers and three seats in reasonable condition. I would part with everything for the price of the Vicks seat covers...

I am in NOVA...
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You are on speed dial---don't have my X 1/9----yet.

Who knows? I may luck out and find one that already has a brown or black interior.

Or, I may have to call on you for a black interior...I might find a great car which happens to have a beige/white interior.

That beige/white interior I keep finding...it is...okay, but not to my taste, really.

Something a bit more, um, serious, better suits the car, for me at least.
 
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