Why did you buy your first X ?

racerx

racerx

Autoxer
for me it was all my brothers fault .About 20 years ago my brother and I used to to go autox racing together all the time like every other weekend . back than I had a 87 Honda Civic SI and my brother had a 81 X ( he still has it ).One day we were at an event together It was at Bennett race way in Utica ,IL it was a go kart racing track ( its not there any more which sucks I really loved that track ) a real kart track not one of those fun cart tracks anyway we would go twice around for a time well we ran all day and at the end of the day the hosting club let us do fun runs my brother let me take his X out for a run man what a blast ever since that day my goal was to have an X .A few years later I got one and have had it ever since.
 
mine was because of Barbie... Seriously!

I didnt really catch it till later, but in 1985 I saw a green 79 X for sale and bought it. Always loved the wedge shape. Didnt realize until later that my sisters barbie sportscar was the runabout that was used as a prototype for the X19! (yes I now own that barbie car in my fiat collection) Owned a X every since with the exception of a 1 year lapse in college


Odie
 
My first X19

was actually my first new car purchase... a '74 X. I was making my way through a parking lot on foot to my girlfriend's (lovely Linda, of Italian descent) apartment and saw one... that sand/beige color... one look and I knew I had to have one. It is the only big ticket purchase I've ever made that was "on impulse". I bought my green '74 without even driving her. At that time, they couldn't keep one on the showroom floor for more than a day, they were selling so fast.
 
Great thread idea.

I did not like X's at all, too angular and quirky.

I was well into my third Spider when a "unpassupable" offer came up and I finally decided to see what it was about. $500 for a 79' that was in great condition and a custom fender kit. It looked cooler than a stock X, I was getting a little curious about X's....my mechanic, who's worked on X's since they were new, said I should think about it. In addition to not liking the looks, I thought they'd be way to small for my 6' 3" frame and this was confirmed sitting in a stock X. The 79' had a smaller steering wheel, so that got my attention. I was still truculent about it, but curiosity prevailed.

The guy I bought it from lived in OK City and was an engineer and had autocrossed this car. I just went over and bought it. I still have that 79 though I've had an 83, 85, and most recently an 86 during that time, still like the 79 the best. I'd have to admit that I came to this website like right at ten years ago and it was immediately helpful at understanding things. Obi Wan Natoli helped me with the cracked windshield.....sending my not one, not two, but even a third windshield because they kept getting busted in shipping.

From that point on, I've been sold on X's, and this website makes such a huge difference becuase of the helpful community, that's really the truth.
 
I always liked the design every since I saw one in the late 70's but could never afford one. When I joined the Army, I was stationed in Louisiana. My first leave I set out to go back home and drive my '71 AMC AMX back to base. Let me tell you that alone was an adventure. Between dropping (yes, it fell off the car) the starter at 75mph just outside of Knoxville, TN on a Sunday night. To averaging 6.5mpg for the whole 1200 mile trip (304/360CI w/ tunnel ram and Holley 750 double pumper will do that). Once I put a new starter in it, the car just wasnt acting right. The final straw was a complete wiring meltdown under the dash. I sold the car off for next to nothing and just wanted it gone. I do miss that car.

Anyways, I'm cruising around with a buddy in Lake Charles, LA as this is the closest piece of civilization near post. We got lost and as we're driving down a back street I noticed a turd brown 76 X on the side of the road with a for sale sign in the window. I copied down the pertinent info and checked it out. Not a spot of rust nor anything seemingly wrong with it. The next day I call the number, it was some college chicks car and she was moving. I call the CU and got a loan for $1500 and call her back to say its sold. I loved that car, but it really hated me. 1 engine fire, 3 transmissions and a vapor lock issue that you could set your clock to. Oh, and a drivers side window. I ended up signing over the title to AAMCO as I was thru with it.
 
Pasted from my website...

...how I bought my first X circa '92 or so...

HOW I CAME TO BUY THE RedWedgeX Racecar...

This story is an example of fate and destiny. I had another project X before this one, which was to be a lowbuck autocrosser. At the time, I had lost interest in working on cars in general, and really didn't know much about X1/9s, so all I ever did with that car was swap in a 1500. There it sat for years, while I tended to long-deferred homeowner projects. (My house had been neglected for a few years while going through a messy divorce, and then neglected for a few more years while I ran my CP Camaro in every possible event.) But the cost and hassle of running the Camaro motivated me to look for a smaller, lightweight autocrosser. I couldn't afford a Formula Ford, so an X1/9 seemed like a good choice. Being a do-it-yourself type, I naturally figured I should build a raceX instead of buying one. But when I started adding up the cost of beginning at Ground Zero, I realized that it was gonna be expensive. And no Internet in those days to lend a hand, I was strictly on my own, with little X knowledge and no access to knowledge. So after getting that X running, I lost interest, and the car sat for years.
At this point, I stumbled across the RedWedge RaceX, and did so in an unusual way. I was at an antique car swapmeet, been on my feet all day, hot, tired, hungry. Parking was more than a mile away, but after watching several full shuttle buses go past, I decided to hoof it to my car. As I'm hoofing, I spotted this racey looking RedWedge...what the heck is that I wondered. Walk over...and holy ****! That's an X1/9, cloaked in a racecar body. At this point the PO saw my surprise and delight, and knew he had a live one on the hook.

The fact that the PO was even there is bizzare. He was from 140 miles away, had heard there was a swapmeet. He didn't know that it's one of the largest antique car swapmeets on the WestCoast...not the place to sell a broken racecar, and virtually no chance of finding a place to park with racecar in tow within miles of the place. Ignorance must be bliss, because he not only hauled it all that way, he also BS'ed his way past Security Guards, and actually found a place to park truck/trailer in the spectator area. So the chances of him overcoming all those obstacles was a minor miracle. Adding to that, the chances of me happening to walk by is another minor miracle. Further, I just happened to have a motor ready to bolt in, and even had acquired a tiltbed trailer that was custom built for hauling an X1/9. And there I was, looking at a fabulous X1/9 racecar that only needed a motor and a trailer, and at a price that was way less that the cost of the goodies on it, never minding the cost of the fancy body. It was so obviously my destiny, that the deal was consumated within 30 minutes...and I am one to normally ponder any purchase for at least a few days.

So we made the deal, got a bite to eat, and he followed me to my house. An aside here: I was collecting American Torque-Thrust wheels at the time, so that was my mission at the swapmeet. On arriving home, my ladyfriend's first question was to ask if I found any deals on wheels. I responded, "Aye-yup, found four great wheels...and they came attached to a racecar!"
 
My X's were all free,

so, technically, I never "bought" one. It helped that I was working at a Fiat Dealership in the late 70s and early 80s and people would horribly mess up their Fiats and then want to dump them. I got my first 74 X when I was describing to a customer what replacing a blown head gasket would entail. After finding out the cost, the customer just wanted to get rid of it, asked me how much I would give for it, I told him nothing, so he gave it to me. That 74 X became my D Stock autocross car. My next 74 X was in excellent condition, just needed a clutch, tranny rebuild, and clutch master, but the customer had enough and, when I told him I could only offer him $20 (because that's all I had) he said I could just have it for free. Fast forward to this past year. I'm cruising thru my local Craigs List "Free" section and I see Fiat. When I click on the link, it's for a complete 80 X that hasn't run since 1987. I call the guy up, he tells me I'm number 12 in line for the car, but I give him my number to give to whoever gets the X to offer my services to get it on the road again. I explain to the original owner that I'm probably the only person Association of Fiat Service Technicians certified to call, so we talk about old Fiats and he takes my number. Four hours later he calls me up, asks me if I still want the X, and tells me he is tired of people calling him up and asking what kind of gas mileage the X gets when IT HASN'T RUN SINCE 1987. Free X number 3.
Dave
 
(Circa 1985) My first X was 2 X's bought by my ex. Those 2 X's were then combined with the best parts from both X's to form one X. The bright yellow one sacrificed itself to save the dark green one. I believe it was a 1976. I loved that little wedge-shaped scooter until the gas pedal fell off, and I had never worked on a car before. The ex, not at the time yet an ex, let it sit and wouldn't put the gas pedal back on. I went without a car for months. This is one of the reasons the ex became an ex. This is why I now work on my own X. :p
 
im on my first x... bought it 4 years ago from a customer of my friend's shop, they had brought it in and they couldnt get it running, so i bought it, rebuilt the carb, put new points in, and it fired right up!

cant say i got it for free, but its been one heck of a ride since!
*edit* forgot the why... anyways, i saw it in the corner of the lot, took a look, did some research, that car sat there for months.. and every time i delivered parts, i kept staring at it, i just loved the look of it, then i found out it actually handled great, then i found xweb, and i was sold, made an offer, the rest is history

my first mid-engine rwd car.. ive driven front engine fwd, awd, and FR cars.. and i like MR's best
 
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Interesting Topic...Great stories...How I came across the X1/9 and X1/9 history...

I was in Jr high in the late 80s, early 90s when I first saw an X1/9. I had seen the Spyders before, but not the X1/9. I loved it. I thought they were somewhat exotic. The faded silver car was a 1977 sitting off to the side of someone's house in the weeds. Never got a close look at it, but loved the look of it. About 2 years later the car was moved to a body shop near my mom's house and the poor thing was still sitting in the weeds. Almost another year later(about 1993...High School Junior), I decided to research to find out who owned it. The owner actually moved out of state and the sister still lived in town. I went through her to buy it from him and got it for $100...maybe $150. Turns out the previous owners daughter let it overheat (hose busted) and the engine siezed up. During my high school years, my younger brother and I would work on the fairly rusty little car now and then. We took the engine and transmission out. That's where I learned the hard way to DRAIN the transmission before pulling the axles on a '77. :eek: What a mess. (Embarassing X1/9 Moment) We were kinda shooting the dark when it came to working on that car. Anyway, I went off to college and the car sat in my mom's garage for probably about 3-4 years unfinished. She really loved that! The car never ran when I had it but I learned alot about the X1/9. I will never forget that car....the rust, the smell of gear oil spilled everywhere, and my mom freaking out when I came home with it. My brother sold the car and the parts (few) I had for $100 I think...but the memories are priceless.

College days around 1996...I went to Devry Institute of Tech in Dallas, TX (Irving) and I came across a very, very clean bright red 1987 X1/9 at a car lot. The body and interior were in excellent condition. The car had fuel injection problems and wouldn't start. If I recall, they wanted $2000-2500 for it. I was a poor college student and offered to trade my little pickup (which was worth more than the X) for it but they wouldn't do it because they said they wouldn't feel right selling it to me as it needed work and they didn't feel like anyone in my situation (poor college student) needed something that THEY felt was unreliable. I respect them for that, but GRRRR!! I wish I could have had that car.

After college around 2000/2001, I wanted to move to San Diego...so I take a road trip from Central Texas to SD just to check out the area. On the way, I stop in Kingman, Arizona for the night. In the morning, on my way to the freeway, I drive past a car lot and a brown '79 X in decent shape was sitting on the lot! I immediatley did a u-turn! :woot: When I test drove the car, it had a pretty bad fuel leak from the hose. So I got a good deal on it. I bought it, rented a u-haul tow dolly down the street, hitched it up to the Dodge Dakota I had at the time and continued to San Diego. Arrived at my cousin's house in SD (La Mesa I think), fixed the fuel leak and drove it all over SD with the top off. That was fun...the first X I could actually drive! Towed it back to TX and after a while I Started having problems with it and traded it for a Mercedes 380SEL sedan.

Move to Washington State in 2003. No X but had the fever (It never goes away). Found the RedX that I still have about 4-5 years ago in Albany Oregon...met and started hanging out with fellow X-heads. Most recent purchase within the past year was TealX that I actually drove to work today. Sadly...I'm considering selling the TealX to finance other projects including getting the redX back together...we'll see.
 
As a young guy, fortunate to get a '74 new

The '73 Road and Track feature on the X was what did it for me - it looked gorgeous in the pictures, the review was almost extravagant in its praise. Then saw the car in the flesh at the fall 1973 San Francisco auto show; the next spring back in St. Louis, after a delay to meet the bumper height regs, I had the hard choice between the dealer's black demo with a couple of hundred miles on it, and a new yellow one. Went with the black, which remains the most elegant, and simply 'right', car I've ever seen, though I still want a yellow X too.
 
I bought mine

While I was working in downtown Seattle. Lets see, that would have been, about 1994 I think, maybe 95. I lived just north of UW, and road the bus downtown every day. In the University area, there was a used european car dealer, had VW's, Porsche 914's, and a couple X1/9's. A blue one that was not for sale, and a white 77. After watching it for like two weeks straight, I finally went in and looked at it, took it for a test drive and bought it. I still road the bus to work, except Sundays when parking was free. I knew nothing about the car, and had it in the local Euro car specialist a few times for various things, most of which now would be done in my own garage. Was transfered to across the lake to Bell Square and on my way to work one day, crossing the montlake bridge, a lady in a lifted Toyota pickup with nerf bar bumpers decided the middle of a grate covered drawbridge was a great place to just stop for no reason at all in the rain. I slid right in to the back of her and "totaled" the X. I still did not realize what I had, and since the bodyshop and insurance totaled it, I had it towed away, later to be rescued by someone else and it ended up in the hands of another forum member until back problems forced him to sell it in like 2004. It was about 3 years and 3 cars (non X) later before I found Seattle X1/9 and a 77 X to renew my love affair with this little car. Now, a few thousand miles away from where the addiction started and on my 5th X1/9 and loving it.....
 
I hung the Car and Driver road test

up on my bedroom wall back in the late 70s. I loved the look and the review made it sound like a blast to drive. Finally bought a brand new 1980 from Southland Volkswagen/Fiat in South St. Louis county for $9621.00. I didn't even test drive it... because I couldn't drive a stick. That was dumb. :p

So the day I came to drop off my trade and pick up the X the salesman puts on the plates and says "There you go!!". I say "OK" and proceed to kill the car every time I try and move it out of the parking spot. The salesman comes over and says "You can't drive a stick, can you?" I admit that I can't. Rather than laugh at me, he took me out to the back lot and gave me a quick lesson, then had me circle him in the lot till I could get the car going. I am sure he laughed his ass off with the rest of the crew after I struggled out of the lot. The 20 mile drive home in rush hour traffic was a treat. Poor little X.

Loved that car, but sold it a couple years later when I felt I needed a bigger car. I always regretted selling it and after 25 years, 1 wife, two kids and a mortgage, I bought 4 more. I am down to two nice Xs now, which means the 1 wife will stay with me. :hug:

I enjoy them every time I get a chance and I am sure I will always have at least one X for the rest of my days.
 
My 1st X

My 1st X I found in Indianapolis in 1993. It was sitting in front of a harley shop with a 4 sales sign in front of it. It was an 82 with a lot of rust. I had just wrecked my car. So, I was in the market for a new one. I bought it for $800. I drove it around for about 5 months when it desided to start over heating. (I realy didnt know much about cars back then). So, I just put some water in it and kept driving it. One day I was driving it home from work and it just stopped. Steam was rushing out. I wasnt far from home so I walked. Got a friend and pushed it the rest of the way home. I ended up selling it to a junkyard for $10.:blackeye:
 
My first X

I was living in Hagerstown, Maryland in the ‘80s and worked with a guy who was building a Fiat 128 to run in SCCA GT4 class at the Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. He was doing everything himself and I was amazed watching him build parts and fabricate things at work for his car. We had access to just about every type of metalworking machine you could imagine and he would build everything from scratch. (Boy, I wish I still had access to that equipment now!) We became friends and he asked me if I would help him out by being his pit crew for the races. I guess you had to have someone listed as a pit crew if you wanted to race, so I agreed.

He worked out a small sponsorship deal with a Fiat dealer in Chambersburg, PA, to supply him with parts in exchange for a couple of advertisement spots on the car and I used to go with him when he went to pick up the needed parts. I had a Pontiac Sunbird hatchback at the time and although it was a sharp looking car, it never ran right with the pollution equipment that was on it. So, one day on one of the parts runs, I saw a beautiful, brand new, light blue, ’81 X with a tan interior sitting on the lot. I took it out for a test drive and it ran as good as it looked. It was so much fun to drive. I was sold immediately. It became my daily driver for the next eight years. I was never hesitant to take it anywhere (well, maybe a little hesitant in snow) and never had any fear of it breaking down despite Fiat’s undeserved reputation. Other than the kinked heater hose (see the story in the most embarrassing/stupid moment thread) and a rough rear wheel bearing after driving it for a few years, I never had a bit of trouble with it. I drove it from Maryland to Colorado one very hot summer, with no A/C, to visit my sister and then hit the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee on the way back and never thought twice about it overheating. I remember that *I* was close to overheating on my drive out to Colorado and stopped in an air-conditioned shopping mall in Hays, Kansas to cool off for a while and stretch my legs. I think the people thought I was crazy as I probably did twenty laps in there.

After Fiat pulled out of North America and the dealers started closing up shop, I got concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get service and parts any longer and since I needed something a little larger than a two-seater and couldn’t afford two cars at once, I reluctantly traded it in for a four passenger sedan. What a let-down to go from an X to a four-door sedan. I’ve regretted that decision ever since. So, after being X-less for many years and after visiting the ’08 Freak Out as a spectator last year in the Pocono’s, I knew I had to have another X. I found one in decent shape last April down in York, PA, and have been happily tinkering with it and driving it ever since. And I had a blast as a participant at the ’09 Freak Out, meeting quite a few fellow X-heads.
 
my first (and current) X

Was bought out of both fun and necessity.
My wife and I had a very nice 2005 Subaru Forester XT to drive around, but no second car. Since I like to change cars every year or so (stupid habit...) I decided to sell the Subie and buy 2 smaller (value and size) cars. I've always played around in newer cars (VW, Subaru, Honda...) and liked to tune or upgrade stuff on them, but I also always had an interest in older "original" cars. When I found the 2005 Toyota Echo for my wife and figured I had some cash left I started to shop online for a cool car for me. I shopped under 5000$ in all brands and years and came up with older BMWs, mercedes', volvos, triumph, and mostly spitfire fiats in a range of states of repair. Then one day I decided to look by country of origin and was wowing at all the cool cars in france england and italy, when I came accross a small red wedge shaped car that had a weird name: 1985 Bertone x1/9 for sale. Bertone I knew was italian but i'd never heard of the name and the x factor immediately caught my interest. I called the guy up, arranged a test drive, and in the meantime did some research here and on other forums. I gathered that there are NOT many of them rolling around in Canada, so the cool AND original factors were covered. Reliability or performance are secondary hahaha! So I went to try it, and the battery was shot, the breaks were bad, the tranny crunched and the seats had bad covers hidings ugly ripped seats, the windshield was (and still is) scratched by the wipers, and the paint a dull flat and badly done red, but there was NO RUST on the frame and only small patches on the fenders and rockers. I lowered the asking price to 4500$ (YES i did pay THAT much for it because i'd then been dreaming about the car for 2 weeks) and off to the registration office we all went. My wife was perplexed as she hates old "carcachas" or as we prefer to call them "fixer upper", but dizzy with all the technical babble I was throwing at her. I drove it home that day, and now all the money that went (and is still going in) serves only to fuel my passion for it.

I've now rationalized our addiction to this car:
We want the car to give us the same experience it gave the original owner when it came out fresh of the new car lot. It is a fleeting dream that always feels closer but that may never be reached. Each mod and upgrade and repair gets us psychologically closer to the goal, but in reality the car will never give the same rush of a new car, ever again. Not unlike the heroin addict looking for his first rush in all the following fixes...

repairs and mods in a year:
tranny replaced
battery replaced
tires replaced
clutch kit replaced
struts replaced
wheel bearings replaced
disks and pads replaced
short shifter shaft and knob mod
brown wire mod
new radio cd, mp3, usb, aux in.
new speakers
air filter (replaced by cone)
2 speedo cables
black vinyl seats swapped from a donnor car
cat removed
bumpers swapped for '75s
headlights modded to halogens
fog lights added
light switch replaced (following a bad fog light plan)
front grill replaced
rear duckbill spoiler added
new 2 tone paint scheme and body work (in progress)
front spoiler mod (fiberglass addition)
tail lights mod (ferrari style being evaluated)
Windshield replacement (evaluated)
rear wheel spacers (evaluated)

and that's in under a year of ownership. I calculate 4500 purchase + 7000$ put on a car that will never sell over 10000$. That's me...

dany
 
It all started with a 124 Spider

I bought the spider new in 72 and owned her for 6+ years. I only sold it because we decided it "was time" to change cars. One of the cars we changed to was a 71 BMW Bavaria, a lovely car, when it wasn't in the shop. (I didn't know about the cooling problems they had at that time!) After it had spent a protracted period of time in the shop for a cracked head, then a bad carburetor, then a bad tranny, we decided that we should get another car that actually ran! There was a Fiat dealer walking distance from work and he had a 74 X on the lot, this being 78. It was tugging at my heart strings, the price was right, and the salesgal was cute! My wife agreed that it would be a good idea so I took the plunge. I kept the car for two years and only sold her because my son was on his way and there was no logic in keeping a two seater, at least that was the story I recall. IIRC the car was replaced with a 131 Brava that my wife would drive and I spent a number of years buying low and selling high. At some point in those years I bought another X in need of a reverse gear, a black '80 I think. I never got ambitious enough to fix it and sold it. that was somewhere in the mid 80's. I hadn't owned a Fiat since then until this past July when I picked up my current car. Due to time constraints, this one has been sitting needing some attention since then. I have one or two more pressing items on my agenda and then, weather permitting, my X will get my undivided attention. I need to get it roadworthy, even if winter is approaching. While I don't plan on driving it in the snow, I also don't plan on putting it in storage either. There are plenty of beautiful sunny, if cold, winter days to enjoy a drive in the X, or my Miata if the X doesn't want to go out and play.
 
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