X1/9 in a non-car-related book

EricH

EricH

Eric Hamilton
Moderator
Needed something to read through a long plane flight.... grabbed a a random paperback from the neighborhood "take a book, leave a book" box.... and at the start of chapter 4 I came across
His substantial frame jammed into his two-seat Fiat X1/9 roadster, Nim Goldman wove through downtown streets, heading northeast toward San Roque...
Nim shifted his body in the little car, straining to make himself comfortable, and was reminded that he had put on some weight lately and ought to take some off before he and the Fiat reached a point of impasse. He had no intention of changing the car.
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(The book is "Overload" by Arthiur Hailey who also gave us "Hotel" and "Airport" so we aren't exactly talking great literature here but it got me through the plane flight. '79 publication date so we're expecting a california carbed 1500 to lug the aforementioned substantial frame around)
 
That's funny, never would have thought the X to be well enough known for reference in any non-automotive book.

Your flight couldn't have been too long if this book got you through it; as this was in chapter 4 and the book had to end soon thereafter - you know, when Nim's X broke down and left him stranded in the middle of nowhere on the way to San Roque (end of story). :( For that matter, where there ever any X's in Spain in '79?
 
Dr.Jeff said:
That's funny, never would have thought the X to be well enough known for reference in any non-automotive book.

Your flight couldn't have been too long if this book got you through it; as this was in chapter 4 and the book had to end soon thereafter - you know, when Nim's X broke down and left him stranded in the middle of nowhere on the way to San Roque (end of story). :( For that matter, where there ever any X's in Spain in '79?
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Well, Franco died in '75 but I don't think any X1/9s were ever officially imported to Spain.

That said, there are plenty of SEATs in Spain (131s, 127s) although the engines are somewhat different (1.4L in the place of a 1.3 but with lower HP than the Italian 1.3). The Italians were very good at selling their ageing designs to both the communists and the fascists ;)

I drove my X1/9 from France through Spain many times in the early 2000's and never saw another one.

3748360013_large.jpg

Dom.
 
dcioccarelli said:
Well, Franco died in '75 but I don't think any X1/9s were ever officially imported to Spain.

That said, there are plenty of SEATs in Spain (131s, 127s) although the engines are somewhat different (1.4L in the place of a 1.3 but with lower HP than the Italian 1.3). The Italians were very good at selling their ageing designs to both the communists and the fascists ;)

I drove my X1/9 from France through Spain many times in the early 2000's and never saw another one.

3748360013_large.jpg

Dom.
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Maybe not officially but I had a correspondant in Spain, before the advent of internet, so a few (!!!) year ago, that was driving an X1/9.
 
Sorry, that name doesn't ring a bell in my mind. But actually, I will have to dig for my correspondance cause I can't remember who it was...
 
in a novel by john grisham (probably "the firm") a lawyer die in a crash in her "little FIAT"..not better specified..i tought to an X1\9 because it happens in the late '70s
 
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