True story about Christine’s Italian cousin, a red X1/9…
My best friend in high school was killed in a ‘75 X1/9, when a gal in a new ‘77 Plymouth Fury fell asleep at the wheel and crossed into hes lane, using his Fiat as a takeoff ramp. My friend was killed instantly.
Fast forward two years…I’m working at a Fiat dealership. A car comes in on a rollback. My friend’s car. It was going to be a donor car for three others in the shop – engine, transaxle, and back half.
The mechanic disassembling the rear crushed his feet when the car came off the support stands. The car that got the transaxle caught fire and burned to the ground three days after it left the dealer. The car that got the engine got totaled the day after the customer got it back. The car that got the back half also got wrecked a week after it was done…and the scrap truck that came for what was left, crashed into the building next door after he picked the parts up. I got nowhere near the car the whole time it was in the shop.
I don’t like X1/9s. They really are nice cars, but I won’t go within a mile of one.