Minneapolis Street Sighting: Fiat X/19 five speed

I don't know whether this counts as cheating or not, but I will be sporadically posting cars from a friend's collection here on The Automotive Way. He has decided not to disclose his age, nor how long he's been into the hobby, or what he does for a living, but his collection of cars is immense, ranging from the eclectic to the downright sublime. All of his cars are foreign,and a vast majority of them are Italian, and fall under one major automotive group, with the exception of a scant few.

What you see here is what he calls a "summer toy"; it's a 1979 Fiat X1/9 by Bertone, and its not the first one of the breed he's owned--and it certainly isn't his first Fiat. Fiats from this era are finicky cars--either they run or they don't. But that's what makes the car hobby fun for my friend; while other people spend the winter snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, or just being in the snow, my friend spends his winters looking for project cars that he can get running over the winter; over a typical winter, his collection grows by four or five cars. Since I've known him, he's gained about ten vehicles that he's kept.

Onto the car, though, it was found via craigslist, and it was acquired for a measly $400 thanks to some redneck who simply wanted it gone. It ran, and drove fine, it wasn't wanted on the property any longer. How cool is that? I wish I could score a running and driving car for that little! Damn.

In these pictures, the paint appears to be flat, but with an afternoon with clay, this things shines right up. The decals are cracking a little bit, but that's to be expected in a car this old. The wheels, the trim, everything is in good order, save for a taillight lense. Other than that, this little X1/9 is pretty awesome. I've ridden in it a few times, and sitting so low, you feel like you're going twice as fast as what you actually are. Even though the power these put out is relatively lame by today's standards, these aren't bad cars. I just wish rust wouldn't have eaten so many of them.

I obviously had fun shooting this car, and I can't wait to feature more of this collection!