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!

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Volvo 780 Bertone

I haven't posted up many Volvos here for a reason; a majority of my Volvo sightings are either some variation of the venerable 200 series, or they're much later cars. I have seen a scant few interesting Volvos that aren't Amazons, though, and this is the most recent catch.
Volvo first teamed up with legendary stylinghouse/coachworks company Bertone to produce the love-it-or-hate-it 262C Bertone. While that car "suffered" from a factory chop-top look and rather akward hood-to-roof porportions, the 780 changed all that. Introduced in 1987 for the US, the 780 stuck around till 1989. As with most other Volvos, speed and horsepower were not a selling point. At best, the turbocharged four produced a rather bland 150 horses; this, coupled with a slushbox and a 3600 lb curb-weight resulted in this coupe being a looker versus an outright performer.
I like this cars--and always have. I've always thought these looked better than their four-door cousins, and I've thought the idea of an 850 coupe would be cool, too. Sadly, like the 262 Bertone that came before it, the 780s are fairly rare. Thankfully, this one is in great nick aside from the missing wheel-hub centers. Paint is shiny, and all the trim is present, save for the chrome missing from the grille, though I suspect that's pretty common, given the fragility of the grille itself.
I'm glad I shot this when I did, because I haven't seen it since; I spotted this a couple summers ago, when I first got my camera. I'm quite impressed with these shots, even if they aren't my best work. I am still learning, and perfecting my night-shooting technique, and the idea of practicing my skills on a rare vehicle only makes me happier. I wish I could reshoot this Swedish coupe, though, and get more thorough shots of it.