Blue Baby Exotic

I was casually browsing Craigslist for 80s cars with a manual transmission and RWD as I often do, but wasn’t looking to actually purchase anything. As I mindlessly scrolled through the pictures, a familiar shape in a brilliant color caught my eye. An X1/9! A Bertone even! …And it looks to be in good shape! I knew I had to talk to this seller.

If you’re not familiar with what this car is, you’re not alone. A brief history lesson is required to appreciate it… In the early 70s, FIAT had a successful FWD economy car called the 128, but they wanted a sports car companion to it. The famous coach-builder Bertone, who also designed the achingly gorgeous Lamborghini Miura, already had a design in mind for FIAT. The Autobianchi Runabout concept…

FIAT took the FWD powerplant from the 128, stuck it into Bertone’s design, and the first affordable mid-engined sports car was born in 1974. Think of it as an MR2 before the MR2 existed (in fact, Toyota largely copied the design). It wasn’t exactly a high performance car having only 75hp, but it was the best handling car of its era and possibly the next couple of decades as well.

When FIAT decided to pull out of the US in 1982 due to increasing regulations, they ended production of the X1/9, but Bertone wasn’t finished with the car. Bertone made a few upgrades to the car and continued production through 1989 under their own brand. I’ll go over the changes they made in more detail when I post a full video review of the X1/9. Subscribe to Book Autowerks’ YouTube channel to keep an eye out for the video.

This X1/9 in the Craigslist ad was a 1987, the last year Bertone officially imported them. I’ve read that only around 600 X1/9s were imported that year, but I’m not able to confirm that number. Very low numbers of the 88s and 89s were imported by a single dealer that exclusively sold X1/9s.

I learned from the owner that he had it for over 20 years, with a brief break in ownership when he had sold it to a friend. I asked if he ever had any involvement with the Austin FIAT Club during his decades of ownership. He gave me a quizzical look and said he didn’t even know there was an Austin FIAT Club. That’s disappointingly unsurprising… The club has been around for a long time, but it’s really only been active for the past 5 years.

During his friend’s stewardship, the car was run over by a lifted Jeep. He bought the X1/9 back from his friend and the damage was expertly repaired. The only evidence of repair is a spot on the inside of the fender where you can see the color from the donor car the replacement fender was cut.

The engine had also been rebuilt in the early 2000s with higher compression pistons and a mild street performance cam. This probably bumped the power up to 85hp, but it’s hard to tell a difference on the butt dyno. The car definitely needs a tune up and has some deferred maintenance, but otherwise runs well. After some shrewd negotiation, I drove her home, smiling all the way.