Description
For sale is our 1985 Fiat X1/ 9 1. 5 litre sports car. It was made by Bertone but is still better known as a Fiat as they originally designed and built these cars. Three owners from new, but we have owned it since 1st September 2002, when we bought it from a private individual in Montrose with 23500 miles on the clock. First registered May 1985. It now has done 48620 miles. We have every single piece of paperwork for the car, including the original purchase invoice from the original owner and every MoT certificate and service document from new. It currently has an MoT until April 2024. When we bought the car it was completely silver but we had it resprayed professionally in it's original colours of silver over gunmetal grey with a red pinstripe.
Since owning the car I have serviced it myself, but it has had the sills rearwards of both doors rewelded buy a local garage. The driver's door outer panel has also been replaced by another local garage.
It has always been mothballed during the winter (from October until April) in our garage and has never seen winter salt during our ownership.
Over the years I have replaced all the brake callipers, brake and clutch master cylinders, brake pads and discs (and fitted braided steel hoses to the brakes), the exhaust, all four shock absorbers, the water pump, the fan belt, the coil, plugs and plug leads, one of the headlight motors, the battery, the fuel lines and fuel filter, and other consumables such as tyres, oil and oil filter, air filter and gearbox oil. I have just had the cam belt replaced by a professional mechanic.
The only modification to the car is that I have replaced the automatic choke with a manual one. The original windscreen washer water holder was a plastic bag, so I have also replaced that with the more practical hard plastic container.
It has a relatively modern JVC radio/ cd player and a manually raised aerial.
It is not perfect as It is a 38 year old Fiat, so it is not in concours condition. Although solid underneath there are several small dents in the bodywork. There are several small areas of rust but nothing that is structural and all could be addressed if necessary.
The windows are electric but need a bit of help to raise but do work!
The clock has some of the elements missing so is difficult to read.
I have uploaded some pictures of the bottom of the doors and also the corners of the rear boot to show that there are no areas needing welding. The right hand side boot picture shows some surface rust. The rust does not extend through the metal. I should have perhaps cleaned it up and painted it but I want to be completely upfront about the condition of the car. We have loved this little car from the outset, and are reluctant to let it go, but hope that it is bought by an enthusiast who relishes it as much as we do. It is a very enjoyable car to drive, mid engined so great handling. We have driven the car from our home in North East Scotland to the factory in Turin in Italy where it was made, and then home, a round trip of 2500 miles without any issues.
It is incredibly practical , as it has two boots, and the roof comes off and fits over the luggage in the front boot. It takes a matter of seconds to remove or refit the roof. With the roof off, the heater in the car is very efficient so even in cold weather it is possible to drive roof off and stay warm.
As it is an old car it is very easy to service, with straight forward distributor and points for the ignition.
The brake system is very simple, just a master cyclinder and four slave cylinders, so no ABS or servo.
The only issue at the moment is that third gear can't be rushed sometimes and can be a little notchy. It doesn't affect the driviability of the car but just something to be aware of.
The car is here in the North East of Scotland, near Elgin and can be viewed at any time.
