The free X1/9 and what I'm doing with it post

bradartigue

bradartigue

True Classic
I picked up the free X1/9 that had been listed in FS/W under "Sad but true" today. The car was in Gonzales, LA, and was I think the only thing that wasn't flooded in the owner's house and shop. This car has been unregistered since about 1998, and from what I understand hasn't run in 13 years. Stored top-off in a garage it remained very rust free but was very, very, very dirty. A 1977 X1/9, not a 1979 as the seller had noted, I spent the evening cleaning it up.

I'm documenting the whole thing - and there are a lot of pictures from today - at http://fiat.artigue.com under the X1-9 Category. The post from today is: http://fiat.artigue.com/index.php/2016/10/20/1977-x19-project-journal-day-one/

Here is at least one pic...and guys it cleaned up - amazingly.

IMG_2095.jpg


Interior before:

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Interior after:

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Engine before:

DSCF2096.jpg


Engine after:

DSCF2109.jpg
 
looks like "good bones" to me
I'm glad it's being saved although you don't need to save that color. :)
 
That turd brown and those aesthetically incorrect (*) '77 bumpers make for a most unattractive package, but what can you expect for the price...

You will be allowed / expected to back pedal on your usual 'keep the bumpers' stance with this car, at least change them to early euro ones please.

SteveC

(* also known as fugly)
 
Oh the bumpers have to go. The color - I don't like changing colors. Classic 77. And it's original paint which makes a color change even more painful for me to consider.

On the bumper argument keep in mind my position is the spider looks absurd without bumpers - at least install the early type or bumperettes

See how I maneuvered there? Years and years of practice.
 
Those railroad track bumpers are easily to modify so that only a single bar is used, I'm sure plenty of guys here can post pics of that mod.
 
Yes can someone please post pictures or a link on that modification. I have a 78 with those ugly bumpers. If I wasn't worried about a tire or someone hitting me I would run with them off.

Thank you
Dave
 
Keep the Color

My vote (not that I actually have one or that it matters) is to keep the brown. It can look very good when new or redone, and sets off the black accents and (hopefully) black Euro bumpers nicely.
 
I'm honestly opposed to color changes. Too expensive to do right and when I do them i don't want to drive the car.

The interior will be done in the original tan/orange/white pattern that appears under those black covers.
 
Austin74 said:
My vote (not that I actually have one or that it matters) is to keep the brown. It can look very good when new or redone, and sets off the black accents and (hopefully) black Euro bumpers nicely.
Click to expand...

+1.
For now I'm planning to keep the original brown on the '74 that's on a rotisserie now. It's completely stripped down, not a piece of rubber, plastic, or chrome on it, nothing but the steel unibody and some rust, so I could go with any color I want... I'm talking to the paint/body guy next weekend.

I may never have forgiven my then-girlfriend for calling the brown '78 that I bought new "the flying cockroach", but that car really was pretty. The important thing is to keep the brown fresh and glossy - it's pretty or it's drab, and there's no in between.
 
The guy I got it from noted it was referred to as "the roach" in high school. I think the lighter color interior (the original tan and orange and such) offsets the exterior nicely. The black seat covers just make it look, well, like a roach.

And who has a brown car any more?

I'm fairly certain it will have to be stripped of the mechanicals and electronics to get it right. The body appears quite good, and really with FIATs there isn't much that can't be done so long as the body is strong. I'll see in about six weeks, when I can get to it again and tow it to Atlanta. Its under a shed now, biding its time, but I did wash and wax it. A good cheap heavy wax to seal up the few corrosion spots for a few weeks, keep them from spreading.
 
High School Brown X

I have to admit I am biased. My 75 X in high school was brown - and a slightly lighter, more baby-poop brown as well. But my girlfriend said she liked it because it was different than all of the red and blue cars she had seen, and ending up insisting on a similar brown for the new car her parents bought her. Tragically, it was a Mercury Bobcat (Pinto).
 
Bumper mod





Here is a front and rear view of my bumper mod. Very easy as the railroad track bumpers are just bolted together. Take them apart and reconfigure as shown.

I cry everytime I see pictures of this wonderful X that I sold.
 
That looks pretty good. I stripped my bumpers completely on my '81 and like it better than what was on there, the '74/euro style are nice, this is a good alternative too, I kept the rail bumpers from one being scrapped out and might just go this route.
Brown; maybe if I saw one in person, bright and shiny but it's hard to imagine.
 
I like watching Brad's projects because they help me appreciate that that I'm less picky. Or maybe appreciate cars I've owned that were already cracked so I didn't worry about such things. Have to admit that I sort of chuckle at the bumperless popularity, but on the other hand, the PO of my X19 took off the bumpers and I kind of like it. Go figure. If any bumpers go back on mine, they'll be the early/Euro type.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
A brown '70 something vette went past me yesterday, I "almost" liked it but then, so much better in so many other colors.....:sun:
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corvette1977WA4322.jpg
 
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