Intro new to me 87 Bertone

I purchased an 87 Bertone with 25k original miles from the 2nd owner in May of this year and thought I would post a few pics and introduce it and myself. The car is really pretty clean with little rust. There is some on the engine lid and a bit just starting to show along the truck bottom edge and the passenger door bottom. Otherwise, just a few specks where there are chips. I plan to touch everything up since nothing (except maybe the engine deck) is bad enough to warrant bodywork and respray.

I added the Faza spoiler that I bought off of Jim Boffo (former racer mentioned in Faza books). Jim works on my Jaguars but I haven't had the Bertone out to him yet. Instead, I've had my Porsche mechanic replace the rear calipers that were frozen, e-brake cables, stainless brake hoses front & rear, install new master cylinder, and new hose from resevoir to cylinder. Super Blue brake fluid.

So far I've driven it about 250 miles not far from home, to see if anything else needs immediate attention. So far, it looks like possible a rear main seal is leaking but I will probably wait on that for a bit. I am pretty pleased with the car, it took a while to get used to the flex in the sidewall tires and the handling, which is different from my 911.

I've removed the A/C compressor, which required me to get a custom 36" fan belt due to the loss of the compressor pulley! I also removed the front A/C condenser (top nuts were a bitch), 3 rows of the rain tray, and just today the rear bumper....all to save weight. I want to lose the front bumper too.

As for mods, I may put on a test pipe and maybe a borla X1 muffler for starters. This seems like a great forum, I look forward to being an active participant.

Welcome to Xweb Todd

Congrats on the "new" X. It looks like it is in pretty good shape.

Welcome! Looks nice

Just don't let any rust get away from you.

I thought I was doing good to get an 86 with 32,000 original miles. Thanks Jim!:whistle:

Welcome, Looks good...... I am personally a fan of the rear spoilers, Good Job:clap:

Welcome!

Car looks GOOD

tim5055 said:

Welcome! Looks nice

Just don't let any rust get away from you.

I thought I was doing good to get an 86 with 32,000 original miles. Thanks Jim!:whistle:

Click to expand...

Congratulations and looks great! Looking forward to your participation here.

welcome from Australia to the forum

Great cars you have in your garage, this forum is the best for parts advice tips and tricks , why did you buy the Fiat x19 was it for the ashtray or because its the best little car ever built lolololol

russloveslife said:

Great cars you have in your garage, this forum is the best for parts advice tips and tricks , why did you buy the Fiat x19 was it for the ashtray or because its the best little car ever built lolololol

Click to expand...

This does appear to be the best forum for X1/9's by far. I always liked the looks of them but was put off by the lack of power. We picked up a new Abarth earlier this year that got me thinking about other Fiats. I wanted to add a convertible to the stable and was considering Triumph Spitfires, MG Midgets, and Alfa Spiders so I thought why not look at X1/9s and Fiat Spiders? Thinking of the X1/9 as a sort of classic convertible rather than a fast sports car helped me appreciate it better I think, So, I could adjust my expectations about the power it had.

Then, I found a clean example close by. I told my friend who took me to look at it that he couldn't go on the test drive with me because it had such little power that I might be put off with how slow it was if it had 2 people inside. LOL As it turns out, its fine for everyday use and keeps up with traffic OK,. I just can't get into races with it. Highway ride is especially nice for such a small car.

I really like the looks of it, even more so without bumpers. I can't see myself putting a whole lot of money into modifying it for more speed because that's not what I bought it for and I have 2 Porsches for that. Instead, I want to clean up the little rust that is on it, get it caught up on all the maintenance and enjoy it for what it is.

Welcome!

Nice little '87 you have there. I had an '87 a couple of years ago, it had a Corsa body kit on it. There are few white X1/9's out there or on this forum, so it's a great change of pace.

Good tires and higher rear tire pressure will help with the wallowing feeling you describe, so check the tires. But it will always be different than a 911.

Welcome Todd, I see you are close to Mr. Budzinsk...

who lives in Dillsburg... only 200 miles away.

There are a few other PA folks here including a NE contingent... Look at our Members List and get to know those in your area. They can be a big help... Great folks!

Welcome to the Dark Side... your new X reminds me of one of mine...




I think this was about 2001 or so... Purchased the white car from Jeff Zucker for a buck... and about 2 months later this is what he looked like. "White Fang" he was called... and "Black Tooth" was tagged on the other...



This the car in Oklahoma after selling it Mel Simmonds... Although White Fang actually SCREAMED... he looked like a "Cruiser" and I found little touches of chrome seemed to make this WHITE car POP!

I cut down some beauty rims and affixed them to the phone-dial wheels, added a luggage rack and chrome license frames, and picked up some "retro" little chrome side mirrors...

Alas... several years later a storage yard emailed me on a Thursday and wanted $348 bucks in cash to get the car. Hadta be in OK on Sunday at 11 AM to retrieve it. Apparently Mel had never registered the car. I tried the only 2 friends I had in OK but they didn't answer... The damn storage yard would not take a wire or Paypal or anything... Its obvious they had other plans!

ANYWAY... welcome! (you got me going off on a tangent! HA!)

Welcome Todd

This is the best place , I'm a fairly new X owner myself , and this has been a great forum. I ditched the bumpers on my '84 mad a HUGE difference , both weight and appearance
good luck and enjoy - these X's are truly addicting !

Welcome!

Get rid of the bumpers & those phonedial wheels while you're at it! Those were the first things to leave my '87.

Welcome...

The most common perception of the x1/9, under powered, rusty, un-reliable, fragile, difficult to work on, no parts and a big why bother..

If the stock chassis is in top condition, properly aligned, a good set of performance tires and correct wheels, take the exxe on a tight twisty back road and wring it out for all it is worth.. then consider the drive and ride.

There are plenty of cars today and yesterday that had a LOT more power, except how long can one plant the throttle to the floor and keep it there... On public roads, this is possible for maybe a few seconds and the speed limit is reached.. Try that in the same car on a tight twisty back road and where could the car end up?

What most never consider is a car with an excellent chassis is one of the very best tools for learning how to driver properly. Mistakes cannot be made up using power via the right foot, Instead the driver is rewarded when driving is smooth, transitions are gradual with momentum preserved. It is SO very easy to stomp on the throttle for that short SHOT of excitement, then it's done. It is different for a twisty drive where the driver is challenged to be smooth at every corner, every turn, every mile. This is a very different experience than a car with power, it is much more about a prolonged fun driving experience.

Bottom line, the x1/9 is an excellent tool to learn how to performance drive.

Some years ago one of our LeMons team members owned a Porsche GT-3 was one of the drivers. Watching the videos of him driving the exxe, we all noted his driving style developed from driving the GT-3 did not fit the exxe well at all. He was trying to use power to make up for less than smooth driving. After some coaching and track time in the exxe, it made him a better and smoother driver in the GT-3 as it broke his, using power to make up for bad lines, sloppy car position on track and more.


Do not hesitate to shift at or near red line every shift with the pedal to the metal, this is by far the best way to enjoy an exxe.. If the exxe is in good mechanical and related condition, it is actually GOOD for it.


:nod:

Bernice

Todd968 said:

This does appear to be the best forum for X1/9's by far. I always liked the looks of them but was put off by the lack of power. We picked up a new Abarth earlier this year that got me thinking about other Fiats. I wanted to add a convertible to the stable and was considering Triumph Spitfires, MG Midgets, and Alfa Spiders so I thought why not look at X1/9s and Fiat Spiders? Thinking of the X1/9 as a sort of classic convertible rather than a fast sports car helped me appreciate it better I think, So, I could adjust my expectations about the power it had.

Then, I found a clean example close by. I told my friend who took me to look at it that he couldn't go on the test drive with me because it had such little power that I might be put off with how slow it was if it had 2 people inside. LOL As it turns out, its fine for everyday use and keeps up with traffic OK,. I just can't get into races with it. Highway ride is especially nice for such a small car.

I really like the looks of it, even more so without bumpers. I can't see myself putting a whole lot of money into modifying it for more speed because that's not what I bought it for and I have 2 Porsches for that. Instead, I want to clean up the little rust that is on it, get it caught up on all the maintenance and enjoy it for what it is.

Click to expand...