My new to me 1988 X1/9

W

wilson340

Daily Driver
So I have been on here for a few weeks, asked a few questions, and have been very impressed with the knowledge and desire to help by everyone in this group. I did finally find a car for me and look forward to learning much more about these cars. I am attaching a link to photos as the cars stands now and welcome any suggestions of things I should do/modify to the car.

Details of the car: 1988 that was not titled until 8/95 with 200 miles on it after sitting on the showroom floor in PA. I just purchased it from the original owner with 48k miles on it.

Known issues:
courtesy lights stay on, relay has been pulled until further investigation.
tachometer works in the range of 500 ~ 2000 ???
heater control lever tight
no dash lights on A/C control buttons (assuming there should be)
A/C compressor not engaging, have not checked anything including charge yet.

Things I am considering:
upgrading wheels/tires, possibly going to 14in but without modifications
new stereo (don't have many of my old cassettes left) and rear speakers (4x6?) would like to NOT cut door panels.
Electric Antennae, current manual one in the way of deck spoiler and then I am driving and realize it is still down.

Of course I am also just happy with the super-clear originality of the car.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wilson5/sets/72157645414242053/
 
Wilson, you have a PERFECT time capsule there...

Best NOT to change a thing from FACTORY OE... and this is coming from ME, a Hot Rodder of sorts, who can't stand anything left alone.

(Story Time...) I/We once had a man here named Dick Waldren who showed up at my house with some dusty '83 or '84 Bertone in two-tone Brown and Gold. Not too impressive but as I got closer and closer I saw through the dust and the paint was PERFECT. Upon entering the car it took me BACK IN TIME as there was only 22,000 on the clock and it smelled NEW and well as LOOKED NEW!

In fact, it had the ORIGINAL P3 Pirelli tires... that were hard as a rock and drove like we were on ICE. We found that THIS car actually had 2,000 DRIVEN miles and 20,000 TOWED miles behind a motorhome.

It was MY mistake in telling Dick to "get rid of" the P3s (as they were dangerous for several reasons) when I should have told him to remove the tires and wheels, Armor-All them and place them in a trash bag and store them for SHOWS ONLY.

I'll say the same to you now... whatever you do on this car, I STRONGLY suggest you keep it as OEM as possible. Want different wheels and tires, GOOD, but bag the others! If you must modify things, insure they are REVERSIBLE... but improving SAFETY and LIGHTING and stuff is NOT a detriment.

You'll wanna become real good friends with OUR Mr. Bob Brown in Keene NH as he is the "father" of OUR Trailer-Queen, a car that started out much like yours, now owned by Jim Schultz of Wyoming.

Welcome aboard, and as for those electrical gremlins... I'm sure Bob will chime in and give you a hand with them.
 
That's a very nice clean example. :thumbsup:

I think they came with Pirelli P6's from the factory, which unfortunately, are no longer in production AFAIK (we will excuse Tony for getting the number wrong, that what happens when you get old :) ) but his advice of keep them and bag them for car shows is spot on...

Keep it original, but don't worry about adding milage, just enjoy it!

"Not putting miles on your classic car is like not having sex with your girlfriend so she'll be more desirable to her next boyfriend."

Many people even go to the trouble to upgrade the car stereo using the original fascia's, and have a CD stacker in the boot/trunk for example, just to keep the 80's look inside the car. Might seem over the top to some, but I can understand the reasoning behind it, and there are companies out there who specialize in such conversions. Quite applicable to such a clean original example such as yours.

Electrical upgrades, speak to Bob Brown, he will set you in the right direction.

Wheel and tyre choice, that's a personal preference, but keep the 'phone dials' bagged in the attic.

BTW welcome to the forum.

SteveC
 
Congrats... beautiful X1/9!
love that color Champagne Platinum or platino and there are not too many of those around...late in production color :pimp:
You seldom can go wrong getting a babied car from the original owner :thumbsup:
 
All I can say is...
Wow that is a beautiful jaw dropper of an X1/9!

Whatever you paid wasn't enough!
I only pray to find one that is that ORIGINAL
 
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Congrats Wilson

That is a very nice X you picked up.

I am not sure switching to 14" wheels/tires will be any better than 13" in the long run. The availability of street "Performance" (185/60/13) tires in the smaller diameters is an issue.
 
Do what you want

First I have to mention DCFiats. Great club with a lot of X1/9s. www.dcfiats.org

Do what you want to the car. I bought a 1986 X1/9 with 6,200 miles on it about 4 years ago. It now has over 20,000 miles.

I changed the interior to leather, changed the stereo on added 4 speakers (not in the doors), added a momo steering wheel, headlight, wiper and window relays (these were tech days for DCFiats), 15 inch rims, added an armrest, changed the struts, and more.

These are cars to be driven and enjoyed. Shows are for people who can not drive.:)
 
wilson-x_zps8af4b32b.jpg


reminds me of

Bertone001.jpg


on my first 85 x (back in 1988)
 
WOW... just wow...

That is one nice clean looking Bertone. Very nice color, metallics look good on these angular shapes we drive.

I'd endeavor to keep it as stock looking as possible if it were mine. It's just so clean looking.

You have a few details to fix but it sounds like a great car! And welcome!
 
Perfect example...

...That belongs in my driveway! :)

Regarding your known issues list:

Courtesy lights stay on, relay has been pulled until further investigation.
Check the door switches each side (unscrew them) and ensure there is a wire that's attached to it's pigtail. One side has a double wire, the other a single. Also check the center console switch. (an unlikely candidate, but it could be bad)

Tachometer works in the range of 500 ~ 2000 ???
You'll need to send me your Tacho assembly to repair or you'll need to replace the Tachometer. There's a procedure for removing your gauge cluster if you're willing to pursue it. We can explain if you're interested. Note: There's 1 wire (Yellow w/orange stripe) in there which you must NOT cut if you want to keep the electrical in perfect original condition.

Heater control lever tight
A common occurrence. Also a PITA (pain in the -- to deal with)
The heater valve freezes up with age (and sometimes leakage) and causes what you're experiencing. A heater on/off valve replacement is the usual cure, and re-lubing the cable (stiff wire in this case) is often done at the same time.

No dash lights on A/C control buttons (assuming there should be)
There's a light behind there, but you'd have to be a BAT in order to see it. I've changed out the lights to ultra-bright LED's to improve visibility of the console. (big improvement, BTW) Note: It's hard to change out the light behind the AC button display.

A/C compressor not engaging, have not checked anything including charge yet.
Inject 2 lbs of R12... plus mineral oil if you need it. That should get the system working again. If there's no pressure at the (low side) switch, the system doesn't engage. If you need help obtaining R12, let me know.
Important: The seals are likely needing replacement prior to the R12 injection.

Hope this helps! :)
 
But I have 20/20 vision, corrected...

and my Alzheimer's issues come and go. This is what Google says and they are the tires I remember being on the car...

post-13765-1374689406.jpg


These are NOT what was on the car... and I've never seen before.
cinturato-8x6.jpg


But I'm not saying I'm not WRONG... I certainly could be or WHO knows, anything seems to go with these cars! Maybe it was a North - South Hemisphere thing 'er sumthun'... HA!
 
One more thing I wanna say to be clear as well...

It is YOUR car and I am also a proponent in saying you can do what you wish with it.

But as you see here with almost every response that it is extremely rare to come across such an ORIGINAL UNMOLESTED car such as this.

I too contend that mileage in this case is, and now will never be a factor, so drive the snot outta it! If it had 10 miles on it... then it would need to be encased and hermetically sealed in the Smithsonian. Not much fun... No reason you can't drive it as well as SHOW it and come home with the "Most Original" (type) trophies every time... if you have room or a desire for that kind of hardware.

(Many folks say they don't care for those kinda accolades but I find most of them to be liars... HA!)

Enjoy... I've not seen so many responses before and its surprising that we were unaware that this car even existed before now. You have a treasure here, at least in our world!
 
The X's I owned at looked at back in the 1980's...when they were in the showrooms...

....all had Pirelli P3's.....I did run Pirelli P44s and P6's on a few, however. I liked the wider tire. I remember the P3's weren't great in the rain.
 
Well here in Australia the P3 was the supplied tyre on the 1500 5 speed carbed models, the EFI (1987/88) Bertones all came with the 'phone dial' wheels and low profile 185/60 Pirelli P6's ... like Tony said, might be an individual market thing, but the dealer poster I have shows a P6 shod 'phone dial' equipped LHD car??

and the treadpattern is nothing like the pic posted by Tony, which I believe is an 'all seasons P6'

SteveC
 
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