50 Years Young: The Striking Fiat X1/9 Bertone 

Ha...I'm on my 3rd in the USA 🇺🇸 😎 Cheers.

I had one although it was a great car it fell apart because of the rust devil. You can say it was a high maintenance car but went well when new.

Reminds me back when I would take my X 1-9 out for a drive with my friend who had a Triumph spitfire. Fiat was always stronger through the curves 😂

@@josephdonnelly3169 Plus the X1/9 was a real car. You could drive it in the rain and everything.

It didn't do too bad in snow also. The weight bias over the rear end help maintain traction.

Thank you, and I’m inclined to agree with you about the X1/9: I can’t imagine of any other mid-engined car so well packaged and usable.

@@Matteo_Licata Not even '88 Pontiac Fiero???

It took Pontiac until 1988 to get the Fiero right. With the 1.5 engine and 5 gear transmission the X 1/9 was a better handling car than even the '88 Fiero. However the Fiero had more power. Why did it take Pontiac so long to get the Fiero right? And then they ceased production.

Me neither, until I saw the one I filmed. Took a while to find out what “Corsa” stood for in the X1/9 range, and I bet they didn’t sell many

Cool, thank you!!!

That’s something I didn’t know. Thank you for sharing! 👍

interesting considerations

@@studiocalder818 Thank you. I may be wrong; I often am. But I mourn the recent (past 30 years+) absence of a truly light, low-powered sporting roadster. Smart tried and failed. The MX5 was never quite small or light enough. The Cappuccino came close, but was (bizarrely) physically too small to make an impact on the marketplace. I am not hopeful that there will be an 850 Spider or X1/9 heir.... The World wants.... Hyundai SUVs with 18" alloys and front wheel drive. 🤪😕😞

@@BanjoLuke1 Right In the centers of Italian cities, which have narrow streets, those traveling toilets break all the sidewalks. I think today a brand new small spider would only sell to nostalgics unfortunately PS: In my opinion Barchetta didn't failed; it had a great success compared with the changed era

I agree with you! I had an 850 spider, English green color, and it was very lovely, it turned a lot of heads(girls) every time I drove it in town, in the USA. That was 1972...In 1984 I purchased a 1980 Triumph Spitfire, same color, I loved it as well..

That’s a cool first car if I’ve ever seen one! Definitely cooler than the one I had, which doesn’t spark any affection in me regardless of how much time passes…

I remember meeting someone who owned one such late X1/9 years ago, while I was driving my Spitfire. Hard to imagine both cars were on sale at the same time in the 70s, as the Triumph looked like a relic in comparison. A great looking relic, mind you, but a relic nonetheless 😆

Cool, thank you for sharing this memory with me. Cheers from Turin!

Cool 👍

Always proud to own five of them in 25 years just one of the best for ever x19 bertone fiat

Which one was yours? 1300 or 1500?

@@Matteo_Licata 1500. Obviously it wasn't a fast car even if it felt fast. But I loved it. With the roof off I used to just jump in without opening the door. 😄 Happy times. 😊 I have another little Italian bundle of fun now. An Abarth 595 Trofeo. It also makes me smile a lot 🇮🇹 🇬🇧

Pretty much any name would have been better than the anodyne, hard to pronounce project code they stuck with. Pity…

It’s sad that GM threw the towel so quickly on the Fiero. It was a concept that would have been great to see being developed into the 90s and beyond

​@@Matteo_Licata Yeah, Pontiac had a lot going for the second generation. The corvette feared that Fiero would put them out of business, which they were supposed to in the 90's. For all FIVE years, Fiero made a profit and outsold MR2 & Corvette in double digits, even when marketing & advertisements were cut short for the last year, '88. On GM proving ground, Chevy people found out that Pontiac put a V8 in a Fiero and it outran corvette. Even their V6 turbo outdid corvette. They whined to GM management. The Pontiac people were far in advanced when it comes to suspension design and I'm sure they took cues from Lotus and paid Porsche as consultant. It took corvette people a long time to catch up in terms of suspension. With C8 now out, you could see how they took a lot of cues from the Fiero program and even hired one of Fiero guys on the engineering team. The trunk in C8 and decklid looks very similar to Fiero style. Anyhow, Fiero got its start by studying X1/9 and Ferrari 308, along with other sports cars of the 80's. I wish Fiero is wider at 75" with hips, like F355. That would be awesome. Even with its 69" wide, it's roomier than a lot of Ferrari cabins, including F355, thanks to X1/9. One of the GM's executive members, who was 6'4" tall, got stuck in a X1/9 and needed help to get out. They were showing X1/9 as an example at the beginning of Fiero program. Hulki Aldikacti, father of the Fiero, made a note of it & told his team to make sure that interior space is roomy. That's why tall people had no problem sitting in a Fiero today.

Just checked it out. Looks like a really nice example and the price seems pretty reasonable too.

That’s interesting. Production in the late 80s was down to a trickle, and sometimes cars took until 1990 to sell out.

Thank you!!!!

Thank you!!!

@@Matteo_Licata I have driven and owned many Italian cars. My petrol powered heart leis in Torino & Bologna. The experiences have brought with them deep joy and a sense of accomplishment. Viva Automobili Italia!

That’s great to hear, hope you’ll enjoy the upcoming videos, and rest assured that I’ll keep focusing on Italian motoring stories

I had no idea, thank you!

Thank you!!!

Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!!!

I’d say the MR2 was definitely inspired by the X1/9, as the similarity in concept is uncanny

Thank you for watching and for sharing these memories with the car 👍

@@Matteo_Licata it's a beautiful car.. I got it cheap because the owner needed a bigger car.. I'm 6'2" and still got in it.. I really wish I was over in Europe to enjoy the cars never imported to the USA. I'd love to have a Lotus Carlton.. funny that GM owned them back then. As I've committed before I love Alfa's.. and will hopefully enjoy my 86 Spider veloce.. for many years to come..

Was it on two separate occasions or were you actually offered two cars at the same time?

Glad you enjoyed it, thank you very much!

Cool! I remember meeting the collector who owned a late X1/9 that had a few special details because it had been made for Bertone’s daughter’s 18th birthday. It was red with non-standard upholstery… And I wonder what happened to the car since then

@@Matteo_Licata Bertone's daughters who mismanaged the company and finished it off? Funnily our X1/9 was a girls 18th present, we bought it at 3 years old with red nail varnish stains on the steering wheel!

Cool! The VS looks great!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you!!!

Thank you!!!

Thank you!

Thank you!!!

That's cool! Speaking of the former Bertone factory, which has been building Maseratis since 2013 following a long hiatus, its fate is sealed: production is being transferred to the Fiat Mirafiori plant, and the site will be abandoned for good in 2024.

Hurry up they might knock it down

Couldn't agree more! Those were an option from Bertone, and I bet they're quite rare now.

Thank you!

Just like Tom Selleck with the Ferrari 308 :) What a pity though. What did you get instead?

I'm guessing you're well over 6' in which case I'm surprised you even tried getting in! I'm 6' and I found the interior cramped and claustrophobic. The area around the shifter/ steering wheel/ knee joint/ centre console was particularly annoying. But the pedal box is good, relative to the steering wheel and shifter. I modified the steering column, centre console, steering wheel, and shifter on mine and fitted Tillett carbon seats from the Lotus Elise Cup. I still find it a bit awkward getting in and out with the roof on but once inside it feels nice and roomy. Some of the instruments will be obscured no matter what you do!

That sounds like a great plan indeed 👍

I looked into that swap because the K20 is such a good motor. But it will never sound right in an X1/9 imo. Btw 180 bhp is possible from the sohc using the later pattern 1600 Tipo motor as the base.

Well, it’s understandable, given it was a race engine, with no holds barred: 16v head, dry sump etc. Only the block remained stock

I can imagine that! That’s why people have been stuffing larger engines into X1/9s since forever, and keep doing so today, with even Honda K20 swap kits now available. However, it’s a pity that Fiat’s disinterest for the car meant no effort was done to give it more power right out of the box.

@@Matteo_Licata . I agree. I could catch almost any car in the turns only to watch them drive away on the straights. I wish they had made it a little larger and stuffed something like the Alfa V6 in it at the factory. Otherwise the handling was incredibly predictable. At the same time my dad had a Lancia beta coupe. Another great handling car. But very heavy and I think it had a Fiat 1.8 liter. Incredibly underpowered. We had a 124 and a 128 and eventually I drove a 131 Brava. That was the era of Fiats in America. Then poof they were gone.

Let's clarify things here: Grugliasco is a town right next to Turin, where Bertone and Pininfarina used to have production facilities. However, the Pininfarina and the Bertone factories were NOT the same. It's the Bertone one that then became a Maserati factory, but that's going to end soon too.

@@Matteo_Licata thanks fou your information. Pininfarina mounted his models in San Giorgio Canavese too ?

Thank you very much! Yes, the X1/9 has aged much better than similar cars made later, and that's what good design does: it retains its validity despite the passage of time...

I thought the Pontiac Fiero was a step up. All it needed was a more powerful engine, but GM won't allow it... because of stupid corvette.

As far as I know, not by Bertone. Nuccio was hell-bent on the mid-engine format, and rightfully so, as we can see.

Well spotted 👍

Wow, seven examples! That's true love indeed. I agree, the X1/9 should have gotten better engines and proper development, and it's a pity Fiat didn't invest on it properly

Eheheh, that's cool!

Si tratta del Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile a Torino. Però tutte quelle X1/9 si trovavano lì solo il giorno in cui le ho filmate, esposte dall'X1/9 Club Italia

It sure is!

I had this little green with same sticker for 42 years ago.

I do ;) That's Turin's National Automobile Museum, in northwestern Italy. It's a rather pleasant place to visit. However, bear in mind that all those X1/9s were just there for the day: it was a club event and the cars belong to their respective private owners.

@@Matteo_Licata That's great, thank you:)

That one was a nice looking car too!

No problem Paul 👍

That's a rather obscure prototype made by Bertone experimenting with a different roof design... But very little is known about it, and the idea didn't look all that brilliant, to be honest!

@@Matteo_Licata thanks you, I totally agree with you. I owned a blue Bertone Gran Finale edition 20yrs ago. It was so much fun 😁

The same way I look like Brad Pitt. We both are male and have the same number of limbs, but the execution is rather different 😊

@@Matteo_Licata Ha ha !! Love it ! This is why I love your channel !

@@Matteo_Licata WRONG! The fact they both have the WEDGE style. You don't look like Brad Pitt at all. LOL Oh please!

Cars were slower in the 70s… As they say, the past is a different country!

Wow, thank you for sharing your very cool and impressive car history 👍 I’m glad you enjoyed the video!