In the Beginning

My first FIAT was a 1980 Carbed X1/9 when I was 15 years old. It was as a whole a real piece of crap, but it got me through high school and taught me a lot about how NOT to work on FIATs. It also turned out to be the first FIAT I totalled :o( . This unfortunate accident occurred in 1988 on my way to class. I didn't quite make it across the intersection before a Honda hit me just in front of the passenger front wheel at about 45 mph.

After it's demise I began to look for a '74 as a replacement. I fell in love a turbocharged Chrome Yellow '74 that was for sale just before I killed my '80. Being a poor student I couldn't buy the car at the time, so my friend Ed bought it. The car was the most incredible looking X1/9 I'd ever seen, this foto does it no justice. It had Konis on all four, Abarth CD30 wheels, 205/60 rears and 185/60 fronts, drilled brake rotors, lowered (a little too much, but it looked great!), Recaro seats and an Abarth steering wheel. The engine was a 1300 with a Rajay turbo and water injection.

I now had a vision for what my new X1/9 would look like. There was no question that it would be Chrome Yellow, but I had a slightly different overall look in mind. Though I loved the clean lines of the '74 body, I wasn't as thrilled about the '74 interior nor the 1300/4-spd. Not that there's anything wrong with them, I love a 1300 at full song as much as the next guy and at least the reverse gear works on a 4-spd. With a little push from my friend Gary Luke I made the decision to build what was my vision of the perfect X1/9. It would be a marriage between the perfect lines of the '74 body and the 1500 interior and drivetrain. Boy, at 18 years old I had no idea what I was getting myself into...

I bought the '74 body at a wrecking yard in San Jose. It was the top car on a stack of three. I had noticed it just days before I totalled my '80, it's the same car that the Daytonas came off of. This '74 was a perfect candidate for the job. The body was a near perfect rust free example and all the trim/lights/bumpers/ etc were intact. The drivetrain was gone and the interior was trash from sitting in the rain for months without a top. $300 later and the car was lowered from what could have been it's final resting place, using a forklift, onto the trailer.

And thus the saga began....

The Restorations

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