THE FIAT X1/9 AT 50

Fifty years ago, Fiat introduced three important new models – the 126, the 132, and a small mid-engine sports car greeted with some apprehension by many a Triumph and MG dealer. The X1/9 looked as smart as a pair of Ray Bans and featured a detachable ‘Targa Top’ roof that the driver could store in the front boot. When Road & Track tested the new Fiat, they regarded it as “a thoroughly modern sports car, lively in performance, precise to handle, and a very real pleasure to drive”.

Fiat commenced work on X1/9 in 1969 as the replacement for the 850 Spider. The result used a transversely mounted 1,290cc SOHC engine from the 128 Coupé 1300 with coachwork by Bertone. By 1976 some 44,000 examples had found a home in the USA, but motorists awaited the long-delayed RHD version in the UK. A test by Tony Bastable for Thames Television’s Drive In.

Must have intensified demand for the X1/9; “it’s got style, it’s lively, and it handles beautifully”. One option was a conversion undertaken by Radbourne Racing Ltd. for £350 on top of the £3,350 price tag of the LHD model. In 1974 a company spokesperson told Motor Sport:

The tragedy is that this car should have been an MG. There is nothing magical about it, the X1-9 is merely a sensibly designed assembly of parts from the Fiat range, housed in a very appealing body: an exercise Leyland could have duplicated within their massive range.

Meanwhile, the magazine’s Jeremy Walton found the Fiat’s handling to be “astonishing. Even when we had a puncture and a narrow Pirelli had to be fitted to one steel wheel at the front, the X1-9 would still hustle around our test curves as well as better-known sporting saloons or coupes”. Finally, in January 1977, Fiat GB introduced an official RHD version. At £2,997, the X1/9 was considerably more expensive than the MG Midget, but it arguably possessed a different appeal – less flat hat and more a 1970s suburban La Dolce Vita.

Car magazine of April 1977 tested the X1/9 opposite the TR7. They rudely described the Triumph’s styling as “awful from any angle other than the front” but found it was “otherwise a very commendable effort”. However, the Fiat was “the definitive small production sports car – the sort of car that had the right decisions been taken a long time ago, Leyland might have created using Mini 1275GT or even Maxi components”. The following year saw the debut of the X1/9 1500, with the engine and the five-speed transmission from the Ritmo/Strada. The advertising copy modestly claimed a top speed of 112 mph with “the feel of a supercar”, while one of the major sales factors was its striking looks.

Autocar of 14^th April 1979 stated the X1/9 1500 was “What a Midget ought to beat”. At £4,575, the Fiat was also nearly £600 more expensive than the MGB, but the magazine believed “the X1/9 has virtually no competitor; there is no other mid-engine small sports car in series production that comes close enough to be considered”. Production moved from Fiat to Bertone three years later, and sales ended in 1989. The standard version cost was £8,926 while £10,124 gave you a choice of two metallic paint finishes, different alloy wheels, and more elaborate interior trim.

By then, the X/19 was justifiably famous as the Fiat which was a scaled-down supercar for a less than exotic price. And besides, 45 years ago, those pop-up headlamps were guaranteed to cause a stir when powering along the A4155.