Fiat X1/9 and 128 Coupé

Fiat X1/9 and 128 Coupé

With the mainstream Fiat brand seeming to turn its attention in the ’70s and ’80s to daily transport vehicles, coupés figured rather less in the company’s plans, but it maintained a presence in the coupé market through both the front-wheel drive 128 coupé and its derivative the 128 3P, which continued to sell well through the ’70s, and the mid-engined X1/9, introduced in 1972.

The 128 coupé was a nice little car, but is very rare over here, so for this article we’ll concentrate on the X1/9, which with its removable roof served quite well as a two-seater coupé, though it was really a replacement for the 850 Spider. It sold well from late 1972 right through to 1989, initially with the 1290cc motor and from late 1978 with a 1500cc 63kW (85bhp) engine and five-speed gearbox from the Strada series. From 1982, Bertone took over the building duties on the car.

Rare in NZ, the earlier models with the 1300 engine have less sparkle to their performance than the later 1500s, but many owners like them better than the later cars. The 1500s with the five-speed gearbox came in from late 1978, with a $16,500 price tag, and the price rose through the ’80s up to $45k, and then back down into the thirties for the final few years, sold as Bertones. Last imports were brought in in early 1990.

This is one of those cars where ‘fun to drive’ outweighs high performance as the reason for purchase. They were heavy cars for the 56 or 63kW (75/85bhp) engines to cope with, but with good handling, were nonetheless quick to drive from A to B.