Fiat X1/9

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YOUR STARTER FERRARI

While we still churned out antique Spitfires and mundane Midgets, Fiat showed everybody else how to make a mass produced, low-cost mid-engined serious sports car with the X1/9.

Based upon 128 1300 Rally saloon mechanicals, it was still considerably zippier and pricier than Porsche’s 914 and handled equally well plus boasted a similar type of Targa top. A move to 1500cc along with a five-speed transmission added more urge with less frantics (and sadly ungainly larger rubber bumpers to appease the US market) but the Fiat still cried out for more power because the X1/9 had the spirit of a Ferrari about it. Today, X1/9s make very inexpensive classics although most are rusty and tatty so buy with care. Did you know that Colin Chapman liked the X1/9 so much that he bought one for his daughter as a birthday present? Enough said!