Last Call: Sea Air Edition


Evidently, the ad agency couldn’t get through a modeling session with just one Fiat X1/9. I’m guessing the first one rusted away from the salty seaside environment prior to the end of the model’s contracted session.
Last Call indicates the end of the Hooniverse broadcast day. It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, it’s encouraged.

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26 responses to “Last Call: Sea Air Edition”

  1. Papa Van Twee Avatar
    Papa Van Twee

    I still love the heck out of an X1/9, and would get one if I had the money and space.

  2. bv911 Avatar
    bv911

    …looks like the perfect place to leave this:

    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      That thing looks tight! In what year was that?

      1. bv911 Avatar
        bv911

        YouTube post was in 2011, not sure how accurate that is…

    2. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      The way he just casually hangs the tail out on a mid engined car like it was low speed antics in an AE86 – respect.

  3. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    My loft dustout has produced these photos that I took as a 12 year old in 1994, with a plastic box build around a spring operated shutter that I optimistically called a “camera”. Here is Volvo’s first representation in my hometown, four years after German reunification, with a focus on their smallest offer: The 400-series. The round-edge facelift was brand new as of 1994. Used cars were still hard to come by due to the East sucking up everything on four wheels to catch up with the capitalists. The 240 and 940 with their legendary reputation were hard to come by.

    View post on imgur.com

    View post on imgur.com

    View post on imgur.com

    View post on imgur.com

    View post on imgur.com

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      Six-door Volvo Airport Limo. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

  4. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    I’ve never had the opportunity to drive an X1/9, but it looks fun. I always wondered how it compared to the Toyota MR2 Mk1 that it apparently inspired. (I assume the latter car was more powerful, but beyond that?)

    1. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      Not had the opportunity to drive an X1/9 either, but you’re talking at least a good 40bhp power difference between an X1/9 and an naturally aspirated 4AGE MK1 MR2. The X1/9 was lighter, but they really should have given it more poke in the later years. Fiat logic – fit a weedy engine in one of the finest handling cars they’ve ever made, but put a 2 litre turbo in the Strada FWD hatchback and watch it torque steer into hedgerows. Go figure.

    2. Rover 1 Avatar
      Rover 1

      I found the steeringat low speeds in the X1/9 to be slightly better, but the one I drove had the thin standard tyres. On the very same day I drove a Mk1 MR2, in EVERY other respect it was a vastly better car to drive, as you would expect, as it is, after all a considerably newer design. Better build quality, ride, handling, turn in at speed, seat comfort, driving position, braking, power delivery, power, everything.
      But you can’t tell the Eurosnobs or Brandsnobs. It’s like a guy I know who continues to insist that a Triumph Spitfire is a superior car to a Mazda MX5.

      1. Fuhrman16 Avatar
        Fuhrman16

        There’s nothing wrong with an X1/9 that an Alfa Romeo 3.0l V6 can’t fix.
        https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/04/fiat-x19-alfa-romeo-164-plywood-launcha-splatos/

        1. Zentropy Avatar
          Zentropy

          Lol at the coffee-can “driving lights”.

        2. crank_case Avatar
          crank_case

          An Uno Turbo engine is an easier swap, if you can get one. I wonder if later Fiat engines are compatible? An X1/9 with a Punto HGT engine would be brilliant.

      2. nanoop Avatar

        +1 for mentioning snobism in conjunction with 70ies’ Fiat.

        1. Rover 1 Avatar
          Rover 1

          Like being an Austin snob.

  5. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    Not sure about the blue one but the silver is a “Bertone X19” from that brief period in the early 80s when Fiat surrendered the American market and brought in design house mercenaries

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      Somebody got a pat on the head for making sure the front and rear wheels were at the same point in rotation on both shots.

      1. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        I’m convinced that the image with the blue car is edited. I realize Photoshop wasn’t a thing back then, but there’s no way they got a different car in the exact same position. The unnaturally-bright blue car doesn’t have a blue reflection in the wet sand.

        1. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar

          Yes, I assumed it was a retouch as well. I guess my joke about the two cars went over a few heads.
          If you really want to see some extensive photo retouching, look at AMC brochures circa late 1970s. Some images look as though the entire car was painted into the photo.
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/438bc262a75590018ad7d94e42811e627ca6ae610973fa569b2b894af466d49e.jpg

          1. Zentropy Avatar
            Zentropy

            You have to admire the work that must have gone into the retouches, but damn, wouldn’t it have been easier to just stage a better photo??

          2. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar

            I’m guessing perhaps the photo was shot before the final configuration was determined? Part of my job as a publications specialist is product photography, and I am often tasked with creating images of parts when they still only exist IRL as engineering drawings. (But I fortunately have have CAD, Illustrator, and Photoshop apps to rely on.)

        2. Vairship Avatar
          Vairship

          Not to mention how loooooong her right leg is in the silver car picture when compared to her left leg or upper body.

  6. MattC Avatar
    MattC

    I always liked these and had an older next door neighbor who owed one. He had the typical rust issues (battery tray being notorious culprit). His was a goldishy color if I remember correctly. Still for a young car obsessed kid, I though he was the coolest dude.

  7. JayP Avatar
    JayP

    Dad bought my mom a red X/19 in the disco era… really. It had an aftermarket 8 track playing Saturday Night Fever.
    With dad driving, I’d sit in my mom’s lap while my little brother slid in behind the passenger’s seat. Good grief.
    The engine started to flake, dad didn’t want to put the time or money to hire Tony to fix it. Sold off, and was later replaced with a cut/shunt 80/79 MGB which stayed in the family until a few years ago.
    Good times.

  8. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    I had to smile as I cruised down I-95 in Maine and saw a Crown Victoria Police Interceptor go by with a plate that read “SCMODS”
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6d27904459b1e4a7f38b50334805e7eade7fbaf8b608b8b132eae037ee24c21.jpg