OT: X1/9 on BAT, Nice Modified Conversion Options

[VegasRacer]

Targa top hoarder (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

I can tell you this - A 914 Targa Top is much easer to stow in the rear trunk than wrestling a X1/9 top into the frunk.



Top of the page, gratuitous photo added for your enjoyment. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[horizontally-opposed]

@wonkipop there’s an old saying that Karmann invented rust and then licensed it to the Italians…

could be. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

-- the alternative to invention is industrial espionage by the russians using the stasi to plant the technology in west germany. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

if it was it almost worked, the secret to special russian steel went everywhere and the italians were the most enthusiastic advocates. would explain why alfa romeo purchased that 914/6 back in the 70s to study closely.

meanwhile the east germans drove around in their plastic trabants waiting for western europe to collapse in a brown dust cloud.


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years ago a mate owned a lancia fulvia zagato. then he started to poke around at it.
and got rid of it real fast. the italians had improved on russia and karmann. they had discovered galvanic corrosion. those things eat themselves even out in the middle of the desert.

I cannot thank you enough for this post. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) Always had a thing for the Fulvia, and once even entertained a trade for a fantastic (looking…) one but wistfully took a pass on it. I am wistful no more!

As for the X1/9, there was a black one in my neighborhood back in the late 1980s or early 1990s. What sounds it made. Always wondered what the engine was. Definitely sounded Italian, but legitimately exotic. Car was nicely turned, too, being lowered with great wheels, no bumpers, and beautiful paint. Have always dug them as a result, but just about never see them these days.

[Maltese Falcon]

Midwest Bayless Co. Equipped X1-9 competition car, haulin' oats to P1; we build the street and the race style long tube headers for them. In business 50+ years (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif)

[wonkipop]

@wonkipop there’s an old saying that Karmann invented rust and then licensed it to the Italians…

could be. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

-- the alternative to invention is industrial espionage by the russians using the stasi to plant the technology in west germany. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

if it was it almost worked, the secret to special russian steel went everywhere and the italians were the most enthusiastic advocates. would explain why alfa romeo purchased that 914/6 back in the 70s to study closely.

meanwhile the east germans drove around in their plastic trabants waiting for western europe to collapse in a brown dust cloud.


------

years ago a mate owned a lancia fulvia zagato. then he started to poke around at it.
and got rid of it real fast. the italians had improved on russia and karmann. they had discovered galvanic corrosion. those things eat themselves even out in the middle of the desert.

I cannot thank you enough for this post. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) Always had a thing for the Fulvia, and once even entertained a trade for a fantastic (looking…) one but wistfully took a pass on it. I am wistful no more!

As for the X1/9, there was a black one in my neighborhood back in the late 1980s or early 1990s. What sounds it made. Always wondered what the engine was. Definitely sounded Italian, but legitimately exotic. Car was nicely turned, too, being lowered with great wheels, no bumpers, and beautiful paint. Have always dug them as a result, but just about never see them these days.

glad to be of service. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

don't worry you are not alone in liking them, they look fantastic.
but even the standard (non zagato) fulvias are a hand full without the aluminium steel chemistry entering the equation. they crack in half clear across the top of the front suspension housings.
manifests as a tear in the outer front mudguard. its like an airplane stress fracture. then you know you are in a world of restoration pain. makes a 914 hell hole look like a spring picnic. i'm sure the zagatos have the same flaw as its the same sub frame with an aluminium body shell on it

alfa 33s which came after the alfasud do the same thing. i think the USA was spared this bit of italian genius. nice cars to drive though before the front end cracks in half.