I have and Aircon is definitely right, it can take forever to sell even a common car (like a 7 series bmer from the UK) at a drastically reduced price ! Saw a personal import car a while ago that was nice but will take some time before they sell it as there was no service history or records to prove anything has been done for some time. Then again I've seen several TRs and 348s that were in excellent condition.
If you are concerned about imports buy somebody else's mistake and be prepared to spend a bit getting it right, in the trade we find the best bargains are those that become desparate because they know their car is what it is, therefore desparate people do desparate things, that's why we have big fins on our backs (to take advantage of these people). It may sound cold but why bother with customs and duty when if you look hard enough the bargain is out there.
there's one in the trading post at the mo for about $4k. i've deliberately avoided seeing this one as i don't want to buy another just yet, my pockets are too deeply shoved into my twin cam X. they pop up every couple months... i'm sure that if i had more room (and dosh...) i'd have dozens of the things laying around, i'm a sucker for 'em. trading post X but if you only want door bits, you might try the wreckers in glynde, just off glynburn road. about the only wrecker i know of with fiat stuff. i have a few other resources, but you can pm me if you want them to save dirtying the thread with fiat stuff. love the gt4, can't beat a bertone wedge. does your gt4 have DINO in the number plate? i know of about 3 gt4's around here, all red, all schmick. i believe there's one with one of those old green/gold personal plates that just ruins the look of the car, they gotta go.
If you are after gt4 door handles www.superformance.co.uk I think I was told that the gt4 door handles and the x19 door handles are slightly different in that the inner part which is black is made of plastic on the x19 and the gt4 one is made of metal or vice versa.I knew someone who had both cars and this is what he told me.
Yeah. PRISTINE 1987 930 turbo porsche...best i'd ever seen then, and still the best i've seen! Heaps of people loved it, but no one would buy it. Anyone they asked for advice said "don't touch an import"...no ifs, no buts. Took me almost a year to sell! like i said before, it wasn't the price....no one wanted it except ONE man. I only need one, but wow...he was hard to find!
Ash, yep that's my gt4 with the dino plates, you obviously get around, and yep the plate on the TR is from miami vice but the rego dept screwed up the 00 so it looks like oo. I saw the x19 in the trading post, wadda think a good project for a restorer? or wait for a 1500cc.
yeah looks like the X1/9 style door handles are pretty common for that era of car... a few pics from one little album i just happened to be browsing... http://community.webshots.com/photo/221304963/221312620qGNnfw http://community.webshots.com/photo/221304963/221307480LrWQQb http://community.webshots.com/photo/221304963/221317032bXchpd http://community.webshots.com/photo/221304963/221308241zxrkoT http://community.webshots.com/photo/221304963/221312831DfwNbN http://community.webshots.com/photo/221304963/221314712SwuMGs http://community.webshots.com/photo/221304963/221319506yAlMuE
love the blue x19, there is something about these little things, what is your experience with maint, like do they cost a ****load to work on and the rust is it like cancer
ha ha that's just too funny. i had to go to miami-vice.org to confirm that. tee hee. as i mentioned, i've avoided looking at them for now so i haven't seen that one. for $4k it shouldn't need much in the way of restoration, perhaps minor misc fixups, suspension tuning, electrical rewiring and an engine refresh. depends if you want a concours car or something to get groceries in. for concours and general beauty the only acceptable model (in oz) is the 1978, after that they got big-ass bumpers and ugly interiors. if you want a faster one, get a 1500 or a later ('87-'89) 1500 FI. you won't find many in SA, you'll have to get one from the east coast, there's a few good ones there for between $6-10k. the engine's respond well to a few breathing mods and stuff, but i personally don't like the FI models as they feel like a toyota, i like the rawness of the oldies. but don't discount the '78 4speed 1.3, you can rev the crap out of them (waaaay oversquare), driving through the streets at 5-8,000rpm all day without getting messy... wicked fun that you can't have in a ferrari. if you need MORE power to make it go (and sound ) as good as it looks, a twin-cam conversion is in order, there are some already out there, but they don't come up for sale as far as i can tell. with a decent engine rebuild and full conversion expect to add another $10-20k and 6-12 months, depending whether you go atmo or forced induction, and how much you do yourself. there's a squished-frog-green X for sale in sydney with all the hard werk done for a bit over $20k, he wanted nearly $30k for it earlier this year. guess it depends if you're after a project car or not.
Wait till you see a Lancia Beta 75 model without the galvanized steel like the later models... Now that is rust. They were built with Russian steel (recycled washing machine steel as the myth goes). Fiat did a deal with the Russian government for the steel because they were building some large factory (so the myth goes, some facts might be wrong here). I just love the twin cam, double valve springs, forged crankshaft noise. Its a real rocket. It screams! Now I need to get one of those old superchargers. Let me know if anyone has one for sale! Sorry to bastardize this F thread.
thanx ash, at least someone in this "wonderful" city of ours has a sense of fine cars, the crap i hear about x19's especially in the trade is that they are buckets of bolts but as a restored car they can be a hell of a lotta fun. Will let you know how i get on, got ony pics of your x19?
nope, pretty standard. it's no VB commodore when it comes to parts, but they're out there, factor in say 30-50% more for maintenance than an old gemini or sigma or commodore etc. just keep it well maintained and everything's peachy, very simple for a shadetree mechanic, there's very little confusing about these cars, very well executed. just walk away from a rusty one, especially in structural foundation areas. there's a lot of rusty fiat's, but there's a good deal of great condition X's out there too. mmm, rust
i know someone here in adelaide who's got a volumex that's destined for the arse-end of an X... cheers. i'm just glad there's something other than taxi's and hyundai's with huge wings to look at occasionally. heh, just a coupla.... http://www.socalx.com/x19/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=15 http://www.xonenine.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=coppermine&file=index&cat=10008 [/HIJACK] your tr and gt4 floating about the web...?
[REHIJACK] cold case...? ha, just switched that off. that's my (now ex) girlfriend. you own/run a car lot or something? ta. here was my last x1/9... this thing was never gonna be pretty. the portfolio: "Two Cars Enter, One Car Leave" just noticed you can sort of see the gt4 lines coming through in the following pics: http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/54538/11.jpg http://www.xonenine.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=coppermine&file=displayimage&cat=0&pos=364 this pic always cracks me up. the bumper FELL OFF taking a hard left off hindley onto the morphett bridge. [/REHIJACK]
When I was living in Italy,a very good friend of mine who was a mechanic/panel beater had 2 X19s.One he left original the other he put the engine of a Fiat Uno turbo ie.Christ that was a nightmare of a job for him and me too as I helped him out a bit but when finally he finished,it went and handled like a rocket on rails.
i've heard the uno turbo is about as easy an engine swap as you can do, compared to the twin cam which requires all different gearbox/driveshafts/mounts/etc. the uno has virtually the same block, just a matter of miscellaneous plumbing, but the engine bay has plenty of space with the SOHC in there. uno t has 105hp stock as opposed to 67 for the na 1300, apparently easily tunable to 160+, and with further enhancements 200+ can be attained and reliable. of course you're likely to shred the gearbox trying to put down much more than 100...
if you're looking for gt4 parts PM me as I'm parting mine out and have all parts bar the roof and straight body panels
