24 cars blue sky: Junkyard Find: 1978 Fiat X1/9

07 - 1978 Fiat X1_9 Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin For decades now, the Fiat 124 Sport Spider has been a regular sight in American self-service wrecking yards. The mid-engined Fiat X1/9, based on a healthy serving of Fiat 128 components, has been a bit less commonplace in such yards, but I still see them every now and then. We've seen this '80 and this '86 so far in this series, and today we're adding a brightly colored '78 to the collection.
01 - 1978 Fiat X1_9 Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin The X1/9 is one of those cars that manages to rust anywhere. These cars will rust in Los Angeles, they'll rust in Phoenix, and they rust very nicely in Denver (which is where I found this one). Every time I see one of these side scoops, I'm reminded of the X1/9 scoops I installed in the hood of my '65 Impala.
02 - 1978 Fiat X1_9 Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin This car is a beyond-sane-hope-of-repair basket case, but it still has quite a few useful parts. Some of you may recognize this car as the neighbor of the '93 Honda del Sol we saw last week.
14 - 1978 Fiat X1_9 Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin I've driven a fair number of miles in X1/9s, and they're much more fun than the 65-horsepower engine rating would suggest.