A Work in Progress # 4: 1978 Series 1 Fiat X1/9

This dead-straight, totally rust free 1978 Series 1 Fiat X1/9 is one of four concurrent Work in Progress articles featuring or to be featured on UMPH at the minute, joining Todd's Alfa GTV, the Alfa Male's 33 and a yet-to-be-published piece on an ex-Ed Ordynski Suzuki Sierra that's undergoing a full chassis-up rebuild. It's also of particular personal interest to the author, as you might soon recognise.

The car's original owner is not known. However, the late Peter Prestage - the visionary former head of Tasmania Police Forensic Services - bought it around 1980, before selling it to Iain Watson in the early 1990s.

Iain (aka John) has had a long love of all things automotive and involvement in motorsports, having owned everything from T-series MGs, a GT Cortina, a VW Beetle rally car and numerous Fiats, as well as being a founding member of the Light Car Club of Canberra and Targa Tasmania competitor. He also raced motorcycles at Longford - where he met and befriended GP legend Jackie Stewart, who he used to take shooting around Tasmania's Scotsdale area - and was also a flag official at Symmons Plains in the mid-1960s.

Although the X1/9 hasn't seen competitive action, it was used as a lead car for the touring category of Targa Tasmania some years back, where Iain no doubt explored the limits of the event brief. If anyone's ever driven Tasmania's country roads, they'll know there's lots of fun to be had on the twisty bits without needing to break any speed limits!

In Targa livery

Sadly, a career climbing into, onto and under everything from RAAF Hercules transport planes, police cars and boats, firetrucks and emergency services' radio masts as a radio-tech haven't done Iain's back any favours, requiring him to rethink his commitment to folding himself into the diminutive Fiat's cockpit. It had to end sometime and end it did, aged 80. The upright seating of a Nissan X-Trail is so, so much more comfy!

And so it is that the X1/9 has found a new owner who, with the acquiescence of an understanding wife, has added it to his modest stable of 1970s / 80s cars. Well, two cars, to be accurate: his forever car, the mighty Galant, and another X1/9.

Iain and his ex-X.

Apparently, Fiat collecting only becomes obsessive when you've got three.

Exactly how work on the Series 1 will proceed depends on what's discovered over the next few weeks. There's no doubt that the body's sound and that duco's fine, for now at least. The interior isn't too shabby, either. The engine's a little asthmatic but there are already plans to address this, as there are to sharpen up the handling. However, there are Italian electrics to be considered and it would be foolhardy to underestimate the complexity of an X1/9 cooling system, too... .

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

All iPhone images.

EJ or EH Holden? (Up-dated December, 2022)

EJ or the later EH? Several years ago, I posed the question: Can somebody please explain the difference between an EJ and an EH Holden ute or van? The response at the time wasn't overwhelming, so I did a bit of Googling and ferreting through my photos and came up with my own rough guide to EJ and EH identification. Sedans and wagons are easy to tell apart ; the EH's vertical rectangular tail lights are a dead give-away. However, the workhorse versions of both models share the rear-end treatment of the earlier EJ, making it harder to identify one from the other. No super obvious hints here. Or here ... . It turns out that the main clues are in the placement of the front H O L D E N lettering and GMH lion emblems, the style of the radiator grille and the width of the vents in front of the windscreen, with all EJs - sedans, wagons, utes and vans - having one combination and the EH line-up having their own . So what exactly are those diffe

Vick Auto Prima Fiat X1/9 Brakes: An Owner’s Assessment

At the end of 2022, I fitted a set of Vick Autosport Prima front brakes to my mildly worked 1.5 litre Series 1 Fiat X1/9 . I was fortunate, having picked them up at a very, very reasonable price, brand new but surplus to the needs of a fellow X1/9 Australia member who had imported them from the US. The kit included: New single pot callipers , new vented rotors (standard X1/9 front rotors are smaller, non-vented items), DOT approved stainless steel brake hoses, and all the necessary mounting hardware. They are a value proposition, being particularly well priced compared to other manufacturers’ packages - even at RRP - with everyone I’ve spoken to saying they’re made to a high standard, too. Here's a link to a piece that I wrote about them at that time, including some costings: https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-x19-gets-prima-brake-upgrade.html . Initial Assessment: I was a little underwhelmed by the brakes' performance, finding that although they had a tiny

Random # 301: Nanna-Spec KE36 Corolla

Once upon a time - six or seven years ago, actually - there was a lovely pale yellow GC Galant station wagon getting around Hobart. It was totally nanna-spec; its paint was umarked, the chrome work and hubcaps were immaculate, and its very original interior was pristine. Then someone stuck feathers in its dashboard. Next, the windows were adorned with Tibetan prayer flags. And a hubcap went missing. And the the rear bumper was pushed in, mangling the bodywork behind it. And a mudguard got dented. And rust set in. I fear for this sweet, innocent KE36 Corolla. Somebody please save it before it's too late. Nanna needs you to do it. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos by GlamRock.

Upper Middle Petrol Head:

Search This Blog