Blue 1977 Special Series (off road since1986)

Hi, yes, I'm the lunatic who bought this off eBay. I was expecting it to be mostly rust and I wasn't disappointed. I hope it will be restorable, but I'm sending it up to my friend Ant at www.rustrepublic.co.uk (who mostly specialise in water cooled VWs and Mk1 Sciroccos and Golfs in particular - so they're used to rust). If he says it's good for nothing but the scrapyard, then this thread will come to a premature halt. Getting it out of the garage it's been in for the last 30 years will be the first challenge; no surprise that the brakes are all seized solid. Anyway, here are some pictures for you to laugh at:

I had an orange 1977 X1/9 (TAH 850R) that I bought in 2000 and then sold around 2005, which I parted with simply because I was a student and couldn't afford to spend any more money chasing a seemingly unsolvable overheating problem. I think I drove it about two or three thousand miles in all the time I had it, despite it being very solid - and it had been my intention to use it daily. I've wanted another ever since, and only a 1300 will do, so I decided to go for it. If this really isn't worth restoring, I'll dismantle it for usable spares and keep looking for a better project.

I'll find some photos of TAH 850R later - all 35mm film prints from that era.

If the body is considered to far gone then I have a rolling 1978 1300 shell that has had a lot of work done to it (from looking at it I doubt if it was that bad to start with) PM me if interested and I can send you some pictures. I'm in Northamptonshire if you're passing.

Thanks, I'm in Bedford now so you're not going to be all that far away. I'll wait and see what the verdict is.

Will be great to see another restoration thread. Good Luck & Fingers Crossed!

Thanks.

Can anyone advise on good sources of repair panels? Do Fiat still hold anything?

Also looks like I'll need a full set of bumpers, the rest of the trim seemed reasonably present and intact.

Edmund Drake-Lee wrote: Thanks.


Also looks like I'll need a full set of bumpers, the rest of the trim seemed reasonably present and intact.

I'll be interested in buying those old ones off you if you're replacing them with new ones

Hi there

I'm three years into a nut-and-bolt restoration myself: heres the bodywork pics so far (with work being done by my friend Kevin as I'm not a welder!):

www.facebook.com/kevin.marshall.7545/med...tory&hc_location=ufi

I've spent a lot of time and money on panels (around £4K I believe but I haven't tallied it all up as somethings are best left unknown), and I can tell you that body panels are becoming a problem: FIAT don't have any so you have only a few options:

1) Buy Radford Panels ( www.radfordpanel.co.uk ) which can be sourced from Claire a thttp://www.eurosport-uk.net/shop/. However I have found these panels to be of varying quality, with some needing more fettling than others.

2) Buy from Henk in Holland ( www.x19partsholland.nl/en-us/home.aspx ). This can be expensive when you add p&p but the panels are very good - I have bought a few panels from him, including a door.

3) Join all the clubs and forums that exist - I'm a member of the Scottish X1/9 Owners Forum and without the folk of that site I wouldn't have half the panels I needed - its amazing the panels x1/9 owners have hidden away.

4) Buy a spares car and plunder it for panels: a lot of folk go down this route.

5) Use a world ebay app like www.ekkiy.com to look for panels: just look up the world for the panel you need in a few different languages and off you go - I've found a few parts that way.

6) Ebay UK: quite a lot turns up on there but be warned, prices have shot up recently!

So thats a few ways to find the parts you need - be warned thou that its not a cheap car to buy panels for! As for bumpers, try all of the above and a set will come up for around £300.

Regards
Craig.

Brilliant, really helpful, thanks.

I suppose the problem with spares cars is that the same bits are broken/rotten on most of them. And obviously the problem of finding another 1300 to dismantle.

Can you give me a link for the Scottish club?

There is a chap selling fibreglass bumpers on ebay and also Cascu were selling them not too long ago.

Probably best to repair the old ones though if possible...

www.cascu.co.uk/Start.htm

I am amazed at the condition of X1/9's in Australia etc maybe you could ship a spares car and use panels/shell?

Hi there

Just look for the 'Scottish X1/9 Owners Club' on Facebook.

They're a good bunch and are happy to help a fellow x1/9 owner, and between the member there a lot of technical help and well as a large pool of parts which you could probably liberate...

Regards
Craig.

Hi Edmund, I spoke to you a number of years ago as I am now the owner of TAH 850R. Unfortunately the fella I purchased it from many years ago, has just died. He drove the car to Scotland to take part in the club national event in 2005.

Looking forward to your updates,

Ewen

Hi Ewen, good to catch up with you again. Sorry to hear about the previous owner, although I don't remember who I sold it to - it was a couple of guys came to collect it from me in Exeter and I think they'd travelled from somewhere like Taunton (could be wildly out there, but it wasn't a huge distance from Devon).

Here are a few pics of TAH 850R not long after I bought it in 2000 - it didn't change much in the time I owned it as it spent most of its time sat in a dry garage.

I'd be interested to see what it looks like now. Is it on the road?

While I think about it, what body panels are specific to 1300s? I get the impression some early 1500 panels are the same, if so which and until what year?

Thanks.

Edmund, I've sent you a pm