In a message dated 4/8/03 4:59:49 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
owner-mgs-digest@autox.team.net writes:
> The (Fiat 124) Spider was mostly eye candy. Wood front dash, bulgy hood,
> useless
> back seat. The 5-speed was nice, but it had synchro problems ALOT. I
> changed out a tranny without 2nd gear for a "good used one" that I
> unfortunately found lacked 3rd gear. Really not that quick either.
>
Like all Italian cars, the rust-proofing in the early years was rudimentary,
and most rusted away in a few years. I was just talking to another owner of
an early Lambo like I have who told me that when they had to remove part of a
fender, they found that the underside wasn't even primered!
The smaller engined 124 wasn't all that fast, but the larger, up to 2000 cc
engines popelled them along quite well. The 5 speed and 4 wheel discs were
ahead of the pack, and the soft top (not exported as long to the States as to
Canada) was about the best out there - a one handed exercise that would make
anyone that has owned an MGA or an MGB with removable top laugh (or cry).
> The X1/9 was zippy. I used to always get traffic light noise from the
> Fiero clowns; they had nothing! Top end though, like the Spider,
> wasn't the greatest and the TR7 wedge look gets old quickly.
>
The X1/9 was much slower than the 124 - it just seemed quick because it's
agility made up for the lack of poop in the 128 motor they used. It handled
very well, one of the earliest mid-engined cars available (I like mid-engines
- part of the attraction of my Fiero daily driver). The most interesting
X1/9s were the ones that people shoehorned a 124 engine into.....
Bill
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