It is an 87 Bertone X1/9 I found here on the GRM board. A guy in Boston had it. It had been in the garage at the house he had rented, left there by a previous renter many (10) years ago. He bought it from the Landlord. He then had to move fairly suddenly, and never got around to working on it. The garage it was in wasn't a great garage, but it was better than being outside. I went up and bought it and trailered it home as the price was right.
Once I got it home I put it in my garage, cleaned up the interior (which is in really nice condition), put some ATF in the cyls to soak, and it turns freely by hand. I didn't want to try to start it until I replaced the timing belt, so I haven't. I just didn't have the time to really work on it, and now I'm going to be moving, so I need to pass it on.
Mechanically, it seems fine from what I can tell, just sitting. The engine turns over freely, it shifts into all gears, the steering and power windows work, etc. It has 41k miles on it. The hydraulics need to be replaced from sitting.
Cosmetically, the interior is excellent, the exterior is OK, the underbody is good. There are small rust spots on the upper L rocker, upper right roll bar, and around the rear wheel wells. None of the rust is tragic, and the entire underbody is solid with only light surface rust in a few spots. There is also surface rust on the center of the hood where the garage leaked onto the car.
Here are some pics from the guy I bought it from. I have cleaned it up since this, and it has been sitting in my garage.
http://www.carbio.org/pics/X19/x19_1.JPG http://www.carbio.org/pics/X19/x19_2.JPG http://www.carbio.org/pics/X19/x19_3.JPG
I'd really like to get it going, and I'm sure it would be a good car with the work I've mentioned. It is a fundamentally solid, low mileage car.
Here's the only catch: no title. The guy I bought it from didn't have it as be bought it from the landlord where the car had been long abandoned. I was planning on registering and titling it in Vermont, as you do not need to be a resident to register a car there, and they don't require a title, just a bill of sale, which I have. There is also the bonded title route, which on a car of so little value, isn't expensive.
I put it up on eBay to get rid of it, but would prefer to sell it to a GRMer - $250. The car is in Ridgefield, CT, 06877, down in the southwest corner of the state.
Here's the ebay link ebay link to X1/9
Any questions, feel free to email me (abbottcd at gmail dot com) or PM me here.
Thanks
