Have you ever heard the joke in which a contest’s first prize is one thing and second prize is amazingly two of the same thing? Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe duo of Fiats might be a prize you’d want, that is if their price proves to be no joke.
It’s no joke that the Ford Mustang is by all accounts the most successful pony car in history. And, its third generation, running from the 1979 through 1993 model years, proved to be the longest running edition by far. For having that long a run, it’s interesting for that model to have been—dare I say it—the least Mustang-y of them all.
Whether that’s a good thing or not the ‘Foxstang’ remains the most ubiquitous model both on the road and in the classifieds today. That means that supply generally outstrips demand making the model one of the best bang for your buck deals around.
That’s why yesterday’s 1990 sorta 7UP LX 5.0 did so poorly at its $20,000 asking. And by did so poorly, I mean it was creamed in a 96-percent Crack Pipe loss, one of the most lopsided votes in recent memory. Hell, even Vladimir Putin’s rivals did better than that in the recent Russian election.
Do you live by the motto that espouse ‘too much is never enough?’ No? Well get on the team, Purvis. You can never have too much of a good thing and when it comes to fun and funky Fiats, the X1/9 is a very good thing. That’s why today’s duo of 1979 driver and 1983 backup is so exciting.
Full disclosure: I absolutely love the Fiat X1/9, and have vowed someday to make one mine. If this pair were any closer to me, and if my wife were somehow magically transformed into a willing participant of my ill-conceived schemes, then you wouldn’t be seeing these, they would be sitting in my garage.
Fuller disclosure: I can’t stop giggling over these cars being in an Indiana town called ‘French Lick,’ because apparently I’m 12-years old.
Okay, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s take a look at what we’ve got here. First off, I’m going to scare off about half of you—these are 35-year plus old Fiats with undocumented maintenance histories. Oh, and there’s two of them.
Whoa, that was fast. Now, for the rest of us, here’s what seems to be a great opportunity on one of the most ingeniously packaged sports cars of all time.
The black car is the ’79 and it’s said to be the driver. It comes with 60K on the clock and new brakes and tires. The interior looks excellent and even still rocks the odd beer tap shift lever that’s visually avant garde but still wildly uncomfortable to use. The seller says that an exterior paint job would make it a show car, but honestly there doesn’t seem to be any issue with the car as it presents in the pictures.
There also doesn’t seem to be any rot anywhere on the black beauty, an amazing feat for any Fiat. The engine bay looks complete, albeit silver where it probably shouldn’t be silver. Maybe there was some major work done back there in the past.
The only major issues here are the rubber snood for the rear bumper, which shouldn’t be all that hard to source, and the fact that someone has cut a hole in the targa roof for a moon roof. Shit, people!
The ’83 car comes in two-tone silver over black with a red pinstripe demarcating the two hues and a righteous roof. It’s a bit more beat up too. It only has 31,000 miles under its tires and rocks very ‘80s alloys around which those tires are wrapped. I should point out that it’s a Bertone, not a Fiat. It does have it bumper snoods if that was a sticking point on the other car.
The seller says that it comes with a ton of new parts, including brakes, clutch, some extra wheels… Hell, I think there’s even a spare gearbox in one of the pics.
Both cars come with clear titles and the black one is said to be ‘great running.’ Not only do you get both cars in the deal, but the seller is offering up all those buckets, bundles, and boxes of extra parts and old manuals too.
That means there’s only two things to consider here—where you would put all this wonderfulness, and whether or not you should pay the seller the $5,700 he’s asking for the lot.
What do you think, is $5,700 a fair deal for so much X1/9 overload? Or, is that just too much, even for two cars?
You decide!
Evansville, IN Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to good-apollo for the hookup!
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