I would buy one, but...

With camera held at my eye level.

So very much better than anything British, reasonable parts availability and quality, an engine designed after WW2...but I just don't fit.

Spit 6?

I was going to post a photo, but there are enough clues.  Who knows their sports cars?

Fiat?

Sunbeam?

Which part of " So much better than anything British" did you guys miss?

78 Fiat 124 Spyder.

I mean, the redline alone eliminates 98% of the Brits.

I used to look over the windshield of my '66 Datsun - it was even called the short windshield version. 

You get used to it.  
 

I think that's why motorists used to wear goggles back in the early days. Fiat was just keeping the experience pure. 

This could possibly be considered racist, but I have a theory, based on the steering wheel/pedal relationship in Italian cars, that they are several generations closer to the Neanderthal than the rest of us.

But that's just a theory.  I could be wrong.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I got it!

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

The funny thing is that the X1/9 does not have the terrible short leg-long arm problem that all 124s and all Alfas have. There is a petty short total height limit, but for me I hate the 124 fittment, but the X is perfect.

Did... did it rain inside?!?!

LeftLaneLoser said:

Did... did it rain inside?!?!

Washed fingerprints off the fender.

Late comer.

My British sports car had a DOHC engine with 7,000 rpm red line and 4 wheel discs a decade before that rustmobile existed.  But I agree that other than the rust issues, the 124 was ahead of it's time and was a nice little package.

Always thought that the downdraft carb let the whole thing down a bit, though. Should have had a pair of side draft Webers like the Alfas.

We put my 6'10" acquaintance into an NB a few years ago. I would have been worried about him taking rock chips to the teeth.

As a half Italian guy, i resemble all these short arm/long leg/hairy motherberkeleying neanderthal comments. 

But i got a normal torso!

At 5'6....

wspohn said:

Late comer.

My British sports car had a DOHC engine with 7,000 rpm red line and 4 wheel discs a decade before that rustmobile existed.  But I agree that other than the rust issues, the 124 was ahead of it's time and was a nice little package.

Always thought that the downdraft carb let the whole thing down a bit, though. Should have had a pair of side draft Webers like the Alfas.

Side Drafts do not fit.  The brake Master Cylinder gets in the way due to the booster.  Dual Downdrafts do exist for them.  Weber DCNFs.  

As for fitting into the 124, give it a try first.  You can also do a foamectomy pretty easily on them as there is almost nothing holding the lower cushion in place.

Yeah, I drove a 124 Spider while looking at one miserable MGB after another before I found my GT.

I'm sure a spacer and a deep wheel could fix it, but it was so laughably impossible that I didn't bother chasing it any further. I have no idea how the car drove because I was so hinged forward just to reach the wheel.

Maybe if it had been an amazing example and that was the only problem... Instead I just felt like it was as broken as all the MGs AND I was rolling the dice on being able to drive it.

And it's true: X1/9s have perfectly sane ergonomics.

This is why the Abomination has no windshield. 

Jesse Ransom said:

Yeah, I drove a 124 Spider while looking at one miserable MGB after another before I found my GT.

I'm sure a spacer and a deep wheel could fix it, but it was so laughably impossible that I didn't bother chasing it any further. I have no idea how the car drove because I was so hinged forward just to reach the wheel.

You were doing it wrong.  The idea is to bend your knees and leave your arms out straight to grasp the top half of the wheel.  You will never get your legs out straight like in an MGB.