‘You listed all the faults. Our X1/9 had the lot!’

1987 Fiat Bertone X1/9 Jim Rodger, Perth

My wife and I bought an X1/9 shortly after we married in 1987. This one, which we've had for five years now, is almost identical to the original. When I found it, I spotted the obvious but missed the important things. Your subsequent X1/9 feature listed every known fault… and our car suffered the lot! That’s when I started buying PC – each issue showed somebody with no previous experience transforming a wreck in a garage the size of a rabbit hutch. And all for 50p. We sent ours to a specialist. Virtually every component has now been replaced, and it feels like new.