Vail Colorado, 1976

[RRoller123]

An old friend just sent along this pic of my 74 X1/9 from a trip we made to Colorado in 1976. A gem from the vault for me, anyway. What a great car that was! It was my daily driver and very reliable. I took it all over the country; it went from Boston to CO, Yellowstone, SF, Point Reyes, LA, Sequoias, Vegas, AZ, NM, etc etc and I eventually sold it for a good price and went back to school. But I missed it so much that I bought a brand new 79 after graduation and kept that one for many years and put 135,000 on it as my daily driver as well!

Pete

[Nanonevol]

Nice! I'd love to get one but they are not nearly as many out there and asking prices are much higher than for Spiders. Maybe someday.

[RRoller123]

Is it my imagination or is it harder to find a rust free X than a rust free Spider?

[baltobernie]

Perhaps. As a hardtop, they were probably used more regularly in foul weather, like yours.

Ragtops of all marques seem to survive in greater number than other models from the same series. When's the last time you saw a 124 wagon?

[RRoller123]

That's a good point. Both of my X1/9s were daily drivers, and saw New England Winters. I would never do so with the Spider.

[zachmac]

That's a good point. Both of my X1/9s were daily drivers, and saw New England Winters. I would never do so with the Spider.

I first encountered 124 Spiders when my roommates in the Navy in western Mass. and they drove them both daily through some very bad winters (75, 76, 77, and 78). I recall that the heaters worked well and it was far better than the VW bug I was freezing my rear end off driving!

[RRoller123]

My X1/9s were fine in the Winter, good mid engine traction, and a great heater. I just made sure that I ran it through the car wash every week with an underbody spray!!! Otherwise, they are like a sugar cube in a cup of hot black coffee.