Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "ThamesTv" channel.

  1. Unfortunately, like the Americans for the Fiero, when they copied the design, the Japanese lost the part about luggage space.
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  2. TR7, or how to fail at X1/9. When Giorgetto Giugiaro saw it at the 1974 Geneva Motor Show he couldn't believe Triumph considered it ready for production.
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  3. Mechanically, everything built in its class for 20 years after its introduction (1971) was primitive in comparison.
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  4. With European specs it had 74hp (1300cc) or 85hp (1500cc). For a car that weighted much less than a ton it was not slow. The contemporary Triumph Spitfire was slower (63hp the 1300cc MKIV, 71hp the 1500cc, and weighted a bit more).
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  5. Actually for a sporty two-seater of the time, it was pretty spacious in respect to what the British firms offered in the same segment.
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  6. Actually it tend to rain more intensively in italy than in England (an hour of rainstorm instead of days of light rain). It's weird to describe a whiper as "not fast enough" for the typical British rain.
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  7. It will always be newer than the other three wheels that had been exposed to the road. It's not like you'll race with the spare wheel anyway. The 127 the Ritmo and the Panda will have it there too. Why not? If there is enough space there, you are not consuming luggage space elsewere, and both the FIAT 100 and the FIAT single cam engines were very compact. This is the engine compartment of a 1982 FIAT Ritmo 105 TC. Notice the dimensions of the 105HP engine (thus it being a twincam), and those of the full size spare wheel. https://uploads.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/fiat/11517030.jpg
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  8. The 127 the Ritmo and the Panda will have it there too. Why not? Both the FIAT 100 and the FIAT single cam engines were very compact. If there is enough space there, you are not consuming luggage space elsewere. This is the engine compartment of a 1982 FIAT Ritmo 105 TC. Notice the dimensions of the 105HP engine (thus it being a twincam), and those of the full size spare wheel. https://uploads.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/fiat/11517030.jpg
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  9. It was more powerful than the contemporary Triumph Spitfire, and way more practical too.
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  10. He was comparing it with other mid-engined sportscars of the time, but the X1/9 was not a supercar, it was mid engined for weight balance, but was intended from the start to be a very practical roadster (infact this review correctly pointed out the unmatched luggage space) for everyday driving.
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  11. Not only the engine. The fuel tank is behind the driver's seat. The spare wheel behind the passenger's seat. All the weight is centred. Gandini (Bertone's designer) believed in this project, and really gave all with this car.
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  12.  @gregorytimmons4777  The TR7 arrived four years after the X1/9. Like the MR2 and the Fiero it had been pretty evidently inspired by it.
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  13. The MR2 was a car of another decade, It had been introduced when the last X1/9 were sold in the US, that's why you see more of it (It's like saying that you see more Frod Escort than Ford Pinto on the road), but costed 24% more, rusted like there was no tomorrow and, when they copied the FIAT drawings, the Japanese lost the ones about luggage space.
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