16x10 - Some Like It Fiat

[bunniefuu]

When you find a car you've been
after for 17 years... Wow! There it is.

You've got to act fast.

If you don't buy it, I might.

Kermit Green, with only a hint of rust.

If that's the only rust,
I'm going to take all my

clothes off and dance
around the workshop naked.

I've finally got my hands on her.

This car feels pure Italian to the bone.

Admittedly, there's a little more
work for Ant than I first thought.

There's definitely going
to be some problems.

Okay, there's a lot of work for Ant and
me to get our Fiat X1-9 up to scratch.

Now I spend hours and
hours trawling through

the Internet trying to
find those elusive cars.

The cars that have got
away from me. The cars

that have escaped the
Wheeler-dealer hands.

I've been chasing one particular
car, truthfully, for 17 years.

I've never managed to
track down the right one.

The reason because is, most
of them have just faded away.

And the car in question
is the brilliant Fiat X1-9.

Now, fortunately, one has popped up today.

Now this car is exactly
what I've been looking for.

It's a 1974 Fiat X1-9 and it's
finished in that lovely green colour.

The problem is, the car is
only advertised for $5,500.

Now, out here, that car is cheap.

For a relatively
rust-free car, it's going

to go and it's going
to sell really quickly.

So, due to proximity, I've
asked my very good friend,

Chris, to go and take a
look at the car quickly.

Hey! How you doing, bubby?

So you're driving that little Fiat X1-9?

Let me get out of the car
and I'll show you, mate.

Wow, there it is.

What do you notice, Chris,
in terms of any rot or rust?

Because these cars, they're
notorious for being rusty

and that's one of the reasons
why I've never been able to find one.

I've found this.

Yeah, so that's the
windscreen support and

the fletch panel that
runs across the front.

And water has poured
there and rotted through.

But do us a favour, Chris, just open the
door and look down the edge of the door.

OK, let's have a look.

Now give it a move backwards and forwards.

Well, the panel looks straight.

What about underneath the door?

Has there any water got in and dropped
down and rotted the bottom of the door out?

Something got in under this door.
Let's have a look.

That looks pretty good.

Yeah, that looks really clean, doesn't it?

What about the engine? Is that good?

Let me have a look at the engine. Hang on.

There it is, all complete.
What's it look like?

Yeah, it looks all right.
It just looks old.

All right, well, listen,
Chris, what do you think?

I mean, you know your cars.

This car's advertised at $5,500.

Where we come from, that's
four grand for a Fiat X1-9.

That's bonkers money.

So what do you think, Chris?

I think if you don't buy it, I might.

Chris, I'll tell you what to do.

Go back to the guy, hold out your
hand, a nice big brewer handshake,

and give him a slap and
tell him the car is down to me.

Listen, I really appreciate it.
Give my love to the family.

I'm delighted with that.

I've just bought myself a Fiat X1-9,

and right now I'm about
to arrange to pay for

it and get it shipped
there to the workshop.

And I know when that car turns up here,

Ant is going to be beside himself.

He loves a little Fiat, and
this is going to be a good one.

As the sun Rose this morning,

our $5,500 Fiat X1-9 has been delivered,

and it's finally ready for us.

Morning, fella. How are you?

Hey, how's it going?

Not bad at all.

What are we up to?

Right, I'm glad you asked,

because I've had Chris
do us a nice little favour.

I bought a tasty little motor.

Chris has had it delivered
here, and it's turned up.

Shall we go and have a look?

What, it's here now?

It's here now.

I haven't seen it, you haven't seen it.

It's going to be exciting.

Oh, yes.

A Fiat Bretonni X1-9.

Not bad at all, eh?

All right, well, it's a Fiat, it's an X1-9,

and with my
experience... It's rusty.

He looked at all the areas of rust spots,
and the only bit of rust we could find

was on this front scuttle,
and we did our due diligence.

Chris went down to
where the rust would go

through onto the A-wing,
and it's just not there.

If that's the only rust,

I mean, I'm going to take all my clothes
off and dance around the workshop naked.

Can't wait.

You get the Italian tools
ready, but before you

do, give us a hand to
get that target top off.

The sun's shining.

I'd like to enjoy it.

This is California.

Nice one.

Got it?

Yep, mine.

Lovely. See you in a bit.

Be safe, shout me if you need anything.

I'll get the door on the other
side, you get the tools ready.

I've got the door, don't worry about me.

This car feels pure Italian to the bones.

I love it, I love it!

People don't go and buy
these cars for speed alone.

They go and buy them for their agility.

And for the pure handling
that you'll get from a Fiat X19,

it feels like a little, dirty Ferrari.

It really does.

It really grips into the corner
with its weight distribution layout.

This car, well, it just
puts a smile on your face.

One thing I've noticed
immediately, it's rather loud.

It's only a little 1.3 behind me,

but that little 1.3 is
a noisy little engine,

and that's because that engine
has to work really, really hard.

Now, the guy that designed
this car was Marcello Gandini,

and that guy was a little
bit of a genius because his

other cars were the BX
Citroen, the Lancia Stratos.

He had to go with a few
Lamborghinis like the Diablo,

and of course, my
all-time favourite, the Miura.

He was the guy that also
came up with a wedge

shape in the 1970s
to become so popular.

That's why he is, to me,

the sort of Leonardo
Da Vinci of car design.

It's amazing.

We need to address some of those issues.

I think we need to address
the way it runs and performs.

The paintwork on the outside,

we've got that little rust issue
with the windscreen support.

Plus, we've got that stupid sort of tattoo.

And then there's just
little bits of tidying up.

You know, the good news
is the seats don't need doing.

The interior's good.

It feels OK.

So if we sort out the alignment
and straighten up the steering wheel,

just get this car as it should be.

We've got a very, very
good chance with a little

car like this of finding
a good customer for it.

And that customer is
going to be somebody who

appreciates a nice, fine
little Italian sports car

that's not going to mean
you have to Rob the bank.

All right.

Tell you what, that is blooming
marvellous, this little car.

It drives fantastic.

The handling is like
something else, it really is.

It's not that fast, I'm going to admit.

Is my toupee still here?
Yeah, it's still glued on.

Go on, jump inside.
Lift up that seat cover.

Look at that, brand-new seats underneath.

Wow, that's a bonus.

All right, give it a rev.

See, it sounds great, doesn't it?

Eh? Not bad.

All right, so I bet the lights don't work.

Try them. Go on, switch the ignition on.

Hit that button. Boom!

Wow. So we're talking about
a Fiat X1-9 with very little rust,

nice interior, working
lights and drives well.

I know, it's a bit weird, isn't it? Yeah.

Ooh! Ha-ha-ha!

That's all original as well,
look at that, all original panels.

Yeah, there's a catch.

The only thing I can think of back here

is when you're driving the
car, because it's only a 1.3,

you have to really wring its neck and it's
quite noisy and your head is just there.

It's like, you know, less than a foot away.

And the other thing
as well is this rust issue.

Chris said there was none.
It's actually rust-free, isn't it?

Look at it. This is all factory as well.

Something's not adding up.

It's too good, isn't it, this car?

Yeah, so really, we're only contending
with that little bit of rust on the screen.

No, there is a little
ding on the driver's door

that's been filled once in its life
with a bit of Bondo and it's cracked.

It's nothing. It's nothing, is it?

It is a bit of a shock. I know.

What, the ramp?
Yeah, I want to look underneath.

You want to get it in the air.

I'm not saying I don't trust you or Chris,

but we do have a ramp.

Did I tell you? It only weighs 900kg.

Look, we can just push it on the ramp.

Oh, wow.

Look at that. Huh?

That is split clean underneath here.

Look, even the bushes.

Nothing's gone. No rot anywhere.

The only thing is it's sort of
skipped around the road a bit.

Maybe a bit of alignment, but
other than that, that is clean.

This is a bit crusty.

Yeah, that's just a hose,
though, as long as this...

That's solid as long as that's OK.

This is a unicorn of a Fiat X19.

What do you reckon I paid for it?

Do you know what? I can't
believe there's no rust under this car.

So what do you reckon I paid for it, then?

The engine looks really solid as well.

It's holding oil, there's no leaks.

So how much do you reckon I paid for this?

I mean, the hose is at the front
knee doing and the hose is at the back.

But do you know what?
I'd rather do hoses than tackle rust.

So all this rust-free car, lovely.

How much do you reckon I paid for it?

I don't care.

What?

It just doesn't bother me.
It's like the world's best X19.

I only paid $5,500 for it. $5,500!

Could you imagine
driving this back in 1974,

heading down the Italian
Riviera to a coffee shop

and getting out in front
of all those people?

Epic.

It's about turning heads.

Although, in fairness, my head
was turned the moment I saw.

that rather suspicious rust patch.

And you can see exactly how it happens.

You can imagine the
rain hits the windscreen,

it runs down the A pillar,
and the water rests within

the cavity on the body
that holds the windscreen.

And over years and years and
years, the water eats away at the metal

and, of course, it's all
hidden by the rubber.

Now, the problem with rust is it's
always worse underneath than it is on top.

So to get to it, I have
to take the screen out.

But before I take the screen
out, I'm taking out the interior.

I first need to remove the centre console.

Now, this stereo section...

looks like it's stock-on-move
double-sided tape.

Very Italian.

With the console and stereo removed,

it's now just a matter
of removing all the dash

fasteners and lowering
the steering column.

WHISTLES.

With the visors and
the mirror out of the way,

I can now move on to the windscreen.

Now, the good news is
the bulkhead on the inside.

has zero signs of any rust.

Which is basically me holding my breath.

Now, first off, I want to try and
carefully remove this shiny trim.

Someone's obviously been here before.

There's a kind of have-a-go
hero DIY bathroom seal a bit.

Obviously masking over a bigger problem.

Well, that'll clean up really nicely.

I'm going to be using this tool.

It's designed specifically
for taking out windscreens.

This 90-degree really sharp
blade gets in behind the screen,

allows me to cut the seal,
hopefully without breaking the glass.

Don't be tempted to just use a knife.

That's a path to disaster

and probably a route
to hospital for stitches.

And on top of that, it's likely you
won't get your window out in one piece.

Nowadays, more modern cars rely
on the windscreen as part of the rigidity.

This car comes from an era.

where all the strength
is in the metal structure.

and the bonding has two jobs.

Keep the windscreen in and the rain out.

Perfect.

With that glass out of the way,

I can really get into
the root of the problem.

First, this trim...

..can go in the bin.

That's a big hole.

Before I get my head
around the rust repair,

I'm first going to drop
these two wipers there

in the way and then
protect that interior.

First, I clean off the dry, loose
surface rust with a steel bristle brush.

Then it's time to attack the more
stubborn rust with a wire wheel.

If I don't get it all, the
corrosion will just continue,

so being thorough is imperative.

See, now I'm back to bare metal,

I can see exactly where
the problem areas are.

And yes, there's a little bit of surface
rust, but nothing that worries me.

There's the odd pinhole, like this one.

My major problem is
this middle section here.

And I think the best way
to deal with it is to cut it

out from about here to here
and down that swage line,

and then fabricate a new part.

If you can't get all the rust
out with brushes and grinders,

the only thing left to do is to cut it out.

Cutting any metal on a
car is a risky endeavour,

but it's especially risky when
cutting complex edges and corners,

as trying to replace them
gets exponentially harder.

with every bend and curve.

I've cut out the rusty metal,
I'm now back to strong steel.

All I've got to do is fill in the gap.

First, I grab a bit of scrap I had lying
around and trim it to the approximate width.

Then replicate the inside
bend of the windscreen recess.

And then shrink or curve the metal
to match the curve of the recess.

Now that's turned my straight
piece into a gradual curve,

which should match the Fiat bulkhead.

Like so.

I use a clamp to make a new
piece for the windscreen channel,

and then get to work
welding the two together.

After the welding is complete, I
grind it as smooth as possible.

Now that patchwork's
come out really nicely.

And it's weird, but the area that
I was worried about to begin with

isn't actually that bad, but I've got
a technique that'll make it perfect.

Early car body shops would have used
molten lead to fill these little spots.

And while lead was good for
finishing and filling body work,

it turns out that working with it
was hazardous to your health.

So for this area, I'm going
to use a bronze filler rod.

The trick to this working is that the
bronze melts before the steel does,

so I can fill the holes in the car body
without even burning holes in the steel.

Once I'm done, grind
the repair area smooth.

Now I'm really happy
with how that's come out.

And more importantly, the
structure is now back in the car.

Thing is, I can't put the
windscreen in until I get a rubber,

and I can't get a rubber until
this is prepped and painted.

But I can get on with something else.

Having the engine at the
rear of the car does have its

advantages, but at the same
time, it brings challenges,

particularly when it comes to cooling,

because the radiator still
needs to be at the front.

That way, it's guaranteed maximum airflow.

The air is travelling through
the fins of the radiator

as the car's moving
to help cool the coolant.

The coolant, though,
still needs to make its way

from the front of the
car, where the radiator is,

all the way down the belly to
the rear where the engine is.

And in Fiat's case, it does
it in these fixed pipes here

that for some reason they decide
to encase within the chassis,

welded in there.

Oh, hey, man, how's it going? Good.

It then leaves those fixed
pipes and it joins rubber hoses.

These ones? Yes!

So I've got you the hoses
for the cooling system.

They're pretty cool, aren't they?
Awesome. Yeah, lovely.

And there's a thermostat,
all kinds of stuff.

How long is it going to
take you to fit all this stuff?

Because I've booked this in for four-wheel
alignment and an alignment centre.

OK, well, if you let me fit
it, you could drive it there.

Yeah? What do you reckon, ten minutes?

No, never going to be ten minutes.

So how long?

Longer than ten minutes.

Why don't you go write the advert?

Well, that'd take me 15 minutes.

Why don't you write it really slowly?

OK, let me just call him, then.

Right.

Hey, John.

Yeah, it's Mike.

Can I get it there in 20 minutes?

Lovely.

20 minutes.

Choker.

Now, I've drained the car at the rear.

I've also drained the
car at the front here.

And now I'm going to tackle this clip.

Look at these 70s hose clamps.

This must be the original system.

I'm actually surprised it doesn't leak.

Now, this here, this is
called a cotter pin clamp.

The band passes
through a slot in that pin,

so as you twist the
pin, it grabs the band,

tightens it up around the hose.

It's kind of like a can of sardines,

although these clips
keep your fit from leaking.

Once I'm able to get
the cotter pin clamps off,

it's time to turn my attention to
removing the radiator and cooling fan.

A few bolts, and I'm
able to get the fan out.

And finally remove the radiator.

Now, radiator's primary
job is to radiate heat,

and to do that it needs
maximum surface area.

So if you were to imagine the same size
radiator was just a solid piece of steel,

and it's, I don't know,
10 inches by 30 inches,

it would have a surface
area of 300 square inches.

Thing is, though, it's not solid.

It has all these little veins inside.

All these horizontal
channels have hundreds of

tiny fins touching them,
so as the car gets hot,

that massive surface area helps cool it.

Now, a radiator of this size equates
to around 11,000 square inches,

which, if you think about it, is
like over eight foot square in space.

That's a lot of cooling potential.

As we're in California
and it tends to get hot here,

I'm going to do away with
the stock single-row radiator,

and I'm going to upgrade to this,
an aluminium two-row radiator,

and on top of that, I'm also
going to add a second fan.

And a new temperature sensor.

Along with the increased
surface area of the new radiator,

its aluminium construction
will dissipate heat

to twice the efficiency of
a standard brass radiator.

It also weighs a lot less too, along
with being stronger and more durable.

With the increased surface area,

an additional fan will help push
more cool air into the radiator,

further increasing the
system's cooling capacity.

I've fitted the extra fans quite easy.

Just four nuts onto the
radiator, a little bit of wiring,

and then I'll fit a relay topside later.

Now, Fiat have been using these clips on
pretty much every car up until about 1978,

and then Mr Jubilee walks
into the factory with this.

and gladly brought them up to speed.

A Jubilee clip is essentially a clamp
with a worm gear attached to one end,

allowing you to tighten or loosen
with a standard Phillips screwdriver.

Better than the original sardine
can-style cotter pin clamps.

Much better.

Now, that's the front
end of our system done.

Now, to get the coolant from
the radiator at the front of the car

to the back, Fiat fit these two central
pipes all the way down the floor of the car.

Now, these pipes are
made out of stainless steel

specifically so they don't
rust, which is a good thing,

because Fiat decided to lock them into
the chassis with this steel panel there.

Now, luckily, ours are in good shape because
there is only one way to get these out.

Now, the cooling system at the back of
the car starts to get a little bit tight.

First order of business is draining
the remaining coolant from the system.

so I get to the lowest hoses I can find.

Now, I do need to disconnect
these hoses topside,

but while I'm under here
and the car's on the ramp,

I'm also going to tackle the water pump.

The water pump is
essentially the heart of the

cooling system, circulating
coolant around and round.

But to get to the water pump,

I've got to remove the alternator.

And there's some more
bits I need to remove up top.

First, I have to remove the air cleaner.

And then, underneath
that, the intake manifold.

I cannot believe I have
had to remove the entire

intake system on the car
just to get to the water pump,

which, interestingly, is
actually made in two units.

There's the front half, the impeller,
and then there's the housing itself.

Now, it doesn't make
sense to replace just one half,

particularly when you can get the whole
new unit with both halves for just $130.

That's about £100.

Now, I'm not going to fit that
just yet, because while that's

out the way, I'm also going
to swap out the thermostat.

and undo the top half of the hoses.

The thermostat's function is to open.

at the predetermined temperature.

Its purpose is to limit the coolant
circulating through the system

until the engine has reached
its optimal operating temperature.

This speeds up the warm-up cycle.

Now, this thermostat housing represents.

the last part for me to take off the car.

But before I reinstate
any of the cooling system,

I'm going to give it all
a really good clean-up.

Now, all these parts have cleaned
up really nicely, which is good news.

However, having left a car overnight,

it appears that she's developed a leak,

which is bad news.

Turns out our 45-year-old
fear isn't leak-free at all.

And the worst thing
is, is the leak looks like

it's coming from between
the engine and the gearbox,

which usually means
it's a flipping mainsail.

With a failed mainsail, there
is only one way to get to it.

Unfortunately, that's by attacking
it, with the engine out of the car.

So I start by removing
the coolant reservoir,

fuel lines, braces and anything
else connecting the motor to the car.

Once that's done, I balance
it on a cart to remove the

motor mounts and then
simply lift the chassis away.

The first step in assessing the mainsail

is to separate the motor
from the bell housing.

Once I get that and the clutch disc off,

I can remove the flywheel.

And there it is.

There's the offending item,

and you can see that the mainsail's
failed because it's so wet in here.

There's oil everywhere.

In fact, if you look
inside the bell housing,

look how much oil there is.

See, this is supposed to be a dry area.

This houses the clutch.

Can you imagine how hard
this little seal has to work?

It basically needs to be tight enough
to strangle the crank and keep the oil in,

but loose enough to allow
the crank to turn inside.

It's actually no surprise that over time,

these things will eventually
break down and leak.

Apply a bit of assembly loo to avoid
damage to the seal during installation.

Make sure to seat the seal completely.

While I was busy cleaning the engine,

a friend of Mike's resurfaced
this original flywheel for me.

The best part is, it only costs $15.

I'm using threadlock to assure
the bolts won't work themselves out.

With that, follow the factory specs
when torquing down your bolts.

If you take an engine
out, always fit a new clutch,

and for this car, the cost
is $200, about 160 quid.

You get a throw-out bearing,
you get all the clutch bits,

you even get the handy
little alignment tool.

Again, remember to follow
the factory specifications

when torquing down
the pressure plate bolts.

I'm lubing each of the matching surfaces

to keep things right and
to avoid premature wear.

Now, this is that Spice Girls moment.

where two become one.

This timing cover
is the last thing to do

on my engine, well,
while it's on the bench.

For a car that didn't need any work,

it really has stacked up,

but I was always a little bit suspicious.

I mean, come on, a
40-year-old fit without any leaks.

I mean, that's basically
an automotive impossibility.

When I bought our little Fit X1-9,

the steering was a bit weird.

And I knew that it was gonna
be a bit of a problem in the future.

See, if you're driving
something like this SUV

and the steering's out of alignment,
you probably wouldn't notice it.

But in a car like that little Fiat

that weighs about the same
as an empty crisp packet,

it wants to be pointy, it wants to
be direct, and you'll definitely feel it.

And my buddy Brian, who is here already,

working away on the car, is hopefully gonna
get it pointing in the right direction.

Look at that, Brian.

See, you can roll it around
without a care in the world.

Oh, yes.

It weighs nothing, does it?

Oh, no.

It's just like, you know...
Probably an 1100-pounder car.

Knowing you, you could
probably bench-press this car.

That's how I got it on.

You just lifted it on.

You lifted it on.

So tell me about this
amazing machine of yours.

It's top of the line.

It has four targets.

That line basically
squares the rear to the front.

That's how we start.

It does a camber, caster,
toe, which is the toe.

You got the camber,
then you have the caster.

You can move forward.

But anyway, it'll tell me exactly
what to adjust and where to adjust it to.

So camber, caster, toe
is which ways the wheels

are either turning,
leaning, or pointing.

And we need to get all four of them pointing
exactly straight in the right direction.

That's correct.

Will this machine be able
to do it all automatically?

No, I won't.

Not for this one.

So you gotta do some wrenching.

We have some wrenching
to do, definitely, on this one.

Well, let's go and press a
button and see where we're at.

Let's do it.

Right, so now you've got the car loaded
in the system, what do we need to do?

What we're gonna do now, it's advising
us to put the targets on the wheels.

Oh, right, I gotcha.

So you need to put sensors on the
wheels so the lasers can pick them up.

Yes, absolutely.

Just put some sensors on.

Let's do it.

This wheel clamp basically sets up here,

push down there.

That's it?

That's it.

Oh, I can do that.

So we got all four sensors on, what's next?

What's next is actually
the sensors need to

meet up with the targets
up top now, the lasers.

So what we do, we kind
of roll them front to back.

Oh, right, and I can see it
changing on the computer.

Red to green.

Green, there we go.

Ooh, Brian, that's a bit of a worry.

We've got a lot in the
red here, haven't we?

Yeah, it's nothing that we
can't adjust and fix, though.

So we need to get all
of the bits that are in red

in the green, and we've got all that
data from this machine, haven't we?

Yeah, the Hawkeye.

This is actually the tower, the Hawkeye.

What's it doing?

It's sh**ting laser
beams, right to the targets,

in real time.

All right, so the first
adjustment is going to be where?

Actually, it's going to be the rear.

The rear?

Definitely in the rear.

We start with the rear.

From the rear?

Yeah.

Okay, and that means that
you have to hit with a wrench.

Loosening the tie rod clamp
lets you adjust the tie rod sleeve.

Oh, I think this is looking good.

A little more.

Stop.

That's enough.

You're in the green, but
the bottom one is still rare.

That's total tow, which means
you've got to do the other side, correct?

Adjusting the tie rod sleeve on the
opposite side finishes the back end.

That's it.

Go on, you've got it.

And with the tie rod clamp loose,

I can change the alignment
by turning those tie rod sleeves.

Good job, Brian.

Look at that.

Thank you, thank you.

Now I feel like I'm winning at the casino.

I'm green everywhere.

And what about the front?

Well, the front's needed
some adjustment, Mike.

Okay.

Definitely do.

Why don't you give it a go?

Really?

Yeah, absolutely.

No, why don't you do the adjustment?

We'll work as a team.

We'll get this thing going.

All right.

Well, let me unlock it first.

Give it a sec.

Just tell me which direction's going.

That way?

Yeah, go ahead and bring it that way, Mike.

Yeah.

Keep going.

Yeah.

Keep going.

Yeah.

Just a little bit more.

How's that?

Is that good?

Okay, lock it off right there.

Look at that.

It's green all across the
board, both front and rear.

Absolutely fantastic.

I agree.

Didn't take too long either, did it?

Not at all.

Not at all.

Thanks to this brilliant machine of yours.

Yeah, I really appreciate it.

Oh, no worries.

Now when I drive the car, it's
going to steer straight down the road.

Like an arrow.

Perfect.

Thank you, brother.

Nice one.

There it is, Mel.

Great.

Right, now, we have to address the problem
we've got with our little Fiat X19, because

I need to get top dollar for
this car, and unfortunately,

it's gone through a
bit of a mid-life crisis.

It looks like this
car's grown a ponytail,

had a belly button piercing,
and got a tribal tattoo.

Now, the tribal tattoo on
this car is frankly awful.

So, I've called in the
best paint manipulator

I know, my buddy Mel, and
hopefully he's going to rescue me.

So, Mel, give me the good or the bad news.

Well, the good news is we
can remove the pinstripes.

Fantastic.

The bad news, it's
single-stage paint, Mike,

so we have an issue here,
because this paint is an enamel paint.

We could end up burning through the
paint before we actually remove the stripe.

Right.

Gotcha.

So, we're going to
take sandpaper, 3,000

grit Tri-Zac blending
sandpaper, we're going

to use our fingers, and we're going to
painstakingly remove all the pinstripes.

But the good news, we're
going to make it look awesome.

It's going to be hot.

I keep the surface
lubricated with soapy water.

Then, with some
gentle pressure, I use a

scuff pad to wear down
the enamel pinstripe.

Although this work is tedious, I
know I'm adding value to this fear.

With every inch, the pinstripe is removed.

You like the tickle.

I know you do.

Some cars cosmetically
benefit greatly by applying

pinstriping to accentuate
the body lines of the car.

This is not one of those cars.

If we get too aggressive and push too hard,
we can end up thinning out the green paint,

so then we come, we won't
have enough paint to do the

compounding and polishing
to bring the paint back to life.

Look at that.

Look at that.

Vaporized.

Gone.

It's incredible, isn't it?

We're actually removing
this with sandpaper,

so we're going to
compound and Polish with

some pads and some machines,
which we've done before together.

Straight in.

The compounding
removes the fine scratches

that we put into the base coat of
paint while removing the pinstripes.

Buffing will bring out the
car's true colour, which

will help us match the
paint around the windscreen.

You can already see the
dollars just pouring out of this car.

We are definitely going
to be into the profits.

And the best thing of all, Ant doesn't
even know that I was in the workshop today,

so when he turns up
tomorrow morning, he is going

to be really surprised by
our little green machine.

But first, got to finish it.

Oh yes.

Not bad at all, eh?

Green, mean and full of steam.

It feels like a little, darting Ferrari.

Our Fiat arrived in a mid-life crisis.

A stupid tattoo.

And well, at surface value.

Yeah, there's a catch.

Most issues seemed manageable.

Obviously masking over a bigger problem.

But one thing led to another.

For a car that didn't need any
work, it really has stacked up.

And we've saved our little X19.

So the car was $5,500.

The windscreen rust fix was $350.

Coolant hoses and clamps, $145.

Radiator fan and sensors were $451.

Water pump kit was $183.

The rear mainsail was only $13.

The clutch kit and flywheel fix was $215.

Pinstripe removal, $200.

And four-wheel alignment was $125.

Giving us $7,182.

Or around five and a half thousand pounds.

And all done in just 23 man-hours.

Look at this.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Driving along in our
little Italian sports car.

Feels absolutely epic.

I feel like I'm properly in
a little slice of Italy here.

I know, it's rather nice, isn't it?

The sun's shining.

Two-seater, manual, rear-wheel drive.

Where are you taking me?

I'm actually staying on the Italian theme.

So I figured I'd sort you out a
lovely little Italian restaurant.

Oh, really?

Yeah, it's just up here.

I love Italy. I love the countryside.

Clearly, I love the cars.

They've got some beautiful women there.

But for me, it's the food.

I love the Italian food.

You know, I know it shows.

Are you partial to the odd carbonara?

I am partial to that.

Very much so.

So is this restaurant
we're going to, is it fancy?

Yes, it is kind of fancy.

It's as fancy as you are.

You're saying I'm fancy?

Yeah, you're relatively fancy.

Nice.

When you push it into these beds, it's just
absolutely... Look at that. Look at it.

I know.

It wants to eat the road up.

It really does.

And I've got a clear road ahead of me.

A clear vision.

Thanks in part to a nice clear screen,

because it looks like,

when you've repaired
that windscreen surround,

nobody's ever been there.

It looks amazing.

This is a fit,

so obviously there was always
going to be a bit of rust somewhere,

and that's a bit of a... You know,
that's a common spot for these cars.

Yeah, so what do you do?
A little bit of filler?

No filler.

Screen out, rubber out, take
all the paint off, find the rust,

cut a new panel in it, and I
use the MIG welder for most of it,

and then all the tiny
little bits I did with bronze.

Yeah. Really?

No Bondo here, buddy.

What?

That's proper old school.

Yeah, that is.

Then sand it off, new rubber.

As I say, the best
compliment I can give you there

is it doesn't look like
anyone's ever been there.

It looks fantastic.

Well done.

So happy, this car.

I mean, when I say
happy, everything is happy.

All the dials, all the gauges across.

I mean, it's running really nice
and cool as well, which is a...

It wasn't doing that before.

Oh, the cooling system on this
car's had a complete upgrade.

First of all, lost the radiator,

put a new aluminium two-core radiator in.

I did a second fan, new temperature switch,

sorted out the new hoses,
even put a new water pump on.

It's basically completely overhauled.

This car is now as cool on the
outside as it's running on the inside.

No, no, no, it's quite warm outside.

No, no, no, no.

The sun's quite hot.

Yeah, I get that, but if
you're outside looking at us,

we look cool.

Oh, right.

Yeah, that's different.

And the car's running cool.

Yeah, I agree with that.

Yeah, I get it.

There you go.

This thing handles like it's on rails.

That's due to the four-wheel alignment.

It's really interesting, because
you've got camber and you've got tow.

And at the alignment
centre, you need to just

get all the four wheels
lined up perfectly.

You do understand, I know
how four-wheel alignment works.

Yeah, but no, not like this, because
this is like sensors on each of the wheels,

but to get the wheels all in
the line... Mike, it was software.

Yeah, you didn't do any work.

The software did the work.

There was a little bit of
computer-aided technology.

What are you talking about?

But I got in there and
I did some spannering.

Are you trying to claim credit for
doing the four-wheel alignment?

Yeah, come on, give me
some credit for something.

I got the wheels driving in
the right direction, didn't I?

Do you know what hard work is?

Look at these seats.

These seats?

That is Pollard's sweat and tears.

No, it wasn't.

There were seat covers on it.

Now we've got like this Leverette stuff.

I'm pretty sure these were underneath.

Mike turned the kettle on,

got to teabag into an empty cup,
came back, took the seat covers off,

and then I went and
watched the kettle boil.

I get it, you're taking the
Mick out of me now, aren't you?

Yes!

You said to me at the beginning that this,

you was taking need for a
treat, so where is this restaurant?

Oh, right here, keep going.

The actually is not that far.

You're going to love this place.

Just pull over right here.

Really?

This is it, this is it.

Park up, my friend, park up.

Have your appetite ready.

Now, great job on that
pinstriping there, Mike.

Yeah, it is absolutely... Also,
check out that windscreen repair.

Do you know what?

The windscreen repair is so good.

I mean, the work around
here is absolutely exceptional.

As I say, the secret to
doing work like this is making

it look like that nobody else
has ever been there before.

Plus, you're right, you know, taking
the pinstriping off and the tattoo.

That is fantastic, but
rather disappointing as well.

What are you talking about?

I've gone to great efforts.

I got a pinny, a hat, and look at this.

That is very nice.

I must admit it is very
nice, but could we not have

got a little bit more than
just a little box of pizza?

Listen, get rid of that.

I'm going to keep this, use this,

because I reckon we can
eat this pizza on the road,

because you're allowed
to eat pizza and drive.

Oh, yes.

Okay, hit it, Enzo.

Well, it's not every day you
come across a rust-free Fiat X19

unless you're in Southern
California and you're me,

and you've found that one,
because that is a rust-free car.

Now we've put it through the workshop,

we've finely tuned every
one of that car's grumbles,

and it's now a car that
should be just a delight to own.

Now, the good thing about this car is
it's in a really hot market at the moment,

because you both get a
classic car and a sports

car, and it's not going
to cost a king's ransom

because they're so good value for money.

Now, when I advertised it
out there, the phone started

to ring, and this couple
behind me, Chris and Wendy,

they were first on the phone,

first to come down and first to drive it.

I've asked $8,000 for it.

Let's see if I can get it sold.

Right then, guys.

You like it still? You love it?

Love it.

Love it. It has personality.

It does have personality,
especially the way

it drives, because of
that mid-engine layout,

you can really mash your foot
on the accelerator into any corner,

and you come out the other
side with a big smile on your face.

Why do you want one?

Well, I had a Fiat Spider
when I was in college,

and I really loved it.

And she made me think Fiats were OK,

and so I bought a 500 Abarth last year,

and so it needs a sister.

It needs a sister. That's fantastic.

So is this a car for both of
you or just for you, Wendy?

For both of us, but I'll drive it more.

But you'll drive it more.

She'll probably let me drive it.

So I've asked $8,000 for the car,

which I think is really fair.

Where do you want to be?

Let's do it.

You want to do it?

Let's do it.

You just bought yourself a Fiat X1-9.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Well done. Well done.

Thank you.

A Ross-free one.

So there you have it.

A fair price for a great little car.

Chris and Wendy, after
they fight over the keys,

are going to have huge
smiles on their faces

as they attack every
corner in this little Fiat X1-9.

If you want to see more
iconic cars like this being turned

around by me and Ant, join us
again soon on Wheel of Dealers.

Salut.