Sorry but Just had to post these. Since my black 85 bertone has hit the market I wanted to follow up with you guys and tell you that this car currently with a little more than two days to go has had over 3300 page views, is at 3800 dollars and I have 196 people watching the car on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280257486798&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=018

These are the questions and answers on the car so far. Have a great week. Jeff

uestions from other members : Fiat : Bertone
Question & Answer Answered On

Q: Great looking car again !! Does the ac compressor even turn over? If the ac has never been used I see a $1000.00 bill just in ac work alone. ... been there done that ... does the car smoke at start up or any other time? Also, do you have any idea about shipping cost? Thanks Kirk in Florida [email protected] Aug-24-08
A: 800 dollars to Florida by DAS. The AC in these cars worked marginaly when new. No smoke on start up. These are all pretty unfounded questions considering the condition of this car. I have gone to great lengths to restore this car. Why would I put thousands of dollars in Paint and Leather on a car that smokes on start up??? With 192 watchers and over 3300 page views of the car, your question should be How much will you take Jeff? Can I buy the car before anyone else makes you an offer? This car looks better in person than in pictures. Bid with Confidence. Maybe try bidding period...
Q: Hi Jeff , Don't you just want to bitch-slap these clowns with there little whiney-butt questions ? Any car that rolls is worth AT least a grand .I'm not sure if I want to list an X/19 for a buddy at work . Oh yeah , SWEET ride you got ! I've been working on a 77 Scorpion for the past seven years so I understand pain and pride . I did view the road trip video , that wasn't this X/19 , the back-deck was a lighter colored car ? Hey , try living in Southeast Oklahoma , I'm called the "Yankee with the funny lil' fur'in car , ( I'm a Sacramento transplant). Good Luck ! Terry Aug-24-08
A: Thanks Terry. The other car in the video is my 69 Fiat 850 spyder with a Rotary engine. JJ
Q: Very nice Fiat. Will you end the auction early???? Thanks. Aug-22-08
A: Sure make me an offer. Call me 949-910-1206
Q: Can thoughs dumb donkey emblems be removed easily without ruining the paint:? Aug-21-08
A: Yes. With a heat gun they fall right off. I will tell Bob how much you like them...
Q: Hey, I just wanted to tell you what an awesome car you have. I've seldom seen any nicer. I'm not in the market for one right now, but seeing your photos, I wish I was. Anyway, I just had to comment on your car and the excellent photos which look like they were taken for an X1/9 calendar! I'm sure you will get top dollar!! Aug-21-08
A: Thank you for the Compliments. You are a credit to your race,,,, The human race...
Q: Great looking car ... a few questions 1. Are there center caps for the rims. 2. Do you have larger pictures I never understand the small pictures when cameras now deliver large detail pictures. 3. Ac System condition? 4. SB shield? Not original? scuderia? b? Aug-20-08
A: S.B. is Scuderia Bertone. Look real close and that is a Donkey not a horse. Sort of a Joke amongst fiat people. A.C system as described in my description dont know if it works. Large pics are something that you just cant load on the internet, But try clicking on the pics in the auction they should come up full screen. How big is your screen. If you have a 40inch plazma screen then those pics will load much larger. I dont have panasport centercaps however I have some black ones that say Fiat that the buyer is welcome to. Jeff
Q: Wow, one of the niciest I've seen..let me ask about the turn signals,wipers, horn etc.,etc which are required in Texas. Regards, Larry in Texas. Aug-19-08
A: Everything works Larry. And thanks for the compliments.
Q: Please explain / comment on all of the obvious oil burning / smoke in your posted video. Looks like valve or ring job needed at minimu? Aug-19-08
A: What in the Flying Fornicating Monkey are you talking about??? The video of my Car is not running. In fact the car burns so clean you can breath the exhaust for an hour and get cleaner lungs than if you breath for an hour in downtown Los Angeles. Seriously WTF are you smoking. THis is the cleanest 85 bertone you will ever see. Now bid please or Go bother someone else...
Q: do you have the center caps for the wheels? i would like to no if all AC parts are on the car and only needs a charge/the car haveing AC is what i would want in north carolina on the coast,its hot here. a friend of mine had one of these,what a blast to drive. thanks chris Aug-18-08
A: I dont have the Panasport caps but i have some regular Fiat caps your welcome to. All of the AC parts are hooked up. I had a buddy of mine confirm it. Jeff
Q: Is the chrome on the bumpers painted black, is there any rust repair to undercarriage or wheel wells. From the video it looks like there is a big square hole in the door panel, is something missing. Aug-18-08
A: THe X-19 never came with Crome Bumbers. The bumpers are alluminum. Depending on the year of the car some of these bumpers were polished. This car came from the factory painted. Yea the little interior light keeps falling out because the clips are warn on the drivers door. I have new ones and will have it repaired soon. NOt any rust anywhere on this car it is unbelievably clean. Jeff
Q: Can you comment on the age or condition of: - fuel injection hoses - clutch and brake master cylinder - brake/clutch fluid reservoir - suspension bushings - control arms - tie rods - shocks - timing belt/valve adjustment - radiator hoses - smoke on startup (e.g. valve stem seals) - brake hoses There appears to be a lot of camber in the front shock towers (misaligned strut tops in the body). My car has this too. Did you ever get a quote to fix the A/C or investigate why it didn't work? Aug-18-08
A: Didnt Rudy already address some of these questions on Xweb? The only things I need to address are the brakes. Just a bit more bleeding. The car is really great. The camber angle is because of the offset of the Panasports. Even when the AC systems worked in the 80s they sucked. So even if you get it working it will rob about 20percent of the available power to the engine. No smoke at all on start up. the rest is fine. feel free to call me if you like. Brake master is brand new. Shocks are new. Jeff

He probably watched the first video, as I did, then clicked on the next video to the right. It's a video of your 850 with the rotary, but since the camera is pointed out the back, he may not have realized it was a different car.

Jim in Atlanta

Thats exactly what he did. And I had no idea at the time what he was talking about. He called me on my phone and we both had a good laugh about it. JJ

I can understand the questions posed because I was once a "long-distance" eBay buyer who took a chance on buying a car about 900 miles away.

All I had to work with were the posted pix, answers to questions, and the knowledge picked up by avidly reading this forum every day for five months befoee purchase.

I was fully prepared to walk (well, fly) away from the car if it turned out to be bad news. I was very lucky and it turned out to be well worth the auction price of $3,600.

I did make a 375 mile round trip to see a car in Virginia that showed very well in pix (and did sell on eBay for almost $4,000). Coincidentally, it, too was a recently repainted all-black car (but this car was originally red, while yours was originally the two-tone red over charcoal IIRC). That car's paint looked every bit as good as yours does in the pictures, and I even had them send me multi-megabyte pix via email, but in person the paintjob was a severe disappointment! I could hardly believe the flaws that were so obvious in person did not show up even in the hi-res pix. It must be the nature of the color black.

Buyers are wise to inquire about the A/C especially those from hi-humidity climates like the person from North Carolina. It is true that operating A/C does add burden to an already underpowered car, but California people may not understand that Carolina people and Florida people will gladly make that trade when the humidity is at 347% LOL. Repairing an R-12 system that has sat open for years almost always requires a new compressor and a lot of expensive specialty labor time to evacuate the system, flush the old lubricant, recharge with an R-12 substitute and dye to check for leaks, correct the leaks, then flush and evacuate the substitute out again and then finally recharge with R12 (which is surprisingly cheaper than the R12 substitute if you buy by the 25-lb jug).

A wise long-distance buyer will ask to see pix of the underside of the car as taken from a lift, and will ask for pix of the inside of the rear trunk behind the wheels, especially to document such claims as "no rust." A TRUE no rust x1/9 will command a high price and to get that price the seller must be willing to document that fact to a long-distance buyer.

Dont trust me??? I guess I will have to take some more pics and add them to the auction..

I don't think "trust" and "car for sale on eBay" have any relationship whatsoever.

I just wanted to relate what kinds of things concern a long distance buyer. I would imagine many of the people interested in your auction are not from SoCal, or else they would have made an appointment to see and drive the car before bidding.

I'm glad we all know you here and can read that with a little understanding....because, and I'm being your friend here....you come off as a "raging major tool" in the responses.

Maybe it's parr for the course on Ebay...you have to be that way to get your point across. Because I would readily question whethere or not that's the nicest 85' around.....but, again, you're making a sale. I also have confidence from your descriptions of past sales that you aren't going to sell something that's going to be problematice for the new owner, and I appreciate that.

Anyway....it is a great looking car, the panasports set it off just right.

Yea I know im a bit hard on these buyers but I guess there is a large majority of the ebay public that is not my buyer for this car. Im really looking for that first time fiat owner or maybe the person that owned one new back in the 70s or 80s. I guess if I was to cater to the rest of the field of buyers I could post some pics of under the car showing no rust and take it a step further. I have some very nice documentation that goes with this car so If I have to relist the car I may go further to stamp out any fears. You would have to agree to one thing. Why would anyone put that type of paint job and leather in a car that smokes on start up. And mine doesnt just FYI. Thanks. JJ

From seeing what you've done with X's, and other cars in general, I of course know you to be more meticulous than to sell a smoking car with a fresh paint job.

And....if the car did smoke I know you'd be up front about it. I think what you're dealing with here are people are naturally, and perhaps assiduously, distrusting and skeptical buyers who are expecting intentional omissions. And...it does get annoying when they seem wantonly simplistic in their questions. But....we already deal with an unknowing public with these cars in general.....tack on a "times ten" with the ebay factor thrown in.

So I see your point.....and, I hope that you do find an appropriate and subject Fiat enthusiast. It would be great to have your buyer make the transition to become one of us.

Over the past 8 years I have repaired A/C systems on my cars with great success. I have good equipment and resonable knowledge of how car A/C systems work. Yet the Bertone has not been up to my liking, until a few weeks ago, I now have complaints to shut if off because passangers are too cold.

Reasons why and what I have found and done.

First off the Fiat A/C system uses a copper core condensor. You gotta love this, you can silver solder it, if it gets hit by a rock and leaks. The copper will not rot out like the aluminum systems do. So the chances of having a bad rotted out condensor are not going to happen. Road damage like hitting a curb yes, but you should be able to fix it.

O Ring seals. Go to Car Quest and buy a bag of seals $8 and change all the seals. The hoses on my 87 are still perfect. Install 134A adapters at the compressor and remove the old Shrader valves from the 12a fittings on the compressor. Check for leaks by adding a charge can or you can use Argon or Nitogen. Spray all the fittings and hoses with fantastic and look for leaks. Use a gauge and see if pressure drops. Expect it to either go up or down a bit as the gas will change pressure with temperature increase or decrease in the day.

Check these web sites for materials and expansion valve.
Expansion valve

http://www.nostalgicairparts.com/air-conditioning/o-ring-expansion-valve-52.php

Red Tek sealant and oil.

http://www.redtek.com/win_proseal_faq.html


Dura Cool 12a

http://www.duracool.com/Duracool/refrigerants.html

I charged with 1 can of Red Tek, 1 can of Dura Cool and topped off the rest with 134a refrigerant.

The X is a goofy system that never unloads the compressor. Turn it on and you feel the HP it robs from the engine. No matter what you now do the compressor will run. You must make sure that the high pressure switch at the accumulator dryer is wire tied to the hose fitting. It has a bit of mastic tape that is suppose to hold it against the metal part of the hose.

With the fan off on the condensor the compressor must reach a head pressure of 350 psi. The over pressure switch is not a pressure switch but a temperature switch that some idiot calulated that at a certain pressure the compressed gas would be a certain temperature. If the switch is not in dircet contact with the hose the system will not work correctly. Now when the switch makes contact it closes a solenoid valve that stops the flow of refrigerant to the evaporator and allows a head of pressurized gas to build against the out put of the compressor and hoses. When the gas cools or the frost valve warms the solenoid opens and allows the flow of gas again. In any other system the high pressure switch is a pressure switch and it disengages the compressor clutch and allows the pressure to bleed and the frost to melt.

The system does work well, now that I understand it.

TonyK.



TonyK Grimsby Ont Canada.

But If I went and did that you guys would have one less member of the board when I sell this car. All Im saying is lets give the new owner something to do once they buy the car...I dont want them to feel left out... Jeff

Sad, some of the questions are typical FIAT myths that never seem to die. In ways, this is a study on why these cars have such low resale value and not appreciated in the car market.

I hope this X will find a proper, nice home with a owner that understands and appreciates this X. It's sure is one of the nicer ones on the road today.