This is my 1979 Fiat Bertone X1/9. I completely removed all of the strut assemblys and modified them to accept Red's Hydraulics #8 cylanders and hooked up a Fenner Fluid Power Hydraulic pump. So the car had front / back hydros, and could hop about 1-2 inches off the ground, with the height restriction because I used the original springs. It had a custom rasberry flake paint job and purple underbody neon and "SONY" audio neon sign, all custom made in College Station Tx by NEON Works. Inside, the interior was completely removed, stripped of original leather, and replaced with crushed velvet. The seats were replaced with racing type bucket seats out of a Talon. The stereo consisted of Sony mid/highs and two Earthqukae 15" subwoofers that measured 147 db at Waco Autorama, 1996. It also made a small apperance in Lowrider magazine in October edition, 1996.
Picture taken at 1996 Texas Heat Wave in Austin, TX. I took home 2nd place, Compact Car division. I was the only person in my class that WASNT sponsored by a business.
Above is my Fenner hydraulic pump for the Red's Hydraulics. Two batteries fitted in the rear trunk provided the 1000+ amps and 24 volts needed.
Picture of interior of front trunk while installing the two 15" subs and the hydraulic lines as well as power leads for battery.
Here is the dual 15" subs installed, with an 18 wheeler truck battery for plenty of hours of stereo play time.
Here I am, ripping the interor and seats out, as so I can install the hydraulic pump and hosing for it, and control wires, as well as the dual subs.
My car RIGHT after I drove it home from the local Cadillac dealership where it was painted by the guys in back as a side job. I swear I went ouside to my car every day for a week and just smelled the paint for 10 minutes or so. New paint smells so great, and looks even better! This was a Rasberry microflake mix with BASF clearcoat. I sorta came up with the color myself with help of the guys at AC Colorguard, Bryan, TX.
This is the pic that made it into the October 1996 edition of Lowrider Magazine. My 15 minutes of fame! haha
My car, with neon SONY sign lit, overlooking Lake Waco, TX. It also had underbody and interior neon lights, all custom made (none of that streetglow shit).
This is the last stage of the new mods on the car. I started shaving off as much stock saftey items as I could, including the rear bumper, side markers, mirrors, wipers, door handles, antenna hole, and wiper sprayers. I fiberglass re-fitted at Mitsubishi Mirage front end onto the nose of the Fiat, for a more molded look, to go with the removal of the rear bumper and mountings. Also, I was heavily involved with taking out EVERY ding, nick, and warp on the enitre car as so it could have a flawless paintjob. I purchased 2 gallons of BASF High Solids Clear, as well as House of Kolor super large purple flake. Paint ran around $2000 for materials only. At that point, I couldnt afford for someone to paint it, so I had to do it.
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If you're interested in what ive been doing since I did this car, please check out my youtube video page at http://www.youtube.com/snoopdan or stop by my myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/snoopdan
or come by http://www.snoopdan.com
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