The Fiat X/19 Bertone. Some people call it the “Baby-Ferrari”. Debuting to the World in 1972. It was a mid-engined rear wheel drive sports car and it was small. Really small. But, it had a very unique wedge shaped styling which was attractive as well. The design allowed for 2 seperate luggage storage compartments. Performance wise, the engine pumped out a meagre 75HP (Very litle by today’s standards. But remember, this car is now over 30 years old!) But the weight as kept low and coupled with the mid engined layout, allowed for some really fun handling. I had the chance to sit in one of these before and it was really a small car, the seating position was really low as well. But, it had character. I still like the car quite alot and maybe one day, i would like to have one for myself. It wasn’t very fast though, but i guess with most classic sports car, you don’t need to be going fast to enjoy the car. Top speed was quoted to be at 170km/h. Yeah right…

Minichamps makes this 1:18 version of the little Fiat, and it IS a little Fiat. Put it next to today’s modern cars and you’ll wonder how drivers could actually fit into one of these. Send my regards to Minichamps for having the guts to produces some of the more interesting cars which other manufacturers will often not even think about. This Fiat does fall into such a category. It is not one of Minichamps’ newer offerings but, it deserves some special mention.

Paint

Paintwork on this car is good. It is smooth and not too thick. (Unlike the M1s) Paint application here is spot on with tampos used for the badges. The black plastics used are nice as well, not too shiny and hard. There is also a green version of this car which gives it a nice retro look, but i prefer red. I think Minichamps might be releasing another color, but don’t quote me on that.

Exterior

Minichamps was spot on with this car, the proportions are correct and the stance is correct as well. It might be an older release, but look at what we have here, retractable pop-up headlights, removable roof, front /back hoods openable, engine compartment all done up. Superb effort!

Some small overlooked stuff though, the front grille is a non perforated piece of moulded plastic, so that takes some points away, the lights have noticable attachment stubs.The panels gaps are pretty good as they are, but they could do with just a very slight little bit of tightening. The pop-up lights are a great feature is a car like this and they go up and down smoothly. Lift the front hood and we are greeted with a nicely done up luggage compartment. On a real car, the roof when taken off will be stored in the front. But it doesn’t work like that on the model. Pity, but no biggy. The front luggage comparment floor is a mat made out of real rubber. Great stuff.

Doors are slightly on the light and flimsy side and on mine, the passsenger’s side window is a little loose when u open the door. Another small issue though, it only happens if you use your finger to move it about. The Engine cover opens up to show a nicely made engine, we can’ really see much from here, but what we can see is not too bad. No complaints here at all. Open up the rear engine compartment and we see another floormat made out of real rubber. Feels good. The Exhaust pipe though is not fully excavated and we can see the black plastic ends inside.

Interior

The interior of this car is another wonderful effort from Minichamps. Although i wonder why they didn’t put in rubber floor mats here as well. The floor mats on the interior are made of a rubber-ish plastic material. Everything else here though, is spot on, the seats are nicely moulded (Although plastic as well). Even the door locks on the slightly light doors are present. The Instrument cluster is nicely made with the gauges stacked behind a clear plastic piece. The interior color combination does make it seem like a really nice place to be. One of Minichamp’s better efforts here. Almost up there with the new Minichamps Volvo 1800ES.

Wheels and Brakes

This model uses normal steel rims which are very well replicated here. On a real car, they might look a tad boring, but on a model. It’s all rather nice, probably due to the level of detailing bestowed upon them here. The Logos are all tampo prints on and small minor odds and ends on the real rim are all replicated nicely in 1:18 form. Minichamps could have stopped there but no, the went ahead and made up some nice brakes which we can ONLY see from the bottom of the car, only from behind the wheels can we actually see that they have recreated the disc brakes. With the disc spinning seperatly from the calipers. Fabulous. The only thing missing here is the tyres with no hint of a brand on them. But this is something many 1:18 diecast lack, probably due to some licensing issue with the tyre manufacturers. What we can see here though are very well made rims brakes and a nice thread pattern on the brandless tyres. Superb effort.

Oh yes, i forgot to mention. Functional suspension, this car has it.

Summary

To sum up, this car although not one of newer Minichamps offerings is a really good model. My personal feel of this car is that it will not be picked up by most collectors which is a real pity because they are giving up what is one of the gems of the diecast World. It is well made, with many nice touches like the pop-up lights and the removable roof. The Subject matter is unique and who doesn’t like a “Baby-Ferrari”?

If you have never though of getting one of this, my advise is to go into a store, have a look at it, a real good look at it. It is a great model to have and it’ll look good next to those Ferraris that are already on the shelf right? As for me, no regrets at all. I wish i bought it sooner. It’s an old car and since it’s a Minichamps, it’ll probably not be on the shelves too long once they sell out.

Overall 7.5/10
A model scoring in this range has much more positives than it has flaws, however, the flaws are very minor.

*Rating system and review was written with reference to DiecastXchange’s review guidelines*

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 19th, 2005 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Updates, 1:18 Reviews, Fiat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.