Which Wedge Would You Drive? 1981 Fiat X1/9 vs 1985 Nissan Pulsar

Happy New Year, Autopians! 2025 was a rough road, but it’s in our rearview mirror now. Let’s greet the new year with a couple of cool old wedge-shaped sporty cars with pop-up headlights.

Our final Showdown of 2025 featured two classics for the same price. It was no contest; the Studebaker cruised to an easy win. It sounded like a lot of you liked the idea of a Mini, just not that Mini. And I appreciated all the Fozzie references in the comments. It reminded me that I haven’t seen The Muppet Movie in a very long time. I should rectify that.

I’m with you on the Studebaker. I love Minis, but having recently gotten out of a dysfunctional relationship with a small British car, I’m not in a hurry to jump back into one. And now that Tamiya has sorted out its licensing agreement with BMW, I can get my Mini fix in 1/10 scale, so I don’t need the real thing. Besides, that old Stude is just plain cool.

Once upon a time, designers of sporty cars wanted the front ends of them as low as possible. To achieve this, they hid the headlights away in the front bodywork when they weren’t needed, and devised complicated mechanical or electric linkages to make the lights pop up out of the front of the car when turned on. Everybody agreed this was way cool. But small cars so equipped weren’t considered safe, apparently, so nobody makes cars with them anymore.

They’re still cool, however, and so today we’re going to honor the wedge-shaped styling and hidden headlights of yore by looking at a couple of sporty coupes. They have their engines in different places, and come from opposite sides of the world, but they’re united in spirit by their low noses and pop-up lights. Let’s take a look.

1981 Fiat X1/9 – $4,100

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, RWD

Location: Omaha, NE

Odometer reading: 86,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Front-wheel-drive drivetrains with transverse engines were originally developed for packaging reasons. If you put all the drivetrain components in one place, at the front of the car, you have the whole rest of it to devote to interior room and luggage space. It was, and remains, a great way to create a car that’s small on the outside and roomy on the inside. But keeping the whole drivetrain together also creates an intriguing possibility: You can just take that whole assembly and stick it behind a pair of seats, driving the rear wheels, and you have a mid-engine sports car on the cheap. That’s exactly what Fiat did with its 128 drivetrain to create the X1/9.

The engine for the 128, and consequently the X1/9, is a small single overhead cam four-cylinder, designed by famed Ferrari engine designer Aurelio Lampredi. Fiat improved and developed this engine over the years; this being a late-production X1/9, it benefits from those improvements. It displaces 1.5 liters, and uses Bosch fuel injection in place of a carburetor. The seller says this one runs great, and is a lot of fun to drive. But it has high mileage for an Italian car, so it’s worth asking about recent service. If they can’t tell you when the timing belt was last changed, do it immediately. This is an “interference” engine, meaning that if the timing belt breaks, the pistons and valves will meet each other in a way you really don’t want.

X1/9s are tight inside; you kind of feel like you’re wearing it rather than riding in it. But for a sports car, that’s a good thing. This one is in usable condition, with a few flaws that won’t stop your enjoyment of it. It could use a good cleaning, though. The seller, somewhat ominously, says that “most” things work, but doesn’t elaborate. Best to try everything out so you know what you’re getting into.

It’s pretty tired-looking outside, but it doesn’t look rusted out, and that’s the biggest concern with the old Fiats. There is some minor rust, but I’ve seen a lot worse. The rear 5 MPH bumper is absent – I won’t say “missing” because it looks better without it. In fact, I’d consider removing the front one as well to match. A lot of these older European sports cars look really good with no bumpers at all.

1985 Nissan Pulsar NX – $3,900

Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Odometer reading: 161,000 miles

Operational status: It’s a bit of a mystery, actually

If moving the engine and drivetrain to the back is the “X1/9 method” of turning an economy car into a sports car, then this Nissan Pulsar NX represents what I think of as the “Scirocco method:” Leave the engine where it is, but design a lower and sleeker body shape for it. You can’t get the hood as low that way, but you can still make it pointy and use pop-up headlights if you so desire. The Pulsar is basically a Nissan Sentra underneath, but it doesn’t look anything like one, and that’s the point.

Under the hood, it’s all Sentra, with the same 1.6-liter carbureted engine. At least it has a five-speed manual; I once test-drove one of these with an automatic, and it was miserable. This is still no performance car, but the manual transmission helps a lot. The seller says it’s in good condition, but they also say it includes a new clutch kit and some other parts. Does that mean it needs those things? Or were they just purchased for future use? I guess the only way to know is to contact the seller.

Every time I see an interior like this one, I dislike modern car interiors more. Look at how simple and straightforward this is. There’s nothing there you don’t need, and the basic controls of the car are all right where you want them. It’s in pretty good condition, too. There are some signs of wear, and I imagine that dash cover is there to hide some cracks caused by the Arizona sun, but there’s nothing here that’s gross or embarrassing. A low bar, but from what I’ve seen, it’s not one that every car clears, even for this price.

The seller doesn’t say, but I think this car has been repainted. I don’t remember this pale green being an original color on these. I’m pretty sure it left the factory in silver. This is a good color for it, though, and who doesn’t like a nice shiny car? It looks a little plain, though; it’s crying out for some stripes or trim strips along the sides.

Making sporty cars from economy cars seems to be a lost art these days. There used to be a low-slung counterpart to almost every boxy hatchback on the market. Now, everything has to be tall and a four-door. It makes me glad there are a few of these old wedge-shaped numbers still floating around. And they’re really not even all that expensive. Which do you pick as your first winner of 2026?

Also, just a quick programming note: I will be out for a few days here and there over the next couple of weeks, while the Shitbox Showdown corporate headquarters relocates again – this time to central Michigan. I have complete faith that whoever fills in will keep you in a good supply of cheap, crappy cars in my absence.