Great pics. I've long fancied an X-19. I've driven a couple of 914 Porsche's (none with a 6, I'm afraid); I 'm guessing the little Fiat is much more lively.
I knew a guy who'd owned a couple of X1/9s, which were both of the more comfortable 1500 type. He went on to buy a 914/4 and was very happy - but it's an entirely different thing, he said. I never tried it, though, so I can't compare them, but the Fiat is like a big go-kart (mid-engined, low centre of gravity, and a wheel at each corner). The engine is also quite revvy, although I normally don't feel like testing the limits of 35-year-old mechanicals. It's only got 75 hp - but it doesn't really weigh much either, and corners like nothing else I've ever driven - I chicken out long before the car does. It's a gem, and it'll be hard to part with when the time comes.
Your X/19 looks very nice indeed, most of the ones here in the UK have rusted away. It doesn't seem to suffer from the same Italian car syndrome that my Beta Coupe suffers from either, it's by far the most unreliable car I have ever owned, everything electrical that could go wrong has gone wrong!
It's very far from perfect - there's rust in the sills, which will need to be taken care of soon. But apart from that it's not too bad. The paint is getting a bit worn, and the engine should probably have been overhauled... plus, at some point, a previous owner thought it would be a good idea to paint all the chromed parts matt black. It wasn't. I've bought new used ones, but haven't got around to swapping them yet. I've also considered some Cromodora wheels - but for some reason I think the blue steel wheels are a bit charming (they were there when I bought the car).
Before I bought the Alfa I have now, I had a '91 Lancia Dedra - which was every bit as unreliable as your Beta sounds. Notoriously prone to oil leaks and electric failures... and horribly expensive to service, as I am no mechanic myself. The thing with the Fiat, though, is that just about every piece on it is so simple that there's not much that can go wrong - and if it does, it's no big deal to get it fixed. Simple is good. For example: The slave clutch cylinder waved goodbye when I was in England on holiday some years back. The replacement part had LADA written on it. Not expensive and not very exclusive... but it works.
Looks like they also havce a red Vanquish down below the 500 and GT-R. Or is it a workshop?
That's indeed one of the boring Porsches, I'm afraid. That is a workshop, that's right, with windows in the ceiling so that you can look down from the showroom, and there were two Porsches there, plus the two that you can see parked outside.
It's worth mentioning that even though this is a pretty nice collection of cars for a Norwegian car dealership, I once visited a much better one. A Norwegian collector was considering selling off some of his cars, and hired a dealer in Oslo to do it. When I was at the showroom, a Lamborghini Gallardo was parked outside in the rain - it wasn't expensive enough to be allowed inside. There was only room for six cars in the showroom, you see, and inside there was a Murciélago, an F40, an F50, a Zonda, a Zonda Roadster and a Koenigsegg CCR...
