Great looking cars, including the MX5 of course 
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Mazda intended the MX5 to be a successor to the MGB,Rge current true successor to the X1/9 I suppose will be the Honda S660, mid engined, rwd, and 63hp in JDM spec. And its a targa top.
https://www.torque-gt.co.uk/blog/post/s660-whats-it-all-about
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Great cars John. The Green Series Speciale is my absolute favourite. I bought 2 back in 1989 from another X1/9 founder member - Brian Jordan. Those are long gone now but I have since bought another one 
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Regarding the Honda ,I’m sure, being a Honda its a lovely well engineered car throughout, but looks wise it doesn’t work for me, but cant quite put my finger on what it is ,… or maybe its because it reminds me of a Vauxhall Tigra convertable 
Brian Jordan … that name rings a bell from a very long time ago. Wasn’t he the guy who put a twin cam engine in an X1/9?
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In 1972, the X1/9 had a dramatic look. In 2020, te ND MX5 looks a bit dull and conservative really. The styling is very much intended to be inoffensive.
Funny that Honda should be mentioned, as after my X1/9’s I had a long affair with Honda through the 80’s and 90’s, before they lost the plot and started making dull SUVs. I had one of the very first CRX’s in Scotland, and went on to have 4 of them, fantastic cars.
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I remember Brian Jordan also.
Yep that’s the guy. I bought the ex twin cam car, but the engine had been replaced by a mildly tuned 1.5 unit by then.
Blimey, it’s a small world! I still have the first few issues of the club magazine. Here is issue No1. The car belongs to Brian Thompson, another founder member, and I remember taking the photo of it on a trip he made to Scotland with another founder member Joel Sciamma. Happy days!
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Haha I’ve still got that magazine in my loft too . All those hand drawn wiring diagrams and grainy photos - Fantastic!
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Lovely car . Compared to its peers - such as the superannuated rubbish like the Midget 1500 and Spitfire- it was light years ahead , just as the Alfasud (two of which I did own)made horrors like the Allegro and Chevette look like something from the Pre Cambrian era .
Yup , many Italian cars rusted (even if my Suds never did ) , sometimes worse than more traditional fare , but they made up in sheer flair and brio . The X1.9 even had a mid engine with -yikes - an overhead cam engine, four wheel discs and Bertone styling . Just like the Midget didn’t…
I recall F1 journalist and Lotus aficionado Peter Windsor writing about his X19 in Autocar and praising it to the heights - which made me want one even more - but I’d fallen in love with my Clan Crusader . And that’s another story …
Unfortunately that bug was a death trap.
A colleague at work lost his son in a brand-new one; although gutless it was still too fast for the abysmal roadholding and non-existent brakes.
The accident was horrific.
My colleague blamed himself for allowing his son to drive it, and never really recovered. It was very distressing.
Sorry to hear that , I posted it because I didn’t like it either, although like all oddities, its probably got its fans.
My Dad had several Reliant Robins , didn’t like those either, but as he was a lifelong Motorcyclist it was his way of giving my Dear old Mum a bit more comfort 
In 1972 the X1/9 must have looked like it just landed from space.
Styled by Gandini, guy who styled the Countach when he was at Bertone.
Sure does make MGB and Midget look antiquated.
This was mine. Bought second hand, and owned in the early 80s. Felt quite nimble and fun to drive (compared to MGs & Triumphs I’d had), but suffered extreme rot in every corner, sills and door bottoms. Literally started to disintegrate in my ownership. Not surprised there’s not many left!
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Once in a while a car comes along that breaks the mould, and takes things off in another direction, and I’m glad of it, as I think the original Citroën DS is a thing of beauty, it was innovative and also ahead of its time, just my personal opinion 
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I just received an email and two photos of the very first X1/9 Club meeting from founder member Brian Thompson …
Brian Jordan was the person who really started the X1/9 Club, some three or four years after my half-hearted attempt in 1980.
The first meeting was at Castle Combe race circuit, in May 1984, attended by myself, Joel, Trevor Nicosia, Alistair Cunningham and Brian Jordan. I remember the day well, as it was bitterly cold and mostly wet. Brian Jordan and his wife were in their green 1300. Not sure if he ever had a twin-cam. Trevor’s car did, however, have a two litre Lancia twin cam fitted, as well as other major modifications, such as huge wheel arches and a gigantic rear wing. It had the reg number PPP 6.
It was at that meeting where Brian Jordan ‘volunteered’ me to become 1300 ‘technical officer’ and Joel the 1500 such officer. I seem to remember Brian owning or running a hotel in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, which I did visit once, in the mid '80s, where I bought from him an X1/9 Owner’s Club t-shirt, which I’ve never worn and still have!
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RVJ was one of the cars I bought from Brian Jordan, 1300 engine had been worked on by Avanti Motorsport, bored out, different cam, bigger carb, balanced flywheel etc. as documented in one of the owners club magazines. Both cars had been well used!
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Oh you are quite right about the DS , what an impact that must have made in a Britain full of Triumph Renowns and Austin Somersets . Not that many bought one , as it was generally the done thing then to buy British, no matter how shonky the product. The Citroen GS was another gem - one of Dad’s friends let me drive his in the early 70s and compared to the Herald 13/60 and Vitesse I normally cadged drives in, it was a revelation.
If not quite as much a shock of the new as the NSU Ro80 I drove once - it was like driving the future…
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