Submitted by Les Mott

I bought my first 1300 X1/9 in 1986 and joined the OC club at the time.

My initial 1300 was a Lime Green Special Series loved the car but it did deteriorate badly - I did loads of work on the car and kept it until 1993 before exchanging it for a XR2. I have always loved the lines of the X1/9 and again returned to ownership in 2005 buying a really clean 1980 Red 1500 this I drove for about 18 months then bought a rather sad looking Lido YAP68T- I always wanted a Nice Lido so I project managed its top drawer restoration.  This car won the Best Car awards at the Clubs nationals in 2008 and then again in 2009.

A great highlight for me was joining the Club Tour to Southern Ireland in 2009 was a great trip and Yap only suffered from the old block jet syndrome probably due to the state of the Irish roads.  Life events forced my hand and the car was sold in 2010. 

However this was not the end as I came across a restored 1500 from the Club Classifieds in 2010 and on a cold December a train journey to Hereford resulted in me driving home a Blue 1500 B19XEY.  In 2010 - I currently still own this car improvements have included - new interior - 1300 Bumper conversion and quite a lot of rust proofing. 

During the last few years I have attended two Euro drives in 2010 & 2011 - Tour 1 got us to the Monza Race Track in Milan - the drive over the Alps was breathtaking. Regretably I blew the Head Gasket on the drive back to our Swiss camp Site and I had to leave the car at a Fiat Dealership and carry on the tour in Mark Perry's Car. 

The car was delivered to my door a week or so latter many thanks to having European Breakdown Cover. In 2010 I organised the OC national in the Lake District - Leg It To the Lakes - this was a great success.  

In 2011 The car went across the Channel again this time we attended the Dutch 25 year celebrations and was a great long weekend.  On a positive the car never missed a beat and made it back without a hitch.  So now I'm not an OC member but im still a proud X19 owner looking forward already to what 2013 will bring.