Fiat X1/9 in the winter?

How would a Fiat X1/9 work in the winter? The one I've spotted is a 77 so carb'd. I'd be driving it in all the worst of snow. So mostly say -15 and a couple inches of snow. Does the heater work well enough to defrost the windows at least?

Sorry, I'm in California. I can't comment on an X1/9's snow ability. I do know on one of the X1/9 forums (http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159/), there are quite a few owners in northern Europe. I've never seen anything negative coming from them as far traction and drivability. As for the defrost, it takes a few minutes to get going. The core is a bit small and the fans are somewhat tiny, but it does work.

All Fiats make heat pretty well. The X1/9 will have good traction thanks to the location of the engine over the wheels but you will struggle in deep snow with the ground clearance issue. Oh, and the salt will turn the body into swiss cheese in about a month.

Rust isn't a huge deal despite the snow. No salt used. The car its self its mostly rust free from California. I guess I'm most worried about ground clearance.

I drove mine in snow before, but not that deep. It worked suprisingly well, but the injected models have a weird heater blower mode to the floors, as in not much. The heater itself will run you out though, they work very well. The good part about an X1/9 though, they rust where you can see it.

I owned a '77 X1/9 when I was first married. Never drove it in the snow. Actually I spent more time trying to get working/running then driving but thats another story. Wasn't there X1/9s set up for rallying? They had a big snorkel airscoop like F1 cars.

That would be the Abarth version, it was canned after it's first or second outing as it was faster than the Lanica Stratos, and that was Fiats rally car at the time. Depending on who you believe, they built 4 or 5 of them, and used the 2 liter twin cam making over 200hp.