De Tomaso basically copied the Fiat X1/9 before it even launched

While digging into X1/9 history, I found this wild story: before the car debuted, De Tomaso saw Bertone’s prototype, loved it, and had Ghia build a look-alike — the De Tomaso 1600 Spider.

They rushed it together from memory and showed it at the ’71 Turin Motor Show… right across from Bertone. The press abroad called it plagiarism. Fiat wasn’t amused.

The car disappeared right after, but the stunt became one of the strangest little feuds in Italian coachbuilding.

Full story + photos here: https://www.carrozzieri-italiani.com/how-de-tomaso-hijacked-the-fiat-x1-9-before-it-even-launched/