Tim travels to Akaroa for a visit with former rally driver who has a penchant for the Fiat marque

Akaroa sits on the edge of an ancient volcanic crater on the Banks Peninsula in the South Island. It also sits on the outer rim of French culture. In colonial times, French settlers heading for New Zealand thought they were about to settle in a new French colony. However, while at sea (to cut a long story short) the English beat them to it, signing over land to the British Empire. The French immigrants arriving at a new British colony simply shrugged their shoulders, and got to work creating a little slice of France out on the peninsula.

So, here I was in 2008, finding myself driving a German Beetle to a French settlement to see some Italian cars!

Leaving Christchurch in a bright red VW Beetle convertible, I passed briefly through Lyttleton where I spied a collectable old Maserati and rare old Isuzu Bellett coupe being unloaded at the wharf — hopefully bound for local classic car collectors.

On I wound through the Banks Peninsula hills until I arrived at the French flavoured Duvauchelle Hotel, now known as New Zealand’s oldest standing pub.

Not only did I sink an inviting cold drink at Duvauchelle, but I was amused in a Jungian sense to be met by the sight of a bright red VW Beetle model staring back at me over the counter. Talk about synchronicity!

Tricky Dicky

With the colour red obviously flavour of the hour, my arrival in Akaroa itself was met by a very tempting bright red D-series Citroën for sale on the side of the road before I headed to the Fiat collection of former rally driver Dave Dixson.

‘Tricky Dicky’ Dixson — as he was known in his younger days — is a one-time Heatway Rally driver who used to campaign a very hot Fiat 125 saloon back in the early ’70s.

Dixson had arrived in New Zealand during 1967, after roaring around England as a bit of a mod on a Lambretta 150 scooter. He emigrated as an engineer and went to work as a toolmaker for General Motors at Lower Hutt. Before too long, the young Dave Dixson was modifying a Ford Cortina and turning out for the Hutt Valley Car Club, where he would eventually earn the Tricky Dicky moniker due to his ability in car trials. Later, he would earn life membership of the club.

Those early car trials were forerunners of both our international rally and domestic rally scene.

Following his Cortina period, Dixson put himself behind the wheel of a Fiat 125 saloon and, according to him, this is when the Italian Fiat marque became engrained upon his soul.

“I loved that old Fiat,” Dixson reminisced when I got him talking over a glass of wine.

“We raced and raced it but no matter how hard we drove it, we just couldn’t kill it!”

Top victories for Tricky Dicky’s crew in the Fiat 125 included winning the Hawkes Bay Blossom Trial and the Zylis Trial (sponsored by Zylis Kitchen products) which began at midnight in Taihape. In those days, some of Dixson’s stiffest competition came from none other than future Escort rally ace, Blair Robson, who was trial eventing in a big MkIV Ford Zodiac, and John Gladhill in his once well known Triumph 2000 MkI.

Straight Cut ’Box

Following the 125, Dixson’s team moved into a potent 1800cc Fiat station wagon, modified specially for rallying with a straight-cut gearbox, and entered one of the early Heatway International rallies.

“I loved trialling and rallying back in those days,” Tricky Dicky said, “It was all good fun, but probably the biggest coup de grace for my crew — that is me, Rod Norris and Andrew McKay — was winning that Blossom Festival trial, because we headed off some major opposition. Although we were ourselves by then one of the most formidable trial teams in the Wellington area, John Gladhill being our toughest local opponent to beat. As for that Taihape trial we arrived just in time to enter, almost right on midnight, and were car 102 entered — and we won it!”
Dave obviously looks back on those wild younger days with a sense of nostalgic pleasure.

These days he and his wife, Gabrielle, lead a slightly more sedate life as proprietors of the Akaroa harbour-side Criterion Motel, where I was preparing to rest my Beetle-meandering body for the night — but not before seeing the Dixsons’ Fiat playthings!

Long in his blood now, Fiats still flow freely through the Dixson’s veins and at present three Italian classics reside at the Akaroa abode. There’s a 1972 Fiat 124 Sports coupe, a 1982 Fiat X1/9 sports car and — here’s where it gets tricky, even for Tricky Dicky — a non-Fiat, Bertone-badged 1989 X1/9.

I thought I was going to be viewing three Fiats and believed that to be so, even when the whole triumvirate was right under my nose, until Dave leant forward and quizzed me.
“Do you notice anything different about the two X/19s?”

Well, the later one has different bumpers and a changed interior — then Dave pointed to the badges on the 1989 version and said, “There isn’t a single Fiat badge or mention of Fiat anywhere on this one. It’s simply a Bertone, named after the designer, of course.”

Country Drive

While Dave remained on duty at the front desk of the Criterion Motel, I was encouraged to drive the two different era X1/9s through the Akaroa hills, Gabrielle taking her Bertone version while I slipped behind the wheel of the earlier model.

Years ago, when NZCC was a black and white magazine on thin paper, I drove my first X1/9 at Whakatane — a car owned by media and radio personality, Matt Mollgard. My early impression back then had been of a car that drove and acted like a good Formula Ford race car, with the engine tucked in behind the driver and revving freely, while the driver sat low to the ground.

That impression did not need any updating when I sat low in Dave’s X1/9 and fired up the rorty engine. In fact, as I took off out of Akaroa and started climbing into the hills, the free revving, punchy little sports car came into its own. Despite its now advancing years, the little Fiat was nimble, responsive, and above all fun. It cornered well and was eager to scramble and pull through the uphill curves. I could tell by the exhaust note and feel of the engine that Dave Dixson had applied a few old tricks to the car, something he later confirmed when we compared notes on the two Bertone-penned sports cars.

High up on the edge of the Banks Peninsula volcanic rim, it was time for a quick photo shoot in the early evening light before swapping cars with Gabrielle, this time finding myself racing downhill in the 1989 Bertone X/19.

I immediately liked the deeper red of the later car and its better interior finish, but there was little to suggest that the two were much different. In fact, this seemed to be true when I drove away in the Bertone. It revved just as responsively as the Fiat version but felt overall a smoother, quieter and more refined car. This could be due to its relative youth, or the fact that Gabrielle’s Bertone has been kept as a country road cruiser and not received any of Dave Dixson’s fettling. Badging apart, however, there really wasn’t a great deal of discernable difference between the Fiat and the Bertone noted on a short country jaunt.

Bertone Studio Show Cars

The X1/9 Fiat/Bertone cars started life as show cars from the Bertone studio, with the design aspects lead by project manager, Marcello Gandini. Although a mid-engined sports car, the X1/9 was based around the Fiat 128 saloon’s sohc engine unit, altered to sit behind the seats.

Released to the general public in 1972, the Fiat X1/9 sold well right through until late in 1982 when, for some reason, the car’s production was totally devolved to Bertone, and from then on Fiat badges were no longer to be seen on the cars.

Bertone had already been involved with the X/19, not just at the design stage but, during Fiat’s production of the car, the monococque bodies had been made at Bertone’s Turin factory before being transported over to the Fiat factory at Lingotto for the engine, final assembly and production.

To Dave Dixson and to many others, just why Fiat turned full production of the X1/9 over to Bertone in 1982 is a bit of a mystery, something that has added to the little sports car’s mystique through the ensuing years.

Being an all-out Fiat fan Dave Dixson prefers the Fiat badge on his little Italian wedge, but he also very proud of his more recent purchase, a 1608cc 1972 Fiat 124 coupe.

Dave has always wanted an example of this model, and found his twin-cam gem in Paraparaumu, not too far from his old Wellington stamping ground. Time did not allow me to go off for a drive in Dave’s 124, but I did spend time admiring its finish and condition.

Despite the rare joy for Dixson of owning both badge versions of the X1/9, the newcomer in this Fiat man’s life has certainly put the icing on his slice of Turin cake.

“I’ve always wanted one of these,” Dave said of the 124 coupe, “I’m glad that I can help preserve one. Alongside the other cars it’s good to have. My aim for all of them, in fact, is to preserve them, as I think that the Fiat marque will be still be strong in the future, particularly with the release of the new Bambina.”

Dave told me that he reads NZ Classic Car religiously every month and was therefore pleased to send me off to bed in one of the motel’s best rooms with a lake view — but I had to take reading material. After signing in at the Criterion and enjoying a hilly drive in the X1/9 pair, I was sent off to my room with a pile of Fiat bibles and manuals. Before my road-reddened eyes grew too weary, I noticed that one of the old black and white books had pictures of several Fiat models in it that I have never heard of.

As I sunk into sleep, in the distance I could hear a morepork calling across the bay while, somewhere downstairs, a fresh rag was polishing a red Fiat.

Words and Photos: Tim Chadwick

This article is from Classic Car issue 222. Click here to check it out.