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​   Here we see a late series Bertone X-19.
   This car requires a bit of discussion.
   This was a car designed from the inside out. It has often been sarcastically referred to as the ‘poor man’s Miura.’                                      In actual fact it was directly derived from an equally interesting and radical Bertone design: the Lancia Stratos. As such its structural design was based directly on this successful competition Lancia, from the driver’s cell out. As a result, its very rigid central structure endowed this customer road car with handling far superior to road cars of the era, much less economy cars, placing it on a level with finest exotics. All because when it was developed there were two elements in play. One was the fact that it was actually designed as a competition car. Second, and much more prosaic to the time, US market safety standards were flying at manufacturers at a rapid rate, and the one of concern during the develop of the X-19 was the rumor that American crash standards were going to be conducted at 80km/h, rather than 50km.h...into a fixed barrier of course.
   Combine this with the transverse 1500cc four behind the driver, and you have a polar moment of inertia of the highest standards.
   Another element to be noted here, in that Italian tradition of superb design and materials, is the very modern design and weave of the fabric for the seats and door panels.
   Thus at the end of the day you have not so much a ‘poor man’s Miura,’ but the discerning driver’s comp car for the street. In size and scale, one hell of a car for a run over the Dolomites, or up Highway One.