1980 Maserati Merak SS Black with a butterscotch interior. It is a 1980 Merak SS as such it has the Bora style dash board, none of the Citroen era hydraulics, (just conventional). It is black with a butterscotch colored interior. I have photo's posted here, Photo and image hosting, free photo galleries, photo editing. I have owned the car for 13 years and in that time I have refurbished it into a very, very, nice driver. It is not a perfect show car, but it is a great car that you can use. Most of all the work on the car has been done by Steve Mastrioanni and Auto Tourismo Sport in New Milford, Ct.. The interior is mostly original and shows a nice patina. The exterior is beautiful with a few minor blemishes. Mechanically it runs very well, shifts nicely, and does not run hot or over heat. I am selling because after 13 years I have decided I would like to start a new project, an 1960's - 1970's Alfa Guilia sedan. Though I am also liking Il Mostro's SZ'z so it may be a toss up. Here is my assessment of the car and it's issues, though I would also welcome an outsiders PPI. The issues: The previous owner put in what at the time was a very high end radio/CD which is currently not working. I know it needs new speakers but not sure what else as I never have used it and the car sounds have always been enough for me. There is a crack in the metal where the rear fender meets the bodywork under the rear exhaust, (see pics) it is under the bumper and not visible unless you lie down. there are a few small blemishes in the paint work at the bottom corner of the doors. they are hardly visible, (don't show up in photos) but I feel them when waxing. The interior has a nice patina but not perfect. The ashtray cover had split and was glued back by the PO, kinda' sloppily. He also had installed a racing harness so there are bolt heads sticking up from the back hump between the seats. He never raced it as he was trying to rebuild the motor and gave up. When I bought the car the motor was in boxes and I had it rebuilt. My mechanic is Steve Mastroianni at Autotourismo Sport in Ct. (860) 350-2128 if you have questions about the car. The Good: I have always maintained the car and not scrimped when it needed something. The floors were redone to a very high standard and there is no rust, nor is it something that would probably ever be needed to worry about, they are very, very solid. The gas tanks were removed, cleaned and re sealed and all rust in that area also has been dealt with. (this is a common area on Meraks that sooner or later will always have to be done. The paint and bodywork were done about 5 years ago and the car is very shiny and looks fantastic. Black is a great color on these cars. The motor has about 46,000 miles on it and runs strong up into the redline. The head gaskets have been recently done along with front shocks, tie rods, and rack & pinion bushings. The car has the MIE headers and a Stainless Steel exhaust system, (by Quicksilver a high end British aftermarket manufacturer). It has won the 2012 Hemmings Sports & Exotics favorite Italian car at their annual car show and will be in an upcoming issue. (I'm not sure when that will be out, but I was up in Vermont at their headquarters doing a photo shoot and talk with them). The car never overheats and the cooling system works great. The car shifts very well (for a mid engine car) and the clutch take up is also good. I have always maintained it throughout my ownership and have done whatever it has needed. I have the original tool kit, original spare tire, and owners manual. I had a professional appraiser look at the car so I could make sure it was insured properly. He came back with $95,000, (which floored me!) Now, I think that is actually very high and I have it advertised on, "www.classiccars.com", (lots of pictures) for $85,000, which I also know is asking top dollar. I would be open to a serious offer. Chris Image Unavailable, Please Login
Link requires membership in photobucket. If you have the original wheels I'd suggest you put them on with even a fresh set of nothing tires in the wrong size. I think it will appeal to more buyers?
Great car, but those have got to be the ugliest US-spec crash impact bumpers ever mandated by the NHTSA!!! I'd swap out to Euro bumpers in a nanosecond. Like lovely car nonetheless. GLWS!
Who would ever have thought these things would appreciate this much?! Had I known I would have bought every one I could at $20K.
It seems like the list of cars you can say that about grows on a daily basis. Always liked the Merak..and agree with others on it needing the Euro bumpers. GLWS
As a purist I say keep the bumpers, I was going to change mine to Euro bumpers but as the price of these cars are rising I decided to keep it completely original. Another option is to keep the original bumpers in case someday they need to be changed back. They aren't as bad in person, I have never had a negative comment about the bumpers except in pictures.
Hopefully this link works, Photo and image hosting, free photo galleries, photo editing ...sorry about that. I'm somewhat challenged with getting this link to work. I for got to mention in the ad, I do have the original wheels, (they need to be cleaned up a bit but otherwise in great shape) and yes, I should put them on. However the car handles a bit better with these Gotti wheels on the car as the rears are pushed out a bit with a different than stock offset and widen the track. It is easy enough of the new buyer to swap out the wheels if they want. Yeah, I know people hate these bumpers, but honestly I hardly see them. Maybe because it is a black car and they are black. I don't mind the look of them too much, but would like to toss them just to lose the weight if I were to keep it. Again it is for the next owner to decide.
Ok, Nevermind. That link won't work. Crap this photo bucket site, aaaarrrrghhh. Let me see what I can do to get a workable link to somewhere. I have 129 photo's on there. Hmmm
The new link works fine. My 2 lira. IMHO if you want the most money for the car have the original wheels refinished, put new tires on and it will look much more like an original Merak instead of a tuner car. Way too much black right now. Loose the steering wheel wrap. You do have a lot of photos but none on that site really do much to sell the car. My impression is that this is a car in pretty nice condition but your photos aren't telling that story very well. A couple of very nice engine compartment shots will put people at ease with the mechanical condition. The under carriage shots I would supply if asked. The ones you have are blurry but they do make the point that it looks like a car that's not been abused. Unless there's something about the cars condition I should think that a nice set of exterior and interior photos are possible with this car. I think it's a color combination that will appeal properly photographed. Best of luck! Your Biturbo looks nice too!
Thanks for the advice. I'm not the greatest photographer but I know a few very good ones, so I will try to get better photo's. The car has very nice paint and being black it reflects almost like a mirror especially when photographing. And yeah, I know I should put the proper wheels on. The steering wheel cover is currently off. I had it on for almost as long as I have had the car. Since I have always driven the car I wanted to protect the wheel from wear, and it has done that well. I recently took the cover off and the wheel looks great. Oh, and the Biturbo is my Dad's. It is virtually flawless. He is the second owner and the car has been meticulously maintained since new. I know you hear a lot of bad things about Biturbo's out there in internet land, but this one goes against all of that. He has had the car 15 years and it has been relatively trouble free, (though only gets driven a few thousand miles a year). It is a fantastic car.
I realize that I forgot to mention in the ad that I do have the original wheels which will come with the car. They are in good shape, no curb rash, but could use a clean up. Thank you. I think I mentioned that I have the original spare tire, tool kit, manuals also, which come with the car.
I've had my Biturbo for 30 years. It's far from flawless now with over 70K on it but it still managed to win best or Marque at the PVGP in Pittsburgh earlier this month. We drove it about 800 miles round trip. Most people gave up on their cars though. It sounds like Vince had a bad time. The Biturbo story is a long and complicated one. Some of us did well though. Good luck selling the Merak.
OMG, please do not get me going on the Biturbo past experience. Nightmare x 3!!! Plugzit had a similar negative experience. I still look at Ghibli II's and Shamals though.
That's my dad's Biturbo. It is an '87. It seems the FI ones were much better fettled than the earlier cared/rushed to market ones. His was very well maintained by the PO and also by him and it has been a very good car. 15 years and very few issues. Almost makes me want one...but....
