Maserati Khamsin

Marc,

I know so very little about the man and since I've lusted after a Khamsin since my very early 20's it would be nice to think that he might be persuaded to attend one of the Italian Concours over here one day.

I remember being on a cable car in the SF financial district in the 1970's pulling in a whoppping $12K at the time and actually seeing both an Espada and a Khamsin then wondering about that glass panel in the back of both.

I was fortunate enough to meet Ing Giulio Alfieri and his lovely wife one year at Concourso Italiano and have met their friend Tom Tjaarda several times at such shows.
They were very "accessible" and unassuming people. The same goes for Tom. I was really pleasantly surprised by this. Does he speak English well enough to feel comfortable at such an event?

I have two of his creations at present so it would be fun to converse with him.

Bob S.

P.S. looking forward to your book but don't spill it all here guy ... ;>)

 

Bob,
We have tried to get him to Le Belle Macchine d'Italia through Tom Tjaarda many times (BTW Tom will be there again this year). Gandini is a bit of recluse, doesn't speak English. He attended an event is So Cal a few years ago, I think he felt a bit lost and hasn't gone to one since. He just wants to stay on his farm an enjoy semi retirement, apparently even at events in Italy he doesn't stay long.

Joe

 

I kind of gathered as much but maybe Marc can have that magic touch? How about Gandini based event? OH well who knows, just a thought.

 

Thanks Bob. To you and Joe I can only answer the following: Mister Gandini is a very very private person, he does not speak English, he really shies away from the limelight and as I said and I write this with the utmost humility he is shy and not at all the kind of person who would want to be on stage at an event. I had to ask someone in the Modena area who was as important as he was in the history of one of the Modenese manufacturers to intervene and I had to really put all my energy into it and courtesy before, during and after. I know one chap who is working on a book on a famous Gandini car but this chap is very aggressive and Gandini only answered with yeses and nos the whole time: I sensed right away that you needed to be very gentle with him to establish a dialogue and then eventually he came out of his shell and talked: as I wrote a very special occasion. Please don't ask for the names I left out.

Best regards,

Marc

 

I wouldn't mind doing a year featuring Gandini designed cars at Le Belle Macchine d'Italia. But obviously would want him to be in attendance if we did an all out push for cars he designed.


Joe

 

It does sound like it would not work out but I don't think anyone would expect him to stand up and give a speech. Informal converations at a smaller show might be kind of nice. Still, a total lack of English is a problem just as my going to an event in Italy and it was totally in Italian would be difficult. Oh wait ... I've done that one. But If I had to give speach as well, carumba!

Bob S.

 

Speaking only Italian would not be a problem at our event, it's harder to find someone that doesn't speak Italian at our event than someone that does.


Joe

 

My take is a little differant than Marc and Joe. Sometimes reality can get mixed up with fantasy and passed on to become truth and then legend.

I too spent a lovely afternoon at Sig. Gandini's vila in the Turin countryside around 7 or 8 years ago. I remember I took a photo of the contents of his office trash can, among many others. I'll dig it out and post it some day. I found him to be pretty much a regular guy, very easy to talk with through the translator, whom he was good friends with.

I was scouting him out as a possible guest at Concorso Italiano but killed the idea due to the language problem and his somewhat strained relationship at the time with Bertone and Lamborghini.
Could be why he "shys" away from European events.
His career path is interesting and surprising. He first met Mr. DeTomaso when he was designing discotech interiors, and then doing body kits and spoilers working out of a body shop.
He had his 15 minutes of fame and then poof he was gone. I must admit the cars he left behind are truly spectacular. After Bertone he did some contractual work for a few years for Renault and did some fun cars that I always liked such as the Renault 21 18i R5 and R5 Turbo. Of course he also gave us the Qporte 2 with the V6 and the favorite of this thread and mine as well, the stunning Khamsin but only the full Euro version, and for me, only with the automatic transmission.

In reality he had only sketched the cars which was something he was very good at, and it was the model maker Sig. Arrigo Gallizio who brought his work to life. Sig. Gallizio was the chief modeler at Bertone during the period. Sig Gallizio went on to open his own company in Turin called G-Studio. Sig Gallizio is a very close friend of Giorgetto Giugiaro since they were young boys going to school together. G-Studio did a lot of work for Italdesign and actually had work space in the Italdesign complex. When Giugiaro was our special guest at Concorso Italiano in 1995 Sig. Gallizio and his wife accompanied the Giugiaro's to Monterey.

As a side note. I first met Sig. Gallizio in 1982 when I purchased a then new Biturbo in Turin and sent it over to G-Studio to have Sig Gallizio do the model work on the MIE Bodykit which was designed by Michael Robinson who went on to become the Design Director of Lancia and then Fiat. Gallizio did a fantastic job. His sense of design and surface is unparalleled. I saw him in Geneva last year and he is still at it. He invited our Car Guy Tour to plan to visit his studio.
As far as Gandini goes my feeling is that he is a man who lives in the now, not the past. Designing all those great cars is something he did in the past and he has long since moved on. The shyness thing is IMHO a cover, and part of his mystic, his "schtick" if you will. Could it be that the attention he gets from "fans" is viewed like "Trekies." Did Capt Kirk think Spock was an OK guy? "Who cares, move out of your moms basement, get a life" It's just a car...... Comments and questions are welcome.


FGM

 

Francis welcome to the thread: you certainly have dealt with Khamsins more than most!

I was fortunate enough to have learnt Italian while spending 6 months in Modena indexing a very important private Maserati archive and thus was able to interview Gandini in Italian for my book:
"Maserati the Citroen years,
1968-1975
promise interrupted"
as well as with my co-author for another book. In interviewing him in Italian directly without the buffer of a translating friend we both saw that his very private shy and modest nature was just that, in fact when looking at his own sketches he derided them saying they were crude little drawings. Obviously I am not going to go into detail on what he said here, that is for the books. Obviously he still does consulting design work and for any designer image is important, so I am sure every designer is aware of that.
You are certainly right that he lives in the present: once a famous French designer friend of his made him a gift of very rare archive material concerning Gandini's own work, for which he profusely thanked him...only to forget the material right there: he is very forward looking.

Did you notice that I found your friend Dick denson's Khamsin in Italy? (see a few pages back) My favorite!

Best regards,

Marc

 

A curious comment considering that promoting Italian car fanaticism has been your life's work ...

Major Chili? Where did that one come from? ;>))


Bob S.

 

Perhaps it depends if you are looking in or looking out. If your part of the game or watching the game.

I wanted Chili Palmer, the main character in Be cool and Get Shorty, as played by John Travolta, but that was taken so it was a toss up between Major Major, Major Minor, or Major Chili. Major Chili has a little more "heat"
Now you know......... the rest of the story........
FGM
2005 360 spider red black 6 sp manual
67 Quattroporte AM107.1448

 

That was one of the best Khamsins I had ever seen. We did the bumper conversion and Euro headers. I think it had 2000 miles on it at the time.
Dick a great chef, went on to open a little very upscale restaurant in Sunny Side Washington.
FGM

 

Yes it is stunning in yellow.

For anyone interested I just saw that Jean Guikas has put his Khamsin AM120132 in the Artcurial Poulain auction of June 28 in the Parc de Saint Cloud, minutes from Paris and where Thepenier the importer used to be:

http://www.artcurial.com/fr/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=1505++++++40+&refno=10233156

A good car I think, albeit not in original color.

Best regards,

Marc

 

This is Am120.406. The car was with its 1st owner from new until March 2002 in Luxembourg when it was purchased by a member of The German Maserati Club. At that time the car had only 370 km`s on the clock!!!
Now the car has experianced a "usage" of 700 km!! I saw it last year and can only say that this fantastic Khamsin is in new condition and its paint is flawless. Same with the leather interior.

This photos are taken by the owner`s mechanic in front of his workshop. He told me that #406 -which never had its engine opened!- is going better than any Khamsin that got an engine overhaul and he must know as hew restored and owned no less than 5 of such beauties over the years!

Ciao!
Walter
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for sale???

 

AM120AM406 the David Pardo car: don't know much about him but apparently a major Khamsin afficionado who two.

Here are some more photos kindly given to me by Dutchman Jan Gross.

Not sure what to call the color though...

Bst regards,

Marc
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Emilio...never ever (as far as I know the owner!)! And he already paid a fortune for it!

Ciao!
Walter

 

The color reminds me of the color Hommeburg(?) used for their Khamsin model many years ago. If the car is all original, I don't recall Maserati using Red plug wires on the Khamsin.


Joe

 

Correct spelling is: Homburg.
This car is perhaps the most original and untouched Khamsin on this planet!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Joe you mean this one?

The Homburg model is extremely rare, I found two, this one in 2002, in a shop in Vienna the last new one anywhere (zero miles LOL!) andone dark red in 2004 on Ebay. There was another on Ebay a few weeks ago. The hood is too long, out of proportion but nevertheless it was an excellent model for the time.

The current models (except the cheap one made in Italy recognizable by the lack of rea vertical glass) are much better but theey are not rare. What I really would like to see come out is a 1/18 scale Khamsin: we already have the wheels and chassis with that 1/18 scale Ghibli model that came out in the last two years...
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I've got 2 of the Homburgs (Red & Silver/Beige, they also made Blue).

I hope they expand the current series of models to other colors. Waiting for a Khamsin in Silver and a Ghibli in Black. Right now they build the Khamsin in Black and the Ghibli in Silver.

Joe

 

Well since it is my birthday tomorrow I thought I would subscribe and pay the ruinous 13 Euro fee

This is a very nicely written text from Autoweek, the issue of my birthday in 1982 when I was 18 years old....loooong ago. Ignore the scary photo (could not be worse: rear 3 quarter view US bumper antenna up) of what I think is #AM120US1222 now in Sweden and the only K I know of in 2 tone colors (happily Euro bumpered now). The text is what is interesting here, iconoclastic like the tile but perceptive, unlike most journalists who totally missed the point of why the Khamsin was so different to drive and why it made it so much of a breakthrough.

Enjoy!

Best regards,

Marc
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Joe: there are Khamsin models all over ebay in silver, light blue and black.

http://www.maseratikhamsinregistry.com/models_2.html

This link tells a little of the various Khamsin models. I had one painted in fly yellow by a shop near Modena 2 years ago and have had a Khamsin spyder commissioned by a shop in Turin, haven't picked it up yet though.

Best regards,

Marc

 

Mr. Homburg is still active. But he is a "one-man-band" so new projects etc. are taking much time.
He build me many other models from various manufactures, among them a superb Tipo 26 and a 151.

Ciao!
Walter

 

....i am sorry to know it (not that this surprise me a LOT....)

veeery nice car still, congrats to owner!

p.s. what is a lot? 70k euros, 80k euros???