Hi Bob, long time no hear. I spoke briefly with Shinnichi Ekko at the Maserati club dinner at Monterey 2000 and it seemed to me it was more a matter of him being quite reserved than his English being poor and the young Japanese lady who is helping me in my enquiries stated the same. I will make an enquiry with the factory right now, it does not hurt to ask. Speaking of far away countries....does anybody have a contact in the automotive world in Venezuela? Several K's were sold there so I am now ready to try to track them. Yesterday I spoke to 3 French Khamsin owners for the first time to let them know about Khamsin Quaranta. -188: one was the ex owner -unfortunately- of this car which was restored by Lecoq top shop in France, sold at Artcurial Le Mans Classic 2010 for 73K€. He really enjoyed the car, was happy to talk about it at lenght. Said the rear window had been closed off with an alloy panel when he bought it a dozen years prior. Anecdotally he is the brother of a lady who used to be the wife of a errr pretty important man in France right now! I will say no more! He has a file which he will kindly give me and which I will share with the new owner of the car....if and when we enter into contact. By the way he told me the new owner is from Stuttgart, does anybody here amongst our German friends know him? Apparently he drove it straight from le Mans to Stuttgart, that's the spirit! -124: the owner was driving it when I reached him on his cell! It sounded good! He stopped at a traffic light to dig out his title from his glove box and give me the chassis number. Now red/white, smooth nose 5 speed, original color silver with mustard interior. -? Last night I had a call back from another owner who has a dark blue K in very good condition but I could not speak so don't know the details yet, more in the next episode! Marc
Good morning all: 200000 views quite a number for our forgotten macchina which this thread hopefully brings (a little) out of the dark and into the limelight it deserves! The owner of AM120US1114 in Germany has asked me where he may find the proper leather to redo part of his interior: any suggestions? It is senape VM3100 in color. Thanks for any input! Marc
Anybody here could recommend a UK based trimmer that would be familiar with Khamsin interiors? Easier locations would be near London or Milton Keynes. To the extent not indiscreet, cost information would be welcome! I need at least a new set of mats and the luggage compartment mat, potentially more if tomorrow's interior cleaning attempt does not succeed. Thank you in advance, Pascal
Hi Pascal, off the top of my head, the two trimmers that come to mind in that area are Barton and son in Luton, www.carinteriors.net, who do all the trim work for Bill Mcgrath Maserati. I know they did the dash retrim on K409 several years ago. I have seen that personally and it looked great. They also have just done an entire Ghibli interior. You can find hi-res. pictures of that work on the Bill Mcgrath website. The other very high end trimmer is Kevin O'Rourke at mototechnique in East Molesey in Surrey, http://www.mototechnique.com/ferrariinteriortrimwork.html will show the calibre cars they deal with; the site is well worth a look just to see some fantastic machinery. Whilst I have no first hand experience of either, they are both at the 'top of the tree' regarding quality, so I guess they will be priced accordingly, possibly with a bit of a waiting list too. I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck with the cleaning! PS. I love that Verde Pino on your K. Best regards. Mark
One thing I forgot in the previous, I don't know what kind of pile carpet is fitted in your car Pascal, but If you are having trouble matching it, repro carpet for Ghibli is available on Ebay from seller Maseratisource. they claim good colour match and made on the same machines as original. You can find the grey one with this item number.There are others. 310317897467 You will notice it is NOT CHEAP but they do small samples so you can check for matching. I have no connection with seller. Regards. Mark
I got to thinking about the spare wheel bag and the rubber insert to prevent the spare wheel from sliding around in its compartment... Currently, the thinking is that these were standard equipment supplied on all K's... I don't really know if this can be said definitively... I checked both the K parts manual and the USA 1975 supplement.. Neither of these items are indicated... Is it possible that these were supplied on later year models??? Additionally, I have in my possession technical info from Maserati where they requested dealers owning/servicing K's install specially manufactured brackets in the spare wheel compartment to prevent the spare from rubbing against the alternator belt.. If the rubber insert was there would this really have been necessary??? The reason I bring this up is that my '75 has neither of these... It is possible these have gone missing over the years. Only previous owners would know if these items were on the car during their ownership... I would hate to have to begin the hunt for these items or have them made only to find out they were only added to later model years... As Marc is aware of my reticence to change the US bumpers, due to my opinion of manufacture originality, I feel the same regarding these items... Now, if it turns out that these items were in fact standard equipment on a 1975 K, then I would have no problem trying to find them or have them made... Any owners with 1975 K's, please let me know if your car has these items, and if they appear to be factory original.... Thanks... Mike
Well Mike, all I can tell you for certain, is that my car is very original as it had only one owner before me who was himself a true car enthusiast. It was built in the early part of 1977 so cannot vouch for earlier cars. I asked the question as a confirmation of the spare wheel bag being present as I always assumed it to be correct. I was hoping to use Mr. Sonnery's definite Khamsin book as a bible for all that is right or wrong with our cars, so as opposed to chating about history Marc, let's chats about facts! Pascal
Thanks Pascal, I appreciate the reply... If possible could you post some pictures of the spare wheel bag and perhaps some rough dimensions... This will help in case I need to source these items or have them made!! Funny, that this issue wasn't brought up before (as far as I know)... But I do find it interesting the facts and details that do come up... Thanks again... Mike
Another question of detail, is the engine hood (aka bonnet) lined with the same diamond shape rubber material as the top of the wheel guards? I have seen photographs of a car like that at a dealer in Switzerland, and MaseratiSource has a set of pads for sale which are more than just the ones for the wheel guards. On the picture front, I will try but it is a pain to extract the spare tire from its lodging. AS a description, it is a black vinyl bag, two silver zippers, opening from the center outwards. It looks very similar that what I have seen on a Bora. Pascal
I will check if my '82 has one in the weekend (I think it will, as everything else is there) She's finally coming home!
Hi Guys I don't believe Khamsin's ever did have quilting under the bonnet. The 4 cars I know here in Australia dont, and they are a 75 , 76 and Two 78 built cars. Graeme
Thank you for all the replies, mine does not either but wanted to make sure as one of the cars for sale at Lutziger in Switzerland has it (but then, that car has a lot of "improvements")! Drove the K back to my workshop this morning, going through a detailed to do list early next week (nothing too major, probably in the "detail" category but a small LHM leak near the LHD light) and eagerly awaiting my mother-in-law's arrival as, unbeknown to her she will be carrying a small box from MIE's parts department! We will also try to kill some of the innumerable squeaks, rattles and other winning noises. Love the car but a Bentley it isn't! P
During my restoration I found that there were many parts not listed in the parts books. Items lke the headlight travel stops come to mind. and if you are wondering they are X1/9. so I would'nt rely on it as a definitive for all the parts. Graeme
Hi all: Sorry did not mean to ignore questions but too many hours working on the book (yes aim to finsih text Dec 31st) and event meant that I needed a break particularly my eyes. I will therefore pretend I was unable to see Pascal challenge about talking of facts not history;-) don't ask an accountant to write poetry and don't ask a historian to....;-) My belief is that all cars from the beginning or from a certain point came with these spare tire pouches but that they got lost. With the aggravation of having to change a punctured tire specially in the rain the pouch tends to get misplaced. Mine did not have it. I just heard of a car in the UK which has...no spare tire at all(!), so things do go missing, just like owners manuals spare keys tool kits (think how many of those have gone missing). Speaking of X1/9 parts as Graeme mentioned there are a few or at least one more: the latches which in the driver's door jamb allow you to open the trunk and the fuel trapdoor are from an X1/9 I understand. MS
Jack many congratulations after all these years of exchanging emails I am very happy for you that you were finally able to get it: like courting a pretty girl for several years before getting the yes: welcome to the ranks of Khamsinistas with a very fine one! We look forward to your trip report and fresh photos! As discussed save me a couple of good ones off forum with typical African scenery behind the car for the Registry in the book please. best regards, Marc
Hi Mark Your Right the rear hatch and petrol cap access is X1/9. to add to what I have found, the Door Handels are early Alfa Montreal and the seat mechanism from the latter Khamsins are ALFA 105 1600 series 1. The Tail lights are ALFA 2000 Berlina, and number plate lights are early Biturbo, Door latches are 132 Fiat and strickers are ALFA 33. There are probably more as the Khamsin uses BERTONE Parts. Graeme
Spoke last night with an older Italian gentleman who has had AM120250....since new! He got it because his first Khamsin burned to the ground in 1975. Sadly the car that burned was this car used in a brochure (I don't have it scanned but you will recognize the single sheet brochure from this Australian stamp which is a crude scan of it). It is also the car used in a card game which many of us played in as kids...speak of dreams going up in smoke:-( Several Khamsins caught fire like that in period though not as many by far as Miuras. I haven't identified the chassis number yet. Photos of 250 in the next post. I still want to post many more of the Japanese Khamsin photos but some of them I can't convert to a usable format for some reason. MS Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This gentleman near Milan explained the car is fully original, has only been maintained, is Amaranto in color. The black nose slats are his doing and the only thing ever changed, apart of the ignition cut off switch you can see next to the chassis plate. He remembers that while the first car had a hood flapping like a leaf at high speed this one has one that was obviously beefed up in comparison and never gave trouble. He recalls driving the car at absolute top speed foot to the floor for a good while in period on a Sunday afternoon when there wasn't a soul around due to a big football match, said the needle indicated 272, 273 of course as Joe mentioned they are just a bit optimistic! It has now 65000 kms and he drives it not a lot but enough to keep it happy. I had already posted the photos years ago but had never spoken to him. I know only two owners from new: 401 in Scotland and him: bravo signore! Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Quick update on #409. Primer & guide coat applied. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some questions. 1. did you restore the suspension of the car? 2. did you only repaint the car? 3. did you restore the electrics? 4. did you restored engine & gearbox? 5. did you restore the interior of the car? 6. did you restore the inner panels of the car? Ciao! Walter
Hi, we have restored the external panelwork & sill structure of the car. I hope this helps? Cheers, Al.
