Maserati Khamsin

I wonder how a Khamsin would look in this Lambo Colour?

Cheers
Graeme
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Hi Graeme,

I've always liked dark blue on a car. Of course, the Khamsin would have been delivered in a dark metallic blue. I know of one neglected one that is close to that color.

I hope you're not thinking of repainting yours. It looks great as-is.

Carmine

 

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Hi Carmine
You will be relieved I am not thinking of repainting mine.

The The Khamsin in the picture is a grey blue and there is a RHD car in Sydney that colour. The Lambo is almost a black blue.

The Shape and the colour work well and K and Mercy are "folded Paper Designs" I recon the Lambo colour would work well.

Graeme

 

Khamsin as origami-art? Oh my!

Over here the average age of cars is probably somewhat higher than in most other countries, and cars get re-painted in modern colours to bring them 'up to date'. It almost never works well.

In any case, someone with a bit of photshop-experience (not me) could show you what it'd look like.

 

Another one up for sale

http://www.fa-automobile.com/detail-vente.php?car-for-sale=Maserati-Khamsin&id=31&v=3171

cheers

Mark

 

Hi Marc

Nice Car quite like the colour combination and in the low like the dark blue looks great. the price for the condition is on the money to.

I also note from that site that the 1982 1,295K car sold does any one know how much?

Regards
Graeme

 

Hi Graeme and Mark:

180 was with us at K40 and did not miss a beat!

I am not involved in the sale but it is a vers good driver, sold new to France via Thepenier the archives of which are available via a member here.

Graeme the car you are referring to with 1300kms sold years ago, that was AM120504 the highest known chassis numner for a left hand drive Euro car (ie a normal Khamsin version) but, even though it is one of the three 1982 carsit is not the actual last one built which is in South Africa.

504 was sold for just over 100000 Euros about four years ago in the Bonhams Monaco sale and according to a Bonhams director whom I trust it went to the middle east. BUT some people have said they have seen the car in a dealership on the Belgian coast AFTER that so a bit unclear. Whatever the case may be the dealer FA automobiles has nothing to do with it anymore. That is all I know.

best regards,

Marc

 

Hi Marc

Thank you for the insight into 504.
I like to keep an eye on the market, as I have mentioned before.

Regards
Graeme

 

Greame,

Every once in a while I just do a google-search for K's for sale: last time was about 2 weeks ago, and to my surprise the search turned up several cars priced well above 100.000 Euro's.
It appears to me that the serious collectors are still sitting on the fence, looking at each other to see what the other does.

Perhaps a sign of the times, certainly an interesting read is the Daytona's are not loved-thread in the vintage section. Whilst Daytona's are way more expensive then K's, they also seems to suffer from not being the flavor of the month-syndrome.

These things change, sometimes very quickly. In general, the high-end exotic market is going through the roof, and if it continues like this, we're right back in 1989, when everything with a long bonnet and a good badge was worth its' weight in gold. Then the bubble collapsed..

There will be a point in time when the last true classic Italian front-engined GT has its' 15 minutes of fame.

 

I think 15 minutes are realistic. But the show with other cars least much longer.....

 

Hello Jack,

The reality is that most collectors of the type you allude to are completely unaware of the Khamsin's existence and flock lemming like towards ubiquitous and unimaginative choices. The Daytona is enjoyable to drive but incredibly crude compared to a Khamsin, in fact in 2004 I spent an entire weekend with my K in Key Largo, absolutely loved the trip down and back. In the sharpest possible contrast the next morning I had to take a Daytona to a garage through town 3 miles away and the car was so awful in traffic, like any Daytona (I have driven about seven) that I was saying very rude things at it: Trucktona is what I call it.

Forum readers should also be weary of brokers trying to manipulate their interest away from cars they are not involved in towards cars they have for sale.

I can well remember driving through Florence in 1999 with a future Ferrari 250GTO owner and his high caliber but very controlling broker. When the former asked about a Maserati 5000GT the latter shot it down with the same pity shown by Syrian airforce above a rebel neighborhood. Agendas must be read throught the lines. That broker knew Ferraris only.

My book, the final page layout of which we are going through now, will hopefully help the Khamsin be better appreciated, which is about time. KHAMSIN QUARANTA, blissfully devoid of brokers, was a good start.

The great asset of the Khamsin is that once you put someone at the wheel and they have gotten used to driving it they are absolutely amazed at how special and thrilling they are to drive and you can drive one all day across Europe, try that in a Miura or Daytona...I rest my case.

best regards,

Marc

 

Marc you story/comparison reminds me of the one told by a friend of mine. Having miraculously survived a bout with cancer he decided to treat himself to a high end exotic Italian sports car before he met up with the bucket brigade ...

He really wanted a Daytona in the worst way possible. He kept looking at them but test drive after test drive (he drove 3 of them) he came to the same conclusion you describe. The last shop he visited suggested he try a very low mileage Bora they had in stock. He was sold after 5 minutes in that car and kept it for 15 years. No it's not a Khamsin but the more civilized approach is the same as that of the Khamsin.

Unfortunately Miuras, Countachs, Boxers and Daytonas have been consistently worth more than the equivalent Maseratis. That part hurts a bit for us long term owners.

Bob S.

 

Gents,

I didn't use the Daytona as a comparison to the K as direct opponents, even though on paper they are not much different, they are worlds apart. Where I wanted to compare them, is their relative distance from what is considered popular at the moment, and their lagging values.

Daytona's are great for long treks, but yes, stay out of the city. Traffic jams become painful too. Never mind that it runs a few km/h faster than a K (not much, actually), I would indeed rather go on a roadtrip with the Maser as well. Grace, space and pace, to borrow a line from another manufacturer

 

If anybody is interested, I know a bit about this car:
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/maserati/khamsin/1456782.html

The advert says 1974 but it is a 1975.
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Guys I have a friend who has been a Maserati owner for many years, and owned 3 Meraks and Khamsin. His K is now owned by Bob Kimpton.
Alfrado's comment would call older V12 Ferraris , "is Truck" suporting Marc Trucarri comment.

On the flip side is a comment from a departed friend and lon term Ferrari owner ( 365 GTC 365 gtc4 and " the Yellow Car" and after a a good run in my K was " fabulious thing But its not exotic enough"

I Have not actually driven a 365(something) Ferrari so I cannot commet directly.

I was interested in owning a 365GTC4 but now I think the K has grown older much more gracsly and the 365GTC4 is now of reach.

Graeme

 

Ah Gullwing Motors. When only the best will do ...

They're missing their favorite catch phrase "Light restoration project." on this one.
No mileage either.

I see plenty of work there.

What's with the door handles missing or being damaged on these cars. Is there something fragile about them?

That light blue Indy on their website looks a bit better but still too much money. Plenty of work there as well.

 

Bob and Jack agreed on what you say as with Graeme, a 365GTC/4 which I enjoy a lot is very similar to a Khamsin in many ways including performance but they retain distinct personnalities. The Ferrari v12 revs higher but there is no real performance difference, even less so than with a Daytona. The mans mention that it is not as exotic...did he get driven in a K fast? perhaps not....they are certainly very exciting but not as loud as a Miura etc.

The K at Gullwing Motorcars...a dealership worthy of the ex owner or consigner of the car is all that I will say. The only K owner I have ever disliked. Wanted info from me a few years ago but was curt and volunteered nothing back in sharp contrast to EVERYONE ELSE. I am certain it is his car and from what I surmise I beleive the chassis number is AM120US1038, not certain but almost. The car has been very neglected and its owner unrealistic for what the value should be. It is plain to see in the photos that this would be a comprehensive project.

best regards,

Marc

PS: Actually it is 1038 for sure, confirmed.

 

This would have been a $12-14K car not that long ago. But maybe things have changed?

It's also an automatic but at least the Maserati engine is well suited to an automatic unlike the Lamborghini or Ferrari v12.

 

Bob,

I would imagine that the engine alone is worth that?

(If it is not billowing smoke or rattle like a diesel)

 

The previous owner disconnected the speedo. We can only guess why.

I think things are changing, Bob. I suspect that in the USA it is a $20K car now.

Marc,

It is indeed that car.

Although there is some negativity expressed towards this dealer, I would not put them in the same category as the previous owner. My observation is that this dealer pays good prices to acquire vehicles and therefore sells at high prices. This likely distorts the market to a degree. But the knowledgeable buyer does not have to fall for this. The knowledgeable buyer can figure about how much bargaining room there is.

On the other hand, the previous owner -- we may safely say -- is without peer.

Marc knows this, but for others:
I have inspected this car twice and rode it in once, about twelve to eighteen months ago.
I believe that it is a nearly complete car, original owner, poorly maintained, vinyl re-covered seats.
It started life gold but was repainted red, a good quality paint job but done long ago, slight scrape damage (on the right rear?).
It was stored in an unheated garage in northern New Jersey USA so it must have seen many winters well below freezing temperatures.
Mileage unknown due to disconnected speedometer ! ! !
It is a driver in rough condition.

If somebody wants a K, can get it at a good price and has the mechanical aptitude to work it over himself -- then it might be a good car for that particular buyer. (We can't blame the car for the sins of the owner).

The only specific recommendation I would make is that immediately upon taking delivery, give it a thorough cleaning inside and out, flush and change all fluids, and then ask your religious minister to perform an exorcism.

Carmine

 

Used Maserati V8s with unknown provenance/condition aren't a hot item IMHO.

But you always could part the car out. It might take quite a while.

 

Now I'm doubly curious as to who this is LOL.

We had a member of MCI out on the west coast for a while who was a satanist?
He looked the part too.

 

Now I'm doubly curious as to who this is LOL.

Bob to give you a hint you might look at online biographies of the musician Jimmy Hendrix and therein look for a person with the initials EC who is documented to have had a questionable influence on his career specifically in terms of contracts...I know nothing about the music industry -the various people in my head are too busy talking to each other for me to have time to turn any music on;-)- but this makes for errr startling reading!

There are angel investors and devil..."un-investors" you could say.

MS

 

A very special day after 5 years of on off work amidst other book work: just received the PDF of my book Maserati the Citroën years 1968-1975, all 156713 words & 461 pages of it! All that remains is final verification, printing in the next few weeks: exciting times! Here is a presentation and sneak cover preview: http://www.eaurougepublishing.com/books/detail/maserati_the_citroen_years

You can click on the cover itself to see it properly. It was an honor to have Jay Leno write the foreword, greatly enjoyed chatting with him.

best regards,

MS