Maserati Khamsin

Hello,

See the June 2008 issue of Classic & Sports Car for my article in a a very short version (they do "telegram size articles") -just teasing them- and for the full story see my book

Best regards,

Marc

 

Merci!!!

 

If the car really is tip-top, I think the asking price is actually moderate. No way you can properly restore against that, and a car is original only once.

Graeme, the material is not alcantara, and yes, that looks to be original. My car is like that as well, apart from the cubby-lid, which is also clad with the material.

How many colours were there of this mousehair in the Khamsin? This car has light brown, mine has dark brown, there is black or anthracite and I think light grey as well? Then some have the binnacle and centre console part in leather, others in the dash-top material, some cubbies are leather and some are the cloth. Was it just the luck of the draw?

Best,

Jack.

 

Hi all see this post I just posted in the vintage Ferrari thread:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/vintage-thru-365-gtc4-sponsored-redline-restorations/422301-my-vintage-ferrari-contacts-email-hacked.html#post142596625

I will repaste it here as well for your convenience:

The hackers as I mentioned have created a Marcsonneryfr at live dot com account which is NOT me, so they are trying to impersonate me: a friend just got this:

"Onderwerp: RE: Terrible Ordeal....Marc Sonnery

Glad you replied back, We have nothing left on us right now and we are lucky to have our Life and passport with us it would have been worst if they had made away with my passport. Well,All we need is $1,900 USD to sort out the hotel bills,you can have it wire to my name via any MoneyGram/Western Union outlet I'll show my passport as ID to pick it up here,I promise to refund it back as soon as we arrive back home. Here's the info you need:

Name: Marc Sonnery
Location: North Bridgeway Filinvest Corporate City Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Manila, Philippines, 1781
Amount: $1,900 USD

As soon as it has been done, kindly get back to me with the Confirmation number. Let me know once you're heading out

I owe you a lot..

Marc"

So ignore any email from that source or report it to me.

I have also just contacted Interpol, hopefully they can help.
AOL has finally contacted me as well, about to respond now.

I hope none of you have to undergo this...

This is a huge pain...

Best regards,

The real Marc

 

This car looks very straight for you Graeme

Welcome to the web site of the Maserati Club

 

Repainted in a period-correct colour. That suggests a colour-change. What was it originally?

Best,

Jack.

 

Hi All. Number 409 has featured here previously a couple of years ago, and again more recently.
It is a real Phoenix, being resurrected by ALSA automotive in Wales last year from a disastrous State.
It lived for a long while in a revolting non original custard yellow colour. It was however born gold. I think Oro Kelso, though maybe Longchamps.
Shame it is now red, not my favourite on a khamsin, but at least it is in fine condition having been so close to its demise.....

Cheers.

Mark

 

Marc, sorry to hear about this. This must be a real pain in the fess. I hope you get through it quickly and cleanly.

How do we know that?

 

Marc

I got the same and earlier emails and had offered to help but asked two questions as was very suspicious. Nothing more after that.

Paul

 

-Thanks mon ami, it is a royal pain yes.

-Rest assured I am the one crazy enough to spend years on doing car books and the novel that you read (but which would be off topic here)

Greetings from Burgundy,

Marc

 

Hi Paul,

Yes I don't think most people I know would fall for the hacker's scam but since I lost all email contacts I can't warn everyone and hope that no one does fall for the scam.

I lost any emails before September 18 at noon, aol did get vback to me so we will see what they can do.

I will start a new email via Gmail next week but the aol one remains valid for now and has been deemed safe by a tech and a password chsnge.

My

contact at maseratikhamsinregistry dot com

email remains valid as well of course

Best regards,

Marc

 

Hi Mark,

Yes Anthony was a real hero saving that car, the effort and investment he put into giving it the full rust cancer cure, which it badly needed, should not be underestimated. I looked at the car thoroughly at KHAMSIN QUARANTA last year and it was superbly done.

Here is a very old catalog auction in which its early life is mentioned and a photo in what I would call butter yellow. It was featured in that color in the British magazine Italian Cars in 2000, when Khamsin articles were rarer than hen's teeth.

Best regards,

Marc
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Marc,

Lost e-mail: I have all our correspondence from day 1, if you like I can send it to you.

409: I remember seeing some pictures from Al's workshop, probably in this thread. A boat-load of work was done to rectify what the UK climate had done to it. Saving the car was good foresight Great to see it in healthy condition once again, but a pity it wasn't repainted in its' original colour IMO.

Best,

Jack (re-assembling 4 42 DCNF Webers)

 

So how do you drain the coolant without creating a mess?

Cheers

Mark

 

Depends on how far you want to drain it.
On the L/H side of the block close ti the rear you'll find a drain plug. That will empty the system, but will leave coolant in moat or the radiator.
I emptied mine with the header off, so access and drain-path were free (more or less)
I'm not sure if there is a drain-plug on the rad, don't think so, at least I haven't found it.

Best,

Jack.

 

Drove a Khamsin for the first time last week and I liked it a lot. By coincidence I know a car for sale. The owner is supposedly motivated to sell at "market price". So what is a reasonable european selling price for a very low milage, not restored just re-painted, automatic car? Very nice original interior. The car has not been used for several years so there are some issues, but they are supposed to be taken care of before selling.
I see a big spread in asking prices and several I have seen for sale seems not to have sold in a long time. Are these cars particularly difficult to sell?

 

Hi Freddy,

Presently I think there are more Khamsins for sale then people that want to buy them. In the present market quite unbelievable because we are talking here about one of the last of the real supercars from that era! A realy unappreciated motorcar! Let alone those that are being advertized, I know a lot more silently for sale and some of them are real nice examples.
Automatic versions are a whole lot less fancied than the manual gear boxes! Difficult to sell these.
Prices for manual shift cars: very much depending on the technical condition of the car and I dare to state, also the color combo! So, whatever the potential buyer wants to spend and the seller accepts!
Wrecks from 15k€ to real good (restored) examples slightly above 100k€.
Ciao,
Bart

 

Hi Bart, if you remember we spoke two years ago when i was looking into getting a ghibli. That deal didn't happen an eventually I ended up with a really good QP-1.
I was hoping to get a little bit specific advice. Have any aut Khamsin sold recently that anyone know of? Of course a manual had been preferred. This one is met blue with light interior and blue mats. Very nice looking.

 

The sale of Khamsins is and will be an on going topic for some time,

Khamsins are such rare things and sales details make hens teeth comon place

Marc; do you have a record of the sales you are aware of?

Would a deidentified list help to assist people. that contained, date, country, Manual or Auto, cindition and final sales price.

It has been expressed on here that when the price of Khamsins starts to rise its an indication the Classic car bubble will soon burst. I for one would like to see this disproved.
And for all those whow dislike red tell me you taste in colour hasnt changed in 20 years!

Cheers
Graeme

 

I'm with Bart on this.

A proper restoration still outweighs the value of the Khamsin, and I'd say that truly exceptional examples would be in the 140-150K Euro range, real good no-stories cars 95-110K and to determine the value of any other car you need to add up the cost of what it needs and deduct that. You may end up below 0.

Auto trans in terms od value is a minus: these cars are now ith enthusiasts, and manual trans is preferred. If you can accept an auto, you may be able to pick up a good car at a considerable discount, but you'll have a problem once you want to part with it.

I have a feeling that the value of equivalent RHD cars is somwhat lower than LHD, but the sample-pool is very small.

Just my 2 cts...

Best,

Jack.

 

Jack,

Not just for a Khamsin. I would say that a proper restoration outweighs the likely selling price of almost any car.

It's easy to make a small fortune buying cars, restoring them and selling them. Just start with a large fortune.

Carmine

 

Been then again it has always been like that.

 

I agree however there is a value tipping point.
By that I mean recently high end and not so high end barn finds the value when restored is worth more than the collective purchase and restoration costs.
Unfortunately that is rare, but i have seen this with even pre 73 911 Porsches of late.

Now for some pre show prep arty pics
Graeme
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Graeme,

Nice polish job!

Possibilities of resto of course depend largely on spec and condition of the car you start out with. That's why I do my little sum, departing from what the finished car would be worth and deducting the costs of different jobs to be done. Of course, if you do the work yourself, the labor falls away, and it becomes a labor of love.
On the other hand, if you have to pay someone for 2.000 hours of resto work (my estimate for a total proper resto of a Khamsin) + parts and materials, you'll be very far under water if you start out with the wrong car.

Best,

Jack.

 

Hi Jack

Totally agree on the paid labour cost. However at the top end of the exotica market 2000 hours is a pittance to the value even at $150.00 and hour.

I didnt polish the car a a young guy I know through my local car club does it as a hobby!!
Half the equipment I have never seen previously.

Graeme