Congratulations, looks like a really nice car! The dash-top looks original to me, or at least IF recovered it looks to have been done in the correct material. I note that the exterior mirrors were changed. Keep the shiny side up and enjoy! Best, Jack.
I wonder what that is on the front of the RF fender? This car does seem to have some extra "stuff' on it. See the leading edge of hood as well?
Congratulations good buying. Keep us up to date with progress, How long has it been sitting? What other work do you plan to recommission it? Mark "the tail lights on these cars? I would say they upside down compared to most." nup that the way they are Regards Graeme Mark
Compare this picture with FastFreddie car. Some the reverse light clear section is top others at the bottom Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thank's everyone for great response! At least there are a few more people as crazy that would consider doing the same. Right now the car is at the workshop. Fitting a new stainless steel exhaust, general service plus fixing some small problems. Ie one electric window not working, fan not working, rough running, small leakage of the "green soup" etc Hopefulle nothing more serious will show up. But I have a bad experience from this last winter buying a car from long term storage (some people never learn)a 1963 Giulia spider which was restored at the end of the 80s and not driven since. It looked great but when I started to use the car, everything started to breakdown, leak or vibrate. The crescendo was when I had a rod bearing failure. So right now It's beeing converted to a 2L hotrod! Back to Khamsin. Hopefully the car will be ready for the first test drive in a couple of weeks. Basically it has been sitting for 30 years. 6000km since 1980! 3000km since 1989! 300km since 1995, 100km since 2007. Those are some figures from the records
Here is what I'd do: All new fluids,(incl LHM) all new filters (incl autobox and LHM) Flush entire fuel system, clean carbs, Also check the construction date of the tyres, If they were not recently replaced with the new ones, they may be at least 8 years old = too old. There will be crap settled down in places where it doesn't belong from all the fluids from all the standing, flush it out now and spare yourself endless grief later. Btw, what is the gismo on the side of the transmission-tunnel? Best, Jack.
congratulation to your great purchase. I think you will be spending some time driving the car around enjoying the ride and at the same time evaluating the functionality of different components. My experience shows that cars which have been stored over a long period of time, definitely need to have the accumulators checked. If I were you I would check the pressure regulator at the same time. Have fun Armaz
Hi Fredric, Congrats with your aquisition! Ref your side windows: start with spraying WD40 in the rocker switches (but protect the upholstery!). These switches tend to corrode internally. Enjoy your car! Ciao, Bart
First of all we need to get the car running properly. Today the LHM leak was fixed and new fluid put into the system. New filter, oil, plugs and leads. If i'm lucky i can take a first test drive tomorrow afternoon. Then we'll go from there. We discussed to put an extra fuel filter before the pump to avoid getting stuff sucked in to it. Regarding tires, that is one area where I know a couple of things, as a former nordic director of Goodyear. The condition of an 8 year old tire is completly up to the environment it has been stored. Here in sweden it doesn't get very hot and when a car is in a dark cold garage the tire is perfectly good to use after 8 years. But if it had been on a car in the sun and 30+C for many years it would be worthless. Now there are P4000 Pirellis with 100km on them. To me they don't look right on this car, too modern. So at some point I will probably invest in the period correct Michelins. Can anyone say if the car feels different with those "vintage" tires?
I have only used the Michelin XWX tyres so don't have a comparison, I would not say that it is a bad drive and would only replace with the same tyres as and when. Rich
The tyres are vastly different. Although the XWX use modern rubber compounds they are the original design etc and hence you are putting a 70's tyre on compared to a 2000 design tyre. The braking is vastly different; the wet weather braking is black and white different and the general feel of the tyres is more in favour of neutrality for the modern. The K can be a difficult car to jump into from time to time and drive well as it so different. If you dont intend to drive the car as designed, then the XWX are fine for show cars. If you want to exploit it then in my view they are antiques THE XWX perish quickly and the side walls get stiff the car will be quite tail happy to drive if they are like that Paul
Your right. Its easy to do, the hole on the rear panel is symetrical. Different countries had different requirements with design rules who knows or they were installed upside down.... Cheers Graeme
I doubt this photo shows my car. Together with some stuff I got the original swiss plate and it is not the same as in the picture. Also the mirrors are different along with the front turning light signals and whatever it is under the bumper. Of course these items are easily changed during a paint job. I'll ask the workshop this afternoon. But for now I think the black and white car will go into the mystery folder. I also got this old framed khamsin picture. It will decorate my garage wall! Is it an official picture? Does anyone know how many of the 421 cars were automatic? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Paul those were my experiences with XWX tires back when I first got my Bora but are these yours having used a modern reproduction set for a while? BTW the P4000 was a very nice tire I have the P4000E on my Espada which don't sport that huge 4000 lettering and look more period correct. Sadly both of these tires are no more.
Hi Fredric, As Bob alluded to a few posts ago the car seemed to have something at the leading edge of the hood/bonnet, like a badge which is something a few aristocratic -or not- families have been known to do...even in the US. The Crane's from the Crane paper company in Massachusetts whom I met there summer 1981 had a plain American sedan but with a miniature bronze dog statue on the grille, Rolls style. Your body shop will be able to tell you if something was affixed to the body there. Likewise the sidelights; they should be able to see it anything has been done/modified. The number plates get changed and so do mirrors, that does not provide proof it was not this car: I still trust the information source, Magnus if I recall as I posted in a previous post with the photo. The chances of two Khamsins with Zurich plates in Sweden are less than minute. Make sure you drive it lots before the winter but keep an eye on your gauges, as with your Alfa any car that has sat needs to be sorted so go on progressively longer drives and then check everything, priority one is that the fuel hoses at the carbs are all tight (unless you are planning en stor barbecue), I would change the oil in the differential, gearbox and engine and check that the spark plugs are correct. The best expert in Sweden is Johan Helenius of Competition Motors, he has a Khamsin in the shop right now. There are two other Khamsins in Stockholm (three if you include a totally dismantled car with another mechanic), one with a director of the club and one with a private individual around Valhallavagen. I can put you in touch if you want. Then there are two others cars further south, one in Lund. Number of automatics produced: Ermanno Cozza provided me these official figures when I interviewed him for the first time at the factory July 2005. Total Khamsin production 430, not 421. Total Automatic Khamsins: 95. Sold to: USA 55, Japan 21, note that these are Euro left hand drive versions (yes in the Japanese right hand drive market, they want their cars like in Italy, at least they did back then) with minor detail modifications. 1 to Switzerland, 18 to the various Right hand drive markets. So...it will be interesting to confirm if yours was indeed sold new in Switzerland and if so assuming there was no error, it would be the only one The photo you show is part of a set in one of the rarest Khamsin brochures. All the best, Marc
Just came back from the workshop. There were no holes in the front fender showing any signs of big sidelight. See picture from painting. I know Magnus so I'll ask him. Today I ordered the classiche documents from Maserati incl the original delivery note. It will be very interesting to see what it states. The previous owner "think" that the car originally came from Italy. The workshop I use is called Alfa Motor och kaross, and they are very experienced with old Maseratis. Today they had in their workshop and warehouse: 1Ghibli 4.9Spider, my Khamsin, another Khamsin in for a total resto, don't know the vin but I could find out, 1 Indy, 1 Sebring, 1 Bora, countless bi-turbos, 2 3500GT among with several Ferraris ang other lesser brands I know all about car barbecue! I experienced one last Friday when I drove my 1959 Fiat 1200 GranLuce. It caught fire in the rushhourtraffic. The car will be a total loss. Very sad, the condition was great. But on a positive note, I will now have room for the Khamsin! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi again Fredric, Very sorry for your Fiat, I empathize... That other Khamsin is I assume AM120036 exs Venezuela (of all places when you think of where it is now), shown below in photos taken last year in a garage in Stockholm, I hope the gold visible on the body will be retained if that was the original color. Regarding number plates I spoke to a very knowledgeable Maserati collector from Zurich today and he explained that the number plate on the photo I posted is not a permanent number plate but a short term customs type plate, so not surprising that you did not have that number if, as I believe it is your car....but at the end of the day what really matters is not whether it is 218 in the photo but that you found one that was tucked away for years, that is very satisfying. Look forward to reading the details of the delivery note! Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Marc, Interesting, information about the numbers manufactured. From some research and estimates did, I thought there would be about 22. But its very interesting to know how many right hand driver autos there were manufactured. Not as many as I thought... Regards, Rich
To give a few examples of the possible differences: I had xwx's on my 308GT4 when I first got it on 15'' wheels and swapped them for i think 16 on a lower profile using P6000. When previously the braking was poor it was transformed. The differences were as great as when I recall the original low profile P6 coming out in the early 80's. Black and white is the only description. I put Pirellis on my Espada compared to XWX, but that was 20 years ago. I put P4000 on the Khamsin within about 1500 miles of buying it. The XWX's were of various ages but not perished. I found the back washed out at mild corners at say 80-100 with them. Braking was difficult and very easily locked and skidding! Possibly my incompetence! Putting the P4000's on the car made a huge difference which you would immediately notice, in spirited driving. Not normal around town except wet braking which was always scary and still is unless you are driving the car all the time. Modern tyre design and construction has progressed massively in the past 40 years. Back in the 70's the XWX and Pirelli Cinturato were THE tyres. Now they are antiques. Whilst our cars may be too, they still have a turn of speed etc which equates to many modern high performance cars. My QV sits on modern....ish P7 Zero's. It is still a very fast car. Would i run it on XWX's if I had an original P400? Not a chance! I think you decide if you want the car to show and look pretty or drive it. That determines your tyre choice today! Paul
Yes and thanks Paul. I experienced the same phenomenon when I went to Michelin XGTs from the XWXs a very long time ago. But now there really isn't a decent tire for the old rims and the XWXs are stratospheric!
You can still get 235/60-15 P600s. They're about 3% smaller in diameter than the 215/70-15 XWX and about 20mm wider.
I have 225/65 tires on my Espada now. They're not due for replacement as yet. I wonder if these would fit and if they'll be there when I need them? But yes they exist for the moment. Nit as reasonable as the P4000 & 4000E were. That's life.
Did your car originally have 205/70-15s on 7" rims? If that's right, then these should be just about spot-on in diameter. They're quite a lot wider, but not too much for 7" wheels, and if you can fit 225s, they just might squeeze in. Of course, as you say, by the time you need them they might not be there. This is the only remaining size of the P-600.
