What are the pros an cons of these two cars? I would love to hear experiences from people who have owned either car. I want to hear the good the bad and the oily. I have had a jones for a Grifo since I got a Matchbox car as a child in the late 60's. (A gorgeous dark blue metallic). I want a car to DRIVE. No plans to show it. I know the engine on the ISO is Chevy so that part would not break the bank on maintenance or upgrades. How about the reset of the car? Are brakes/ hydraulics still available. Or are they unobtainium? Are there good places on the net to get tied into the Maserati community? I know it is too much hope to find a place like Ferrarichat for Maseratis. Erich
Both cars have their good and bad points. The Iso will be more expensive and harder to find. There are several nice Ghiblis for sale in the US. Parts are pretty easy for either Camapna in Modena has every part you will every need for the Ghibli. The Iso on the other hand is kind of cool since you can go to a Chevy dealer for repairs when driving cross country. A friend of mine drove one in several rallies cross country. On the other hand I would drive my Indy cross country on the drop of a hat. Drove it on a 2000 mile round trip not long ago. Don't know about and Iso site, but one of the leading Iso guys in the US is here in Dallas. Maserati yahoo group is the main hang out for Maserati guys. If you want to ask Ghibli specific questions contact Ivan Ruiz [email protected]. Ivan is probably the most knowledgeable Ghibli guy in the US. He has restored many of them. He almost always has one or two for sale as well.
Kjell thankyou for the link. I see myself spending some time on Yahoo groups. icars. thanks for the info. I will contact Ivan after I soak up a little more background info. A year or so ago, I found an ISO website that had some reasonable info and some classified ads. Of course I was unable to find it when I went searching this weekend. Oh well. Erich
In my opinion the Ghibli is the nicer and better of the two although the Grifo also looks fantastic. I have had two Ghibli's with which I covered about 15.000 kms over the past 7 years. That was a fantastic experience and also totally reliable! One was a 4.7 1968 car, the other a 4.9 SS 1972 car. GREAT, both of them. The SS was slightly faster and made an even nicer sound. Both very nice to drive fast and hang your tail out on wet roads (also on dry roads though........). I have some friends also with Ghibli's who are very fond of them, all of them USING their cars. Buy a really nice one and you will never regret it. I think the Maserati's are better engineered and built than the Iso's, but I admit I may be biased!
3500touring, Thankyou for your insight. My head tells me that you are correct. The Maserati is a better car. Alloy quad cam V8 vs Small block shivvy. But then my heart remembers the gorgeous blue Matchbox car of the Grifo that I had as a child. Ahh such choices to make................. Is your 4.7 Ghibli, the early interior with toggle switches? If so, can you comment on differences with the SS? Which do you prefer?
