Maserati Khamsin

Yep, thats the car in Dresden!

Here comes a pic of #346.

Ciao!
Walter
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.........you had been invited!!!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Thank you for the confirmation...and thanks again for the invitation but the passing of my father just made it impossible....however I hope to come to the Intl event next year in Godwood or...in two years in my native Sweden!

Best regards,

Marc

 

Marc,
not sure if you will see 8 Khamsin in 2009 & 2010 in both countries.

Ciao!
Walter

 

You might see less you might see more: Dresden was extremely far east, a 1000kms from where I am, 1300kms from where several western France K owners. In England next year we might see right hand drive Khamsins we have not seen for some time and the crossing will be easy for all Benelux, French, German owners.

Thanks again for the photos!

Marc

 

Marc...

If I read everything correctly....

My sincerest condolences on your fathers passing!

Mike D.

 

Dear Mike:

Thank you very much for your kind words.

If my dad hadn't brought Maseratis home when I as a 10 year old who knows what my life would have been!

As mentioned some weeks ago I am sending you a pm with the email of Jonathan B. of Menphis who owns Khamsin AM1201274, white, red interior, 5 speed and you will feel very comfortable with him: his Khamsin also has the buffalo bumpers LOL hope all is well with you and your wife and that your are enjoying restoring and driving your cars.

Best regards,

Marc

 

I saw this on Ebay and I thought the photo was nice.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MASERATI-KHAMSIN-ARTICLE-1977_W0QQitemZ380063734921QQihZ025QQcategoryZ122028QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Hi Bob!

That photo was done for a test drive by the very respected late journalist Leonard Sethright who signed his articles LJK Setright (and inspired the Nigel Shiftright cartoon satires in Road & Track).
Setright used it in two different Khamsin articles, one when they were new and one later on. He really liked it and one of these two articles can be found here:

http://www.maseratikhamsinregistry.com/art_001.html

That photo was then used in the brochure of the UK Maserati distributor who had lent the car: MTC cars. The owner was Mario Condivi, hence the plate, several magazines in the UK tested a Khamsin with that plate which was used on at least two Khamsins at the time. Condivi was a real character and wheeler dealer unfrtunately he pased away just a couple of years ago and I did not get a chance to talk to him.

Here is the photo so you can enjoy it better.

Best regards,

Marc
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Egads, in a gravel pit no less! It even looks like it's moving with that dust trail.

Thanks for the better picture.

Bob S.

 

You're welcome! I think the wind effect was done because Khamsin is the name of a wind and also because Setright used the imagery of wind at the beginning and end of his text.

 

Yes Mark, I got that part but a special effects guy he was not. The car doesn't really look like it's moving and then of course there's the obvious, no driver. It's still a nice shot.
I think Seymour did a very similar shot of a Bora in his magazine or was that Frank?

Now staying on that theme, how would one setup a photo shoot for an Espada. In a field /coral of fighting bulls? Just think of the, ah "issues". ;>)

Bob S.

 

When I took the job at Motorcar Gallery in Fort Lauderdale it was because the income of a freelance writer is erratic but 95% of the reason was that working for a dealership that had traded almost 20 Khamsins was bound to be a good way to buy one and so it proved.

But you also meet all sorts of characters in a showroom: some wonderful people, a lot of true enthusiasts from all over the world, many, MANY of them be they simple folks or English Lords, you make friendships with people who remain friends and also with people you eventually realize like cars for all the wrong reasons….and then once in a while some really strange people come in.

One day we had a buyer who flew in from Boston and while he examined his car a man in a Jaguar came in with a strange ring on his finger that had an articulated section. He asked me some polite questions about Jaguar parts, I answered as best I could, he thanked me formally and left. Our client, a respectable gentleman, lifted his gaze from the engine of the car he was inspecting and said “Well that was the big boss of the Boston Mafia.” As a European I was not impressed, felt these people should be in jail, not glamorized or allowed to be known by the public.
In any case one other time a couple walked in at 10am, they looked very sleazy, as if hungover at that hour. The man said oh I used to have a 246 Dino like this….seeing his appearance I doubted it but asked how long did you have it? “3 years until the DEA took it away.” Since DEA means drug enforcement agency I asked no further questions!

Then Bob L. came in.
Italian American, from Noe Yawk with that accent. Nothing against that city but some have the most god awful accent.

It was quite incredible that he would walk in say I have a Maserati Khamsin and I would answer that is my favourite car. He explained he had friends who owned the motel next door and had noticed our showroom.
He had the cars, the Khamsin and two Meraks in a warehouse up north, in New England. He was in construction and raced sailboats. He was heading to Key West for such an event.

This was in 2002. I had not started the registry yet, had not bought my car yet and asked him if he would sell it and what the chassis number was. He brought photos eventually when visiting Florida, it showed a white US Khamsin still with its bumpers, in a warehouse, next to a couple of Meraks.

However, no matter how many times I asked and asked and asked he never gave me the chassis number. He seemed a bit disorganized for someone able to afford to race sailboats…I thought it was strange.

He did confirm it was a 5 speed and had driven it once.

Then one day I noticed an ad for a white 5 speed US Khamsin, the one enclosed here (from Viale Ciro Menotti issue number 50 July 1987), thinking there aren’t many, but thought nothing of it.

Then since I could get nowhere with him and it probably would have needed a good sorting out since it had been unused for some time I bought another Khamsin.

I was never able to get any further with Bob L. even when I told him I had started the Khamsin Registry in 2004.

Then a couple of years later I moved back to Europe.

I received an email in about early 2007 (lost the email due to computer issues) from a man named Al Skolnick in New Jersey. He had owned Khamsin AM120US1260, had an Italian lady friend advertise it back in the late 80’s then it was stolen by another Italian and he never got anywhere with police. That is the car in the ad shown here.

This white car rung a bell: could it be the same as Bob L.'s?

How many white US 5 speed can there be out of a total of 155 US cars and only 100 5 speeds? Skolnick’s had a red interior, I can’t remember if Bob L.’s car had red or black interior: the photos were poor and dark.

Of course it could be another Khamsin but I think considering how few white US 5 speed Khamsins were made there is a very strong chance this is the car and that Bob L. may or may not know, he may have received the car as payment for a debt (a very common thing) and been told the papers were lost, realizing as time passed that it was a hot car. In any case either he is very disorganized or he knows he has a hot potato.

When I spoke with Skolnick he was very discouraged said New Jersey police seemed not to care.

So my question is can anybody suggest a course of action?

Please let me know!

If someone can suggest a way then I can track down both Skolnick and Bob L. and take it from there: there are too few Khamsins for one to be left in the dark unused like that.

Any suggestions will be appreciated: this is your Sunday quiz!

Best regards,

Marc
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I think, decades before photoshop was invented, that they had some poor chap run around with a rake or broom behind the car stirring the dust just before the photo was taken!

I know of one car shoot done in a bullring, no it was in a bull pasture but the bulls were weary of the car and refused to come near it! Anyway: look forward to your thoughts on the stolen Khamsin, like everybody elses!

 

Does anybody know what happened to it? It had a much different dashboad- and bumper-design. Marc?

Oldest car I had was #008 which was 2004 located in Norway.

Ciao!
Walter

 

Great stories, thank you Marc. I have always thought you'd meet a lot of interesting people working at a dealer, especially one in Ft. Lauderdale.

I wouldn't be surprised if the missing white 5 speed turns up at some point. Although it does sound like there are people out there who may want to keep it hidden.

 

Hello Walter:

I have photos of it which I found...in the Citroen factory archives! I am keeping them for my book. The car looks very different. I am sure it was used for crash tests and mistr Cozza seemed to agree.

I would like to know what happened to the Bertone car seen in most of their photos, the one with chrome bumpers.

The oldest car I know of is AM120004 which was owned by a Dr Domenico Nicita of Arcireale, Italy in 1997. The oldest I have ben in touch with recently is AM12010 whch sold new to the middle east and is in Canada. I am moving into my own house at the end of this month so will be able to spend those winter sundays on consolidating the register and tracking down more cars: we are now at 280 cars or so...

What do you think could be done regarding the stolen Khamsin?

Best regards,

Marc

 

Thank you John: yes it was very interesting a lot of very nice people: I miss that part of it but then again there are many parts of the job I don't miss

best regards,

Marc

 

I have this 3 photos of the prototipo with the chromed bumpers.

Ciao!
Walter
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Interesting photos Walter: the ones I have are different, the body is diferent in severla ways.

You can clearly recognize the triangular finish of the body aperture at the side of the bumper as on the (Lamborghini) Urraco, as I always suspected and as Marcello Gandini confirmed in November during the interview: the Urraco was his starting point.

So any thoughts on the stolen Khamsin? I am thinking of writing Bob L. a registered letter stating that there is a very strong chance that he has a stolen car in his posession and that he should fess up.

Best regards,

Marc

 

Really intersting photos: here is the Bertone's first Khamsin, well known photos: I was wondering if it was the prototype reworked but the front bumper albeit in chrome, is different than the chrome bumper of the prototype shown above...I have to prepare some new questions for certain people in an around Modena!

This car does have a fairly normal back end except that the half moon grooves for the exhausts are not there.

When I asked Elisabetta Franeschi at Bertone last year what happened to the gold chrome bumpered car (shown here) she said oh it was probably sold long ago and a few weeks later with Gandini he said yes cars were sold occasionally by Bertone to pay the bills....not a certainty but a probability...so this car should, hopefully, still be around, likely near Turin. The question is if it is 002, 004 which then was redone to be fully like a production car? If it is 002 and the protoype is not the same car (which would have been modified several times) then the prototype had no chassis number....or was a Ghibli heavily modified perhaps....yep time to prepare some fresh questions!

Best regards,

Marc
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Hi Marc,

Yes I remember that car. It was one I wanted to pursue back in 1986 when I started looking around for a nice Bora or Khamsin. I never could track anything down but the ad ran forever.
I guess I now know why.

This raises a discussion point about stolen exotics with limited production and very identifiable provenance. I've wondered how one can expect to keep such a car because eventually it has to surface.
You can't take it to any shows. It's risky to drive it and I wonder if it can even be registered in some places if that VIN# is identified as stolen. So what's the point?

Is there a central database of such stolen cars? There should be and if there's not maybe we should start such a website. Maybe the Simon Wiesenthal approach would work here?

I know the laws really vary around the world and a case a couple of years ago in Germany really steamed me. An American working in Germany bought a Maserati Ghibli Cup to use for a couple of years while working there. When he was transfered back to the USA he left his car with a local used car lot. The business owner was a bit shady and the local municipality shut him down and seized the assets which they mistakenly thought included this car.

It could not have been hard to determine that this was not the property of that business. So they sold the car and the owner now in the USA was left holding the bag.

This is not right and it makes me wonder what happens if 5, 10 or 15 years after a car is stolen what recourse the original owner has?

Presumably insurance covered the financial loss but as all of us CAR NUTS know it goes way beyond that and sometimes you just can't find another one like it.

Bob S.

 

Marc...

Thank you for the stories!!! I think they are great and we love to hear them...Keep
them coming!

Speaking of stories, I am hoping Frank (majorchili) will tell us some of the stories on
this one, as he owned it at one time... I think he actually promised some stories!!

Attached are two pictures, one of the Khamsin and the other a partial view of my
garage the Khamsin calls home!! Not the best, but hopefully enjoyable...

Mike
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Marc...

Thank you for the PM on the Khamsin in the Memphis area...
I will follow up on that!

Additionally, last July I attended the Keeneland Concours in
KY, which I thought was a very very nice event!! It just occured
to me that although my Khamsin was in the show there was
another one present... Do you have any info on one in KY?

If not, I should be able to find out about the one that was there
as he was a judge of my class...An F40 beat me out..huh..go
figure!!! (just kidding - it was absolutely magnificent)...

The Khamsin was red, and if I recall correctly, had some unusual
things going on at the rear bumper area...It is a pretty car
though! I should have taken some pictures and gotten the
number, but..... I always seem to run out of time at events!

Mike

 

Mike,

I have an extreme case of garage envy. It looks you have a lot of room. Oh yeah, the cars are damn nice too ...

Bob S.