Hi Jack, I'll try to remember this, but it will be a long time before 385 is parted out. I may also be sitting with some spare parts as I have 008, and my good friend René has US1000. I also know the owner of 380. He lives just 10 minutes from me. It's a nice collections of Khamsins in little Oslo. Ciao Marius
Have asked my source to verify the numbers on this car, and take photos of plates and stamped numbers. This will be forthcoming, but there may be some delay (yes, I, too, want to know yesterday!) @Marius: That's pretty cool, if every now and then you can go out driving with a few of them together! The nearest Khamsin to #435 is 1600km/1000 miles away! Sun-visor: The only thing missing from my car, what a strange thing to go astray. @ All: Is the dash-top material used in the Ghibli identical to that in the Khamsin?
Hi Jack: It all sounds very exciting, thanks for retrieving this information but AM120.002 is in a secret location with flying pigs, toothy hens, the loch ness monster, big foot and a unicorn....a secret location that does not exist. The car you mention instead of the long dead and buried AM120.002 could be AM120US1002, the second US car about which I have no information after a 1987 letter by then owner Joseph Figazolo in Massachusetts. As we have seen numerous times cars get bought from one continent to another, so this is perfectly plausible and my 2 cents is it could be that car. 002 was definitely destroyed and scrapped in late December 1973. MM Cozza and Collina have been very helpful in recent months for my book and a few weeks ago opened the file of that car in which they found the note: "Destroyed and scrapped in late December 1973". Furthermore the car was a rough test mule that was certainly not going to be taken anywhere near a show stand. Of course should there be a miracle I would be very happy but...in any case I look forward to what you can find: many thanks! best regards, Marc
Marc, I tend to agree with you. Is there a way we can find out what Khamsins were on the Geneva show-stand in '72 (I expect none?) '73 and perhaps '74? It might hold a clue. As Marius suggested, 006 could have assumed the identity of 002, but then why omit 006 from the records? Then, of course, it is absurd to think of number-swapping on Italian cars Anyway, untill I have the verified information it is all speculative. More to follow on this car at a later date.
Hi Jack, I don't want to disturb the factory too much so let's wait till your man gets back to you and of course I will then ask once we know for sure what this is. best regards, Marc
Marc, Storm in a glass of water, it appears. I have just seen a photo of said car, you could be right on the money with the US car, although there are no side-markers. It has a slatted nose, and an all-black front bumper. The latter suggests a conversion, the former places it at a much later date. All, of course, unless a car was repaired after damage. I will get photos of the numbers.
Thanks Jack: Ahah interesting first clues though even AM120.004 the actual Turin show prototype was given a slatted nose later in life and there are late cars with smooth noses and vice versa. Really curious about this car's history now! Whereabouts in South Africa is it roughly? best regards, Marc
Marc and Jack, 008 has slatted nose and all black bumpers. I think the bumbers was repainted when the car got a full respray in the late 80ies. It's interesting to know if the first cars had all black bumpers, but I suspect not. Best regards Marius
Marc, the car is in Johannesburg. Interestingly, the last K #439 also has black bumpers, but I am somehow under the impression that replacement bumpers came all black, as I have seen quite a few pictures of them, and the bumpers are easilly damaged.
Looks suspiciously like a Khamsin! http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20438/lot/232/?page_anchor=MR1_results_per_page%3D500%26MR1_module_instance_reference%3D1 Pascal
Interesting car indeed. More information can be found here: http://www.pietro-frua.de/1972_citroen.htm I think this post is even more relevant to the Merak (main) thread on this forum... Gabriel
Definitely not a design masterpiece! The car sits too high on its wheels which are also not the original ones! Bad presentation!
That's right Walter; the original car had the then very advanced carbon wheels developed by Citroën, whereas it now has what seems to be regular SM wheels.
Hi Paul, Well thanks for your comments but again the number plate(registration as you call it in the UK) is just a piece of metal attached to the car, not fingerprints, not part of the DNA if you will. Think outside of the box: as a journalist I have slapped number plates on cars temporarily for photo shoots and test drives, it happens all the time: fact. I had insurance some don't. I have the list of cars known to have been in the UK by chassis number and original colors and there are just two other gold ones and one (325 cameron Millar) is an early smooth nose car in the darker oro Longchamps color while the other is a much later car of which I only saw a photo once (in a Poulain le Fur Paris auction catalog) and it was also a darker gold...hence procedding by elimination and considering that there is not a single visual difference my opinion is that it is your car: we will agree to disagree for now! I need to speak to Maserati UK old hands. In any case yours remains one of my favorites along with a couple of cars in Zurich, a fly yellow one in Italy and of course my ex baby! Regarding that South African car let's wait till Jack gets the numbers, debate is just pointless till then. The Frua thing: it was rejected by Maserati, Frua was desperate and actually showed that thing rebadged, more or less modified to another manufacturer who also rejected it! Yes it initially had the SM resin wheels. I will take a look at it in Monaco in 2 weeks but it is nothing more than a footnote. best regards, Marc
To me that Frua concept looks very good. If it had had rear wheel drive, a lovely coupe fitting right in the times it was created, it'd be a sought-after classic now, had it been produced by the right 'badge'. Could it be that the car in the auction photo's is sitting so high because the suspension is at 'working' height? (assuming Citroen suspension) Thanks for the link to the web-site! Khamsin-content: Today my hydraulics finally get couriered out to be re-built.
The car "high up" on its wheels looks ridiculous! The design has not the stunning clear design the Khamsin has. In the period when this car was designed, other coachbuilders from Italy were on their peak and Frua clearly had seen his best days. The car for me looks like Pietro Frua had said "Hey, lets make something very avangardistic". What came out was not his best design.
Marc, Have you included 409 in the above gold UK car list? 409 was originally Oro Longchamps if memory serves me right before going dark green then pale yellow and now bright red. I only remember as I was first interested in viewing this car before being told that the body was in need of major work. Bal
Bal: Very good point I did not look at original color just at the color the car had when Andy made his list, am just a bit overworked right now. 409 however did not have such an outside mirror...in either of its last two (of four!) colors whereas Paul's car has exactly that same mirror as the mystery car. However that does not rule it out, easy to change a mirror. best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hello all: Just noticed this one added to the Coys Monaco offerings, RHD ex Anthony Bamford (of the fine Ferrari collection housed in Staffordshire, UK, complete with private circuit around a big pond) though he only apparently had it early on. Celeste is stunning on a Khamsin. My records indicate it is a 5 speed. Can't wait to see it in two weeks, saw it many years ago in the Patrick collection museum. http://www.coys.co.uk/auction.php?itemID=1749&auctionID=23 best regards, Marc
Hi Marc, You may be right about that mirror on 409. Seems to have stayed with the car for some time. Regards that Coys auction, another early produced car not registered until 1982 such as mine. Not sure if it's my monitor, but the blue looks darker than other pictures of that shade. I agree a very nice colour on a Khamsin. Bal
Marc/ Bal The car feutured in Car 1981 test and i think one other test as well. i know car archived all it's old photos. I have written to the editor to ask if he has the original negative or print of the engine bay from which we may be able to see the chassis number. Will see if he replies. The magazine pic is not good enough to read. if appeared in any other magazine let me know and will check the pics to see if legible, In 1981 my car ws owned by Eurobooks. is possible someone was creative with the number plates to suggest it was a 'new car' and not a 3 year old one! Any other changes on the very last cars? Paul
Off on a Tangent here but I would like to get some new Grommets for the return lines in the Hydraulic tank. I have asked around the Classic Citroen places I can find on the web but no avail. I have been told the parts numbers are GX13 290 01A for the 6mm and 5 413 317C for the 8mm. Anyone have any Ideas. Regards Graeme Image Unavailable, Please Login
My seat hydraulics are leaking or have been in the past. Now what should I be looking for before I pull it all apart. Where is the most common place for a leak to occur ? Can you buy a seals for the unit? Cheers Mark 1228
