Hello mischevious Angus Considering your address may I kindly suggest you take your opinion home;-)? All the best, Marc
That is very elegant Marc. I think I did look on their website, wheels are not a problem. It will be the boss as our cars are not current therefore not listed. I will look to get in touch with them to see what they could do. On another note we see the first signs of snow today. I shamefully hadn't fired up 433 in over 3 months and did so last weekend. Too much salt down to go for a blast, but spring will be here soon.... Bal
Marc, You may disagree with Angus, but he makes a fair point There is an (uncomfortably?) large parallel to be drawn between Jaguar and Maserati. Look at a 3500 cylinder heasd and compare to an XK head. That continues in the V-8 Maserati heads. Front suspension comes to mind. There is plenty. I always saw the Maserati as the Italian equivalent of the Jaguar, or perhaps the logical 'step up' if a Jag wasn't exclusive enough anymore. When people ask me how the Khamsin drives, my reply usually is "like an XJS, but much tauter and faster". Yes I love Jaguars, and still miss my XJ SIII V-12. Why did I let it go... Best, Jack.
Hi All, Has this been discussed previously??? 9 Feb Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais Maserati Khamsin coupé 1978 Chassis no. AM 120 US 1258 https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24103/lot/403/
A lot of these got put on the QPIIIs and Biturbos back in the 1980's. I went with a nice leather wrapped one but you can spot these on Biturbo & QPIII parts cars some times. I think they're the same size? Bob S.
I got to wondering the same thing when I saw that biturbo on wheeler dealers too Bob. May be worth looking in that direction. Thanks Bal
Hello As can be seen from the registration the car that popped up in Honk Kong ist K359. It just had a color change (to the better !!) Regards Roger Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Roger and all, Ahah George Perfect's old car which he once got banned from driving in Switzerland due to excessive right pedal motion 359 was sold new to Rocco Forte of the Trusthouse Forte hotel group. Yes that color looks great and now we know why we were not familiar with it, the car left George's possession only recently, a couple of years or so ago -he has health issues preventing him from driving anymore alas- so the paint job must be very recent, perhaps brand new when those garage photos were posted late last year. Good memories of storming route 50 in Nevada at up to an indicated 160mph with George driving us in a Bora in 2000 during Maser Miglia. Here some shots of 359 as it used to be when he owned it, photos copyright to him. Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Isn't this the car that was for sale for years in Italy, but always priced so high that the impression was that it wasn't really for sale?
Hello AMLC, Exxxactly It seemed it was not really for sale for all these years and a very important person in Maserati Historical circles told me that dealership was very strange because they never sold a car...as if it was a errr resting place for money coming from who knows where...the catalog seems to say the car was part of the dealership owner's private collection...which would be a completely different perspective if he actually used it... Anyway I have nothing on its early life but it was owned until 1985 by Motorcar Gallery in Fort Lauderdale Florida and then advertised by Steve Ahlgrim in Georgia which is when I believe it went to Europe and ultimately Italy. It spent years living in a bubble as you mention, advertised but never really for sale until now. I absolutely love the photoshoot in the catalog, unless I am mistaken it shows the Via Appia in Rome and the mood of the photoshoot evokes some early factory photoshoots in castles near Modena. The car actually looks quite good...I have no involvement with it, have never seen it in person. Best regards, Marc
Hi all, A very unique case has emerged: a gearbox type change by the factory on a new car before delivery! Sometimes research yields unexpected results, accidentally, like when Paul Frere, 6 months before he passed, unlocked the riddle of the mythical Citroen SM V8 for me in 2007 with a passing comment which made me fall off my chair. I had a bit of a similar moment this week, albeit not as important, a nice little discovery nevertheless. I knew from previous information that Khamsin AM120.156 had been delivered new to England -even though it is left hand drive- with an automatic gearbox, and orange paint. I had an email exchange with the ever helpful Fabio Collina of Maserati Classiche a few days ago. I was trying to establish how many Khamsins were born in spectacular very seventies orange -I will tell you why in a future post- and sent him photos of 156 brand new just after its arrival in London in period (see below). The answer is four cars were born orange, one other is 0018 (yes two zeros as was the case with some early cars), not sure which the other two were yet, their owners probably don't even know they were born orange and I certainly don't believe they are still in that color unless they have been hidden for decades. When I mentioned to Fabio that this car was an automatic when new he said no, no the archives indicate it was born 5 speed...then I pointed out that the rear view in these photos clearly shows the automatic shifter... Intrigued, baffled, puzzled, he said give me a few days. Then he emailed me, excited at having solved the riddle in the archives! The car was actually born as a 5 speed but did not sell, and thus stayed at the factory for a few months before being turned into an automatic by the factory itself and being shipped to the UK distributor. So a unique case, or at least unheard of, in fact I had never heard of ANY Khamsin gearbox type change by the factory! Grazie Fabio! Then, sometime after its delivery to the UK, the owner, a Mister K, had the gearbox swapped for a manual one in a UK workshop! The car is now in Belgium, repainted red, with added vented nose and different mirrors (last photo taken fall 2016). So its configuration is now legitimate if you judge by how it was born...but not by how it left the factory...which is correct?! Both in my view. Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hello Marc I believe these pictures of 0018 were not yet shown on this thread: only recently I stumbled over them, but cannot remember where they are from; for some reason I believe they were taken in France before delivery. Regards, Roger Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Roger, Thanks for these, never saw them before. I have a hard time believing that could be 0018 though, what makes you think that? It was orange as in the magazine extract posted above, that is 0018, Thepenier's press car. By the way that photo is a scan I made of my own copy of the article I have since it came out 43 years ago and posted here some time ago. The photos you posted are from the early mid 1980's witness the presence of a Biturbo and even in the back a Biturbo spyder as well as several Kyalamis. I would say that is at the factory in some storage room. It certainly isn't at Thepenier's location which I visited many times back then. It could be another Paris distributor that France had after Thepenier shut down its operation. Is anyone familiar with the strange blue S sign hanging from the ceiling? That would be a clue. 0018 was never red as far as I know, it was repainted from orange to blue quite early on, but if you have evidence to the contrary I am all ears All the best, Marc
Hello Marc I found the site again: it is from the norsk maserati klubb, and the pictures are copyrighted by Gian Luca Zancaner 2014, you can find a few other older maserati pics if you search for his name. So probably they are from a Maserati dealer in Italy or the factory. I may have attributed these pictures wrongly to 0018, but then it is not a red car, to my eye it is clearly orange, albeit darker than the other two examples in the thread. here is the link: Khamsin Fotoalbum Side 4 Surely you have the contacts to find out more about it. Best regards Roger
Probably Autosport in Bologna? In 1991 or 1992? The Khamsin in celeste chiaro (photo at the url you mention) is my car! I recognize the car, but also the Italian registration. This registration is in the report that Adolfo Orsi made of my car in July 1992 and he also mentions that Autosport had done mechanical work. I had never seen this photo, very nice surprise!
Hello AMLC, Yes I thought of your car when I saw that photo and recall the file Adolfo had on it from 11 years ago when I indexed his photo archives in Modena. Lucky find indeed! Regarding the red car I was just about to track down that photographer but riddle solved Autosport sounds right with lots of cars there...including a gold or bronze Khamsin it appears. Roger it is red just the photo makes it look a tad orange but nowhere near like 0018 or 156....not sure which car it is, the only I know with black sills on red is 1028 but that was in the US until about ten years ago and had US sidelights. Best regards, Marc
Hello AMLC It is my pleasure! at least that little mistery is solved, I was wondering where to place the celeste chiaro Khamsin... So now we are searching for a european spec red K with black sills, probably early type seats, and a golden Khamsin, both leaving from Bologna to where ? Roger
Hello Marc, Roger, I'm looking for the gold car, do you mean the car behind the red Khamsin? It is hardly visible, but isn't that an Indy? It seems higher than the light blue Merak next to it, and the red Khamsin is just as high as the gold Merak.
Hello Roger, AMLC, Yes that could be an Indy, you are right, hard to tell. Very confused about the red car with black sills, no clue, never saw that paint scheme other than on 1028 (below) which it is obviously not. It had a bumper conversion many years ago but still retains its US indicators to this day which the car in the garage photo does not have, perhaps that one is one of those cars that no longer exists...because unless it has been repainted surely a photo would have appeared somewhere. I met 1028 in Kentucky in 2004 it is now in Austria. Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
AMLC, The car behind the Khamsin, beside the white Mistral is a marone colored Indy, behind it it's the gold met colored Merak. The rest of Gian Pietro's pictures that display the same cars, seen from the other side: Bora Gian Pietro Zancaner I have informed Gian Pietro about the interest in his pictures on this thread, hopeful that he will share some more of his personal albums. Kind regards Kim (webmaster for Norsk Maserati Klubb)
Mon plaisir Marc! A couple more of Gian Pietro's factory picts: Indy Fotoalbum side 3 Kind regards Kim
