Maserati Classiche and the Maserati Certification of Authenticity

I think it was 2006 or 7?

 

It still remains an exception nowadays and I am not at all sure that Paypal or whatever other payment method you have in mind would have been of any help.

 

American Express, they are very good when it comes to fighting fraud.

 

Not accepted very much in Europe, nowhere near as much as Visa. Visa sorted me out very helpfully on two occasions, a rental car insurance issue in Switzerland, 2007 and an airline ticket double booking in 2015 when I flew Riga Geneva via Warsaw on Lot airlines, the Polish national airline. On the latter issue they cancelled BOTH tickets so I ended up flying for free. Considering it was a lousy airline I did not mind or feel bad one bit...and I never heard from Lot afterwards.

 

I really don’t use any other card than Amex only keep a visa for emergency usage. When I first started doing regular traveling to Europe (primarily Italy) most places didn’t take it, but for the last 10 years it’s become accepted more and more. The only places that don’t accept it are usually very small restaurants or shops. While they aren’t happy about the higher card fees from Amex, it’s just too much business to turn down.

 

I've used it and credit cards WO issue so your perception is not the same as mine. If you want to be doing business with Americans this is what you HAVE to do.

 

Will Maserati sell spare parts directly to us end-consumers? Or will they produce them and sell trough the trade? I have several different Italian brand classic cars and it is a big difference getting spare parts for Maserati and Lancia vs Alfa. Most Maserati and Lancia retailers do not show the price, you have to e-mail or call to get the price for each and every item. This is very time consuming and irritating. I can not tell you how many e-mails and phone calls I had to make in order to restore a Flaminia engine. On the other hand, restoring several Alfa engines, it could not be easier. There are several webshops available and in my opinion Classic Alfa is best in class. Clear pictures with price, click, click and two days later the parts arrive because EVERYHING is in stock. That is a huge difference compared to all italian spare part dealers I have been in contact with. It takes weeks, months before the parts arrive. If Maserati decides to sell directly to us, there is no choice if they want to be succesful than to develop a webshop in line with that of Classic Alfa.

 

Classic Alfa is not affiliated with Alfa SpA, they are an independent business. I would suspect depending on Franchise Laws in a particular country that the parts may have to be sold through authorized dealers or service facilities. That doesn’t mean that Every authorized facility will be Classiche Designated. They will undoubtedly have to meet a certain criteria to obtain the designation.

 

So what you say is that only authorized Maserati dealers will have access to the newly produced parts? Most official dealers have no or little knowledge of classic Maseratis.

 

no what I said was that it will probably depend on franchise laws in each country. In many countries manufacturers are prohibited from selling directly to the public. (In the USA each state has their own franchise laws, there are legal battles going on in many states with Tesla as they are trying to sell direct avoiding the traditional independent dealer franchise networks).

 

PM sent

 

Please don`t forget that Alfa -in the classic period- sold in a month the number of cars, Maserati (and also Ferrari, Lamborghini etc.) sold in a year...
As in the US it is not very difficult to get all Alfa parts here in EU.

 

I live in Turin and i have knowledge about the classic spare parts of the former FCA group: they aren't interested at all.
It remembers me the story of Rolex watches: no vintage, just new.
Also the FCA Heritage department is incapable to recreate any parts without the proper machineries, the original drawings or the 3D technology, so this market is completely in other hands.

 

Generally speaking Maserati GTs were parts bin cars. Outside of the engine very little was proprietary.

 

So, at the end of the process, does the car involved get a "100%" certification or may be there some issues identified to be eventually sorted out by the owner?

 

Very Nice car - underrated

 

Does the Certification process evaluate the quality of the restoration or only the car's authenticity? A car can be 100% original (therefore authentic) yet needing a full restoration; or be cosmetically perfect yet overheat a few miles down the road. In the sales promotion of the Mistral that was recently certified:
https://www.classichemasters.com/maseratis-for-sale/am109_a1_1580-maserati-mistral-coupe

They state "Maserati Classiche Certification of Authenticity, awarded in January 2022, asserts this expert restoration to the highest quality." Is that a true statement? Is evaluating the QUALITY of the restoration the goal of the certification process? To me a quality restoration is more than just the cosmetics. Does the Maserati evaluation team do test runs of the car and evaluate if it performs and handles as it should? One thing is to make a car pretty again, a different challenge is to make it reliable and still make it look original.

Ivan

 

I wonder who on earth at Maserati is going to do these Certifications? There is only Fabio with any knowledge of old cars? Are they going to employ people from restoration specialist? Fabio is also no mechanic and could not do this himself. Also they have no spare parts and are not interested in making any new spare parts for 60s and 70s or even 80s cars. I dont see the point in this. OK for race cars but for that there REALLY is no competence at the factory... I going to give it a pass. My car has the old Classiche and that will have to do. Cheers Nik

 

That is the eternal question. The quality of the Cars that are coming out of the Top Restoration shops today is far superior than anything that came out of the factory when new no matter what manufacturer, especially in Italy and the exotic builders around Modena. Remember we’re talking 60s/70s here, the social unrest, Arab Oil embargoes, massive inflation, Red Brigade, poor sales, companies on the verge of bankruptcy. Only Ferrari didn’t go through some form of bankruptcy.

The Bologna/Modena area was the Heart of the Communist Party in Italy, anyone remember the Hammer and Sickles painted on the water tower in front of the Maserati factory? What type of attention to detail do you think communist union workers put into building cars for Rich Bourgeois Capitalist Pigs? yes the cars are over restored by that standard, but also more reliable and engineering flaws corrected.

 

As of the reproduction of spare parts:
Which parts to start with for which type? Economic wise it makes sense to start with the 3500GT, Sebring and Ghibli, Indy etc as these models were made in "high numbers". But even these types were not built in the same numbers as the cars from Mercedes, Porsche, Jaguar etc. The reproduction of parts is very expensive and only makes sense for large quantities. So expect high prices for anything that will be reproduced.
For engine-parts its a little different as here more types can be combined:

3500GT, Mistral, Sebring for the 6-cyl.
Ghibli, Mexico, Khamsin, Indy, Bora, Kyalami, QPI for the V8.

As far as I know, Ferrari does not offer reproduction parts for their classic cars, nor Lamborghini does...

 

I agree with Walter. I do not see Maserati making a significant contribution to parts for vintage cars. That simply is not their core business. They do not have the experience nor infrastructure to be in the vintage parts business.

Ivan

 

I agree that many cars today are being restored better than they were originally created. My point was more of certification being used by some people as a stamp of approval from Maserati that the car is perfect. I do not think Maserati intents to imply that just because a car has been certified it can be safely driven 1,000 miles the next day. Yet some people will use this certification as a marketing tool and some customers will blindly believe that certification means that everything in the car is alright.
In no way am I implying that is the case with the Mistral in question since it does looks like an excellent restoration. I do take issue with anyone that advertises a car as perfect just because it has been certified. I am just saying that certification can and will be misused.
Those of us that have been to major shows know of cars that look great and check all the right boxes yet struggle navigating to and from their trailers.

Ivan