3500 GT Spyder Vignale thread

I called 957 about his vin but if had no idea of the body no. But ill call tomorrow. Damned computer crashed yesterday from car overload.. Good job i just backed up! 40 thousand pics atleast! Posting from cellphone.. ! nik

 

That makes me sad. I hope it gets released and exercised regularlarly. An undeserved sentence for such a car.

 

This is AM101 1119 which I have owned since 1984 The car was restored 20 years ago and still looks and drives great. It was featured in the Maserati Factory display at Laguna Seca in 2000 the year of Maserati.
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Ivan, I sold 1457 to Lord Brocket (DBA Classcar) back in the late 80's which turned into a civil suit filed by Brocket in the UK against Janet and I.
I am planning one day to write a book detailing this and other very unusual stories during my 28 years at the helm of MIE.
To summarize brocket sued in the UK courts. We claimed that he did not have juristrisction in the UK and that if he were to sue he would need to file in the King County Superior Court in the State of Washington. The UK court agreed with us after a very unusual request by our solicitor.
We then received a judgment (looser pays in the UK) in the amount of $25,000 for our attorneys fees and sent our private investigator to find out where the Lord kept his quid. The search lead to the Channel islands where what we found was well, to be continued.
Oh and 1457 the fax machine was buzzing with letters going went back and forth from Brocket Hall. This story eventually involved the Ex CEO of Microsoft who was at the time my tenant. A really great story with many twist and turns
I'll try to dig up some photos
FGM

 

Hello,
I am new in this forum but I hope to get some help from you to finish the restoration of my Vignale Spider (#871).
I bought this car, one of the first series (long hood), a few months ago. The previous owner startet restoration but did not finish. I am looking for several parts of this early spider and I am also looking for some technical information such as:

How does the correct CIBIE headlights look like?
Does anybody know the number of the headlights or numbers stamped on the glass?
I would like to install a new wiring, is it possible to buy this as a ready made part?
Does anybody know the correct size of the front trident and the oval for this series?

Thanks to all
Alfred

 

Here are some photos of Vignale Spider #1043, which I briefly owned while still a university student. It was delivered new in 1960 in Los Angeles, although not much is known of its history until I acquired it near Indianapolis, Indiana in 1978. It had an indicated 36K miles at the time, and was still in original Nero paint with Rosso interior. It was fitted with Boranni wires, Webers, and 4-speed transmission, and was very pleasant to drive. As Ivan Ruiz pointed out, handling of the car at low speeds was a bit truck-like, although much less tiresome than a Ferrari 250GTE (I don't know how it would compare to a California spider, though).

I sold it in 1979 for a whopping $8000 to a collector from New Mexico, who had a couple of "his boys" fly into Indiana to pick it up and drive it back to Albuquerque for him (1275 miles cross-country). My last image of the car was of two "Marlboro men" (complete with cowboy hats and pointy-toed boots) driving it off into the night, straight into the teeth of an April snowstorm! Apparently the car made the trip without incident, and once in the new owner's hands, was used as his "daily driver" for years.

Spider #1043 eventually ended up with dealer Joop Stolze in the Netherlands circa 1998, and was later the subject of a full restoration by Linea Classica in Germany circa 2001-2003 (see pictures below), at which time it underwent a color change to medium blue with grey interior (at the new owner's request). The current owner is unknown, but the car is reputedly in Germany somewhere.

Cheers,
Doug alias Peconga
Boise, Idaho USA
www.registromaserati.com
1963 Sebring 101.01945 (current)
1960 Vignale Spider 101.1043 (former)
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Walter as usual you are correct about the oval and trident for the Vignale Spyder. When I restored my car 20 years ago I thought ALL The Vignale Spyders had the oval around the Trident. So I bought the oval and of course it did not fit. The grill surround is about 3/4 inch smaller than the cars that have the oval. i also believe the Trident is larger and I believe it is the same as the Sebring.

 

Vignale spyder #1457 was sold ($211,200) by Worldwide Group Auctioneers during the Hilton Head concours. According to the auction company, this spyder and the black Sebring behind it, were stablemates for the last 25 years. Only problem is that I use to own this spyder about 10 years ago. Further proof that one must never completely trust what is printed in a sales catalogue. It was not a bad car, just needed detailing.
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Hi Ivan,

I think when I saw it at your house it was a beautiful royal blue IIRC.

Ciao,
George

 

???
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Different car, the blue spyder was #1129.

Ivan
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OMG !

Ciao,
George

 

Hello amici, I was wondering if anyone had access to engine numbers and chassis numbers to check if they match (or where I can get this information? at Maserati?

 

It is very easy. The engine number needs to match the VIN. For example, if you own car 101.1015 then 101.1015 should be stamped on the engine.

Ivan

 

Thank you. Is it the same thing for the transmission? I also read somewhere that most major parts have a body number stamp on them. Is this correct?

 

Not so much stamped but usually written like on the back of door panels etc.

Joe

 

I've run into three Vignale spyders (two of which I've owned) in which the engine did not have a serial number. Anybody else have a similar experience? Frank ... you probably have owned and seen the most Vignale spyders.

Ivan

 

Yes, agree I have also seen and noted that several Vignale's that went through our shop did not have a chassis number stamped on the engine. Note I have distinguished between chassis number stamped on the engine and the engine number which has always been visible. Remember the engine number gets stamped on the engine before the engine gets assigned to a car.
Ciao,
FGM

 

Hi Frank,

You just taught me something. I was not aware that there is a separate engine number. I always assumed the chassis number was the only significant number stamped on the engine.

Where is the other engine number located? How many digits? Do the digits have any significance? Did the factory keep a record of these numbers? Can an engine be traced back to a specific car based on this number?

Ivan