ghibli value with corvette engine conversion

you have completely lost the collector valuation of this car, but you can now maintain it at any Mom & Pop shop in North America if it breaks down on the road ... so the character of the car has been fundamentally changed, which people wonder about when it is sitting still, but trust me [having done the same thing to Healeys & Jaguars in the past], when you are thundering along at 80 to 120+ mph, that will be the last thing on your mind ... if you don't want it, I would take it off your hands, PM me,
Thanks

 

I think I know of the car your talking about.
The bottom line would be are you comfortable knowing the car is not "complete". ie would it bother you when others ask you to pop the hood .Or would you say " hey ,check this out".If it bothers you then its going to take some joy out of ownership.
If it doesnt ;then its a great buy.

 

Unless it is a conversion on an XJS, it will pretty much 1/2 the value.

 

Agreed, likely 50-70k for real, 22k-30k with well executed engine conversion (but the rest had better be PERFECT, including firewall, suspension, brakes, etc)

Intermeccanica's are getting more interesting these days, IMO. . .

 

Did you go to the website and read the description carefully?

It looks great in the pics but if you read there are some issues that make this car problematical. As described, it is not a terrific Ghibli with a wonderfully done engine/trans conversion. There are other issues such as bumpers, vinyl in the interior etc. It's over priced by 10K IMHO.

 

When I was young, my father used to marvel at the beauty of a Jaguar engine, something that rubbed off on me. As I matured in life and owned a few european cars, I learned that the engines of these cars were what held the heart and soul of these cars. Its the only true peice of the car that mattered, as to the cars breed. For example, a Ferrari 250 coupe sold on Ebay recently with a Chevy motor, and didnt barely make $20K. If the car would have had the V-12, even as a basket case, it would probably have sold for 4 times that much.

I remember seeing a Ghibli when I was about 10 or 12, and waited around almost an hour to hear it run. And it was well worth the wait. To replace that with any other car engine, is to me sacriledge. And anyone who would do that to any other car, Jag, Maserati, etc, is not IMHO, a mechanic. Fix the real deal, or find someone who can, but first, do no harm.

 

If Ivan has the car you can bet it's very nice. He rarely screws with cars that are not. He without doubt the leading authority on Ghiblis in the US maybe in the world.

I highly doubt anything less than 30K will take it and maybe not that.

It really depends on what you want it for. If you want a "collectors Maserati" it's probably not for you. If you want a car that you can drive cross country then it's may be what you are looking for.

 

Since the heart of any Italian exotic is the engine, I'd rather have a Corvette with a Ghible engine.

 

Again for driving around town yes for cross country maybe. I have driven many an Italian car cross country. I can say my friends driving an ISO had a much easier time with mechanics when needed than I.

 

Err....

Could it be negative ?

 

Maserati V8 engines are pretty reliable. I can't understand the conversion as the Maserati engine is... one of the most beautiful ever. No comparison possible with a US V8. Anyway, the value is totally lost. I would try to find a Maserati engine and reconvert the car to original spec.

 

Haha, please. I could give a crap less where an engine was made, or by who. My main concerns--is it reliable? Can I get parts? Are they outrageous? That Corvette engine will beat the Ghibli engine in all of those areas.

 

A small block Chevy V8 will easily make alot more power than the Maser V8. The Chevy engine is much cheaper and it is smaller and lighter as well. Build one with a high overlap cam, mechanical lifters and timing gears and it will sound great too. On the other hand, I wouldn't swap one into a Ghibli... but where you have already found one, then, go for it! (If it was a Spyder, I would be interested)
As far as the Chevy powered Ghiblis' value goes, determine what the cost of an original spec engine would be, along with the labor to change the engines and restore all of the related modified components (throttle linkeage etc) to their original condition. I call that "determined value".
There may be a buyer (or a few) that would be happy with the Chevy engine. Such a buyer may pay a premium over what the actual determined value would be... the seller may be banking on that, so I would use the determined value as a starting point in negotiations and hope no one else is interested in the car.
Kirk

Kirk

 

There was two Maserati engines on ebay, one for 2995, and the other for 4500. You would need to rebuild them, buy missing parts, and get a transmission, probably driveshaft, gear shifter, any clutch pedal parts. Hopefully no one cut the old motor mounts, cross member,exhaust. It would cost me 15k being thrifty and lucky doing the work myself to convert it back, and it still would not probably be 100% correct. Maybe the owner could convince another ghibli owner to swap that unreliable Maser engine for that super duper chevy caprice engine just as a community service project.

 

The car has been sold.

 

Good news on both counts.