Not any more, they have followed the market upward. A not so great SS hammered at $137,500 at RM Amelia Island last week. I turned down 134k for my Euro spec SS (driver quality) last year. The question of when Maserati GT cars are going join Ferrari, Aston and Lamborghini GTs as a top tier collectable road car has been asked for 20 years. Everyone feels that it is just around the corner, however it seems to be a very long apex. Maserati have traditionally been 1/3 to 1/2 the value of its equivalent model Ferrari. BTW on the subject if the bubble is going to burst. It is a not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. I suspect it is sooner than later. 2014 midterms are going to effect it.
Relative to points made earlier in the thread regarding 'brand management,' however, isn't it the case that Aston's languished relatively speaking until the successful revival of the contemporary brand? Same may be said for Lamborghini to a lesser degree. I would predict the vintage Masers have a revival in part commensurate with the success (or not) of the brand under Ferrari's management...
Lamborghinis have always held up far better than Aston Martins. Ferrari has been managing Masers for a decade and nothing has affected the vintage Masers. Maserati owners are in the clouds, see this post:
With awesome Citroen green fluid from the brake, clutch and mechanisms all over his trousers and shoes!
Yeah but managing it badly, I would argue, or at least managing it differently than Aston. Aston has produced a string of true supercars, attracting a new buyer crop that becomes invested in the brand, then becomes curious about the legacy. Similarly Lamborghini under VW ownership as sustained and even enhanced the bad-boy, extreme product positioning of it's heritage. Maserati today is positioned as a boulevard cruiser whose average buyer is unlikely ever to become enamored of a 250F... Now that I've offended all the Maser owners on the list I'll shut up.
Millions of cars cruise the planet with the same as well as comparable systems (also very modern ones) without issue. The chances of LHM soiling your shoes is no greater than with any other car with hydraulic brakes and clutch. The controls on a Khamsin make for a car that you can drive all day long without fatigue, which cannot be said for its' counterparts. Just learnt that another Khamsin from the US was sold to Europe, have a nice sleep! Best, Jack.
No offence taken, I'd say that's a pretty good description of the current state of affairs. Best, Jack.
I don't think you got them in the US but the early '00s Smart Crossblade has the same flavour. Lots on the Cote D'Azur. A pure toy. Outrageously expensive when new. Handmade and mega quirky. I've just hedged my bets and bought one. Pic of one in its natural habitat..... Image Unavailable, Please Login
My boss bought one out of Canada and drove it a few months in LA before they made him export it. Fun car! Even the LA cops liked it.
Yeah they're cool!! The classic of the future? Tuned Brabus engine yet 55mpg all day. Seems maybe they're on the up.... 2005 MCC Smart Crossblade | The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum 2013 | RM AUCTIONS
On whos authority? Granted, they don't drive like some bloated uber inefficient American super tanker. I suspect the 412P/P3 is a bit spluttery round town. Why on earth would anyone want one?! Isn't that right Jim?!
I've driven a couple of Smart cars (both the original ones and the later version) and own one (not the two seater though). Anyway, they're fine as long as you stay in one gear and don't go too fast over speed bumps. But let's get back to the usual programme of classic Ferraris please. And I wish you all the best with your purchase.
In about 10 years from now, when the automotive historians write about the final chapter in the Maserati story.........It will be titled "How Ferrari managed to save Maserati from the past....while destroying the brand for the future".
I think this could be enlarged to a book called "The magic touch: how Fiat destroyed every brand it ever acquired".
Now Maserati is resurrecting the Ghibli name and putting it on an E-Class sized saloon based on a Chrysler 300.
Behavioral Finance Explains Bubbles | TechCrunch BEHAVIORAL FINANCE LESSONS IN BUBBLES Bubbles clearly have an emotional component, and to paraphrase Dan Ariely, humans may be irrational, but they are predictably irrational. There are five obvious attributes of components of bubble psychology that play into market manias: Anchoring. We hear a number, and when asked a value-based question, even unrelated to the number, they gravitate to the value that was suggested. We hear gold at $1,500, and immediately in the aggregate we start thinking that $1,000 is cheap and $2,000 might be expensive. Hindsight Bias. We overestimate our ability to predict the future based on the recent past. We tend to over-emphasize recent performance in our thinking. We see a short-term trend in Bitcoin, and we extend that forward in the future with higher confidence than the data would mathematically support. Confirmation Bias. We selectively seek information that supports existing theories, and we ignore/dispute information that disproves those theories. (This also tends to explain most political issue blogs and comment threads.) Herd Behavior. We are biologically wired to mimic the actions of the larger group. While this behavior allows us to quickly absorb and react based on the intelligence of others around us, it also can lead to self-reinforcing cycles of aggregate behavior. Overconfidence. We tend to over-estimate our intelligence and capabilities relative to others. Seventy-four percent of professional fund managers in the 2006 study Behaving Badly believed they had delivered above-average job performance.
And the bubble has not been shown to exist, just higher rising prices as we come out of this recession. Enzo era cars are doing quite well and gaining daily. Remorseful sellers are finding they can not buy again for same and are outpriced after they once sold.
I would like to draw a parallel with the antique aircraft market in comparison to vintage Ferraris. My take is that first, there are not many pilots and of those, a handful are seriously interested in old airplanes. Obviously more people drive than fly and this isn't a one-to-one comparison and isn't meant to be. Similar to what has been stated here, low general knowledge and appreciation of them, worry about cost to acquire and maintain and not much of a market. Not to mention safe operation. Some owners that I've talked to feel that they are preserving an important piece of history, are enjoying them now and expect that they could end up as museum donations. They are stored out of sight and the main chance to see them up close is at an airshow. So how would younger people in general ever get exposed to vintage mechanical art in whatever form to gain an appreciation the same way we did? Times have changed. Maybe some day people will be sitting around talking about the clock speed of their first IBM PC and how it crashed when they tried to run Pong longer than 15 minutes at a time. Sheesh... now that was an ugly thought. I bought my Ferrari "cheap", drove it hard, heard the song and learned first hand why they are so highly prized. Personally, I hope the market in vintage sports cars crashes, the speculators take it in the shorts (again) and go someplace else. Consider taking someone with you the next time you go for a jaunt who's never had the chance to experience a Ferrari.
Great forum Had to jump in due to the scary number of intersections this thread has with my life... I have been in aviation for 30 years. I have an airplane - we need each other, but I don't love it I have a GTB/4 - I don't need it, but I love it I drive an '09 Quattroporte - it has soul, I love it more than a new Bimmer and it looks great next to the 275 I have an original Amiga 1000 14 MHz PC. It was revolutionary in 1986. I have an original Pong game in the attic. Just couldn't throw it away. It is parked next to my original Atari machine As for the next generation of collectors... They are infected by exposure. My 21 year old son didn't say much when we went for a spin in the 275. He did not ask where the radio was. He got it.
