Jay Leno and his 3500 GTI

Just in from a friend, not sure if anyone has seen this yet or even when it was first posted.


1962 Maserati 3500 GTi - Doobybrain.com

 

I'd love to pick one up for 25k found in a barn....

 

He could probably have gotten that FI straightened out a lot faster if he'd posted questions on here. We have a few resident experts ...

Certainly not a completely original looking car but I can understand the radaitor and AC that works. I've seen the AC updated so that it doesn't look that obvious, except for the compressor.

Nice color and the car sounded great.

 

Great video!
I wonder what the effect will be on 3500GT prices....

 

Love that color...like a wintergreen mint!

 

I saw that car of his on a video and i was sold.
Three months later I found one same color but with red interior.
Thanks to this group it now sitting in my garage getting all the attention.

I am surprised on how jay promotes originality, but yet replaces the radiator?
I still think webbers sounds deep rich.
The color on the car is celestial blue.

The car also seem to bounce allot with his new suspenssion.
Why not get spec koni?

 

I think the days of finding a non-running 3500GTi for $25,000, with great cosmetics and that does not need the engine rebuilt, are over

Jay's find was very unusual but somehow the video implies that there are others like his car lurking around and people should "grab them while they can" .... good luck finding them.

Ivan

 

I'm sure people call Jay all of the time with all kinds of cars. He might be able to get a $25k barn find Maserati 3500GTi, but us mere mortals can only dream of such.

I too am a bit surprised that he went non-stock with the radiator, it looks weird in the engine bay. He can get one made that looks essentially stock, but functions like a new unit. That's probably my only nit on this one. It looks like they just preserved the rest of it. The interior looks redone, is it?

 

Having just watched this video of Jay and his $25,000 3500GTI I would like to make the following comments and expressed opinions. I know very well that Jay Leno is one of the darlings of the Car Guy world and somewhat of a sacred cow and therefore he should not be criticized. But I feel compelled to comment.

First of all I would like to thank Jay for bringing the Maserati 3500 to the forefront of the media and all of this terrific exposure. He is correct in that it is an undervalued car and a great car.
My guess is that he has put tens of thousands of dollars into the car to bring it to the condition that it is now in. The price tag for all that work most likely exceeded $100,000 + the $25,000 purchase price. Jay needs to be complimented for having the means and the vision to carry this out as well.
Jim Hall, Jays shop guy tipped his hand while discussing Kinsler Fuel Injection when he dropped in the “huge bill for ya” comment and we still have a high idle speed.
I did note that when they started they had a steel line injection unit and toward the end the Metering unit showed up with plastic lines. My guess would be that they have over $15,000 wrapped up in getting that injection right.
My experience with Kinsler over the years has been somewhat mixed.

The part that really disappoints me is how insensitive Jay and his crew are to maintaining the originality of this great car. It is much harder to restore a car to the original specs than to modify it, as they have done here.
I am extremely disappointed by such things as the – excuse me - butt ugly blue ignition wires and how easily he has discarded the original 5 mm “black” Cavis wires and done away with that beautiful chrome loom.

In my opinion Jay deserves a D- for discarding the original radiator in favor of an aftermarket totally out of context hideous Nascar looking radiator.
Doesn’t he know that Santa Monica Radiator can make a new reproduction 3500 radiator for about a $1,200 bucks that actually looks and preforms like the original. This poor car has been bastardized to the point where it will take tens of thousands of dollars to put it right.
I then look at the head and cam covers and shake my head in wonder as to why they didn’t wrinkle paint it to original specs? They had the engine out?

The aftermarket A/C while a good idea does not belong in a 3500. I would also argue that it was not an option until the Sebring.

I then look at the images of the interior and again shake my head in disbelief. I draw your attention to the seats which now have no piping and the carpet looks to be sourced from a Porsche. Again a D -
I have no comment on the choice of colors as that is a very personal decision, blue would not have been my first choice, but what ever. Red or a saddle (Couio) should have been considered.
The exhaust note is first class and here he deserves an A+ I love the sound of this car and that beautiful inline six pumping through a stainless steel exhaust! They got that one right.

Now, in defense of Jay. He likes his cars to be very drivable and customized to his liking so all of this can be chocked up to a car that has been very personalized to the owners taste, but please do not tell me it has been sympathetically restored to original specs.
All of the above is brought to you courtesy of a free internet and meant only as an opinion of the author expressing his first amendment rights.
Ciao,
FGM

 

Could you be a bit more specific ... LOL

 

+1 !!

 

Does Leno own any other Maseratis?

 

Everything you said is fair, Frank. You have a passion for and first hand experience with these cars. But for now it's his car and he'll do as he likes with it, just the same as any of us do.
Be thankful that he worked out the fuel injection as best his technicians could rather than tossing it all in favor of carbs.
The radiator I don't get at all. He certainly has the mean$ to do it to original appearance with improved performance.
I agree with you on the air conditioning, but I'm sure that you can commiserate with a Southern California guy's desire for air conditioning.
But overall, you are fair in your observations.

 

As an FYI Jay bought the car a few of years ago, it is not a recent purchase.

 

Weird that he keeps the fuel injection and changes a lot of other important components, why not change it to Webbers if the fuel injection is such a PITA.

 

More than few other folks, some on here, have figured these systems out and made them quite reliable but not always in the same manner. There are several threads outlining this.

I've never owned or attempted to service one of these but in talking to the people who have been successful it just struck me as though Leno's garage wasn't getting all the correct info or they had a really weird set of circumstances. Maybe the butterflies were warped and needed to corrected? Weird ...

My impression is that his mechanic is not a big fan of that car and perhaps Jay is still warming up to it. Perhaps his mechanic was lobbying for the Webers and Jay held out for the Lucas FI?

 

Makes himself look like a genius though with that pricing.
Thank goodness you'd never do something like that!

 

It is nice to see the 3500 being showcased in such a prominent way, but I agree that it's really a shame he chose to modify so many things instead of restoring it properly.

And god, those plug wires!

 

I too was surprised to see him patting himself on his back for not doing a Weber swap, when he then goes and makes plenty of other non period upgrades.

 

Hey AD yo have a PM.
FGM

 

You all described the radiator and wires/loom as "Discarded.". As if he threw stuff into the trash. As if there is not a crate containing the original parts somewhere that will convey to the Jay Leno Automotive Museum when he's finished driving them.

 

Does anybody happen to know the VIN of Jay Leno's 3500 GTI?
I sent him a mail but received no answer ;-)
Thanks,
Marcel