I can always count on you RF to take one for the team. I thought of you when I saw an old Indian and some parts at the Imola swap meet a couple sundays ago. Ciao, FGM
Frank, I hope this corks are coming from some 1961 Château Latour bottles you have hidden in your basement...
No, but they are from one of my favorite wines by Olivier Leflaive, Corton-Charlemagne Grand CRU 2008 Puligny Montrachet. It was the wedding of Carrol Leflaive to Craig Harvey of Mercer Island back in 1971 that first attracted me to the continent and onto Modena where I became infected with the Maserati bacteria. The reception was held at the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild in the storybook village of St. Jean Cap-Ferrat. What an affair. I did see a bottle of your 1961 Latour, Pauillac for sale at K&L here in Seattle. The discription read, (high to mid shoulder, soiled label, signs of past seepage) (Previously $3900) On sale for a mer $2899. Ciao, FGM
Here is a classic photo of 3 3500's at my Toy Barn. The Black original paint car in the photo is the latest addition to my collection. Serial number 2818 it is one of the last 25 cars built. 2818 is a black plate car last tabbed in 1986 and is most likely a 2 owner car with matching engine number. This is one of those cars where the chassis number was NOT stamped on the block above the starter, but when I ordered the factory documents from the Classic Dept the build sheet reviled the engine internal number as 2095 and to my very pleasant surprise matched the internal number stamped near the water pump. I bought the car not knowing if it had a matching number or not. Some Maserati experts of which I would put myself in that group have for years put forth the theory that a non stamped engine was a "crate" engine supplied by the factory or was simply not stamped with the chassis number when assembled. We now know that the latter is most likely the truth of the matter. The lesson here is "Get the Documents" I have ordered 2 new stainless exhaust systems from my friends at QuickSilver in the UK. 1 for 2818 and 1 for 916. That makes a total of 4 QuickSilver systems purchased. I requested that these last 2 systems have less baffles in them to give them a 20% deeper noise level, to which Paul at QuickSilver said, no problem. Ciao, FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Frank! You are out of control! Where did the Black GTI come from? We need LOTS more photos of it please! What color is the interior? They all look great! RF.
2818 (Black Beauty) came out of Northern California not sure where yet. I received a call from a mechanic friend of mine in Stockton Calif. who asked me if I was interested in another 3500. I said yes, and the rest is history. Ba da boom ba da bing. 2818 is an incredible unmolested very late 3500 with NO rust in the floors or rockers or spare tire area. It is moist from oil seepage, but does NOT leave drops on the floor. Yes, that is the original carpets and leather PAC 1544. These are the before photos so just wait to see how it looks when I'm done with it. I just might end up keeping this car and selling 101.916 the early weber roll up window car. Ciao, FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Latina is tucked away in her Air Conditioned garage in Palm Springs. The engine is out getting a new rear main seal and a new relined clutch. I took the pressure plate, flywheel and fasteners over to the machine shop on Monday to have it spun balanced as a unit. I should have it back on Friday in order to ship on Sat to the mechanic in Palm Desert. Ciao, FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login
Nothing to keep. Someone needs to come up with a fuel injection "kit" Which would include a Bosch pump and all the latest injection stuff hidden inside the lucas parts so it looks like original but has modern performance. If I were running MIE that would be my next project. FGM
I'm really liking this new Black unit. I like the light colored interiors, and there doesn't seem to be too many Black examples out there. I'm all over this car Frank. Please don't hesitate to post more photos, especially over all shots. Love those cup cake tail lights! Thanks, RF.
This lovely Mexico was owned by me in the 1980's. I bought it from a guy in Texas. He trailered it to Aspen Colorado and Janet Myself and our then 14 year old son trailered it back to Seattle during a period of heavy snow. In the late 1980's while I was running the MIE restoration dept we put into the Que for a full on restoration changing the color from White to the original Maroon as shown here, and the while interior changed to the tan leather color it came with. The remarkable thing about this car is that it carries the engine #1 the very first 4.2 liter engine built and numbered. It also is stamped with the chassis number 112.001. I sold it in the early 1990's but I still have these photos I took of the lovely Frua Mexico to remind me of the really great work we were doing at the time. Ciao, FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Marc Sonnery emailed me a couple days ago requesting some photos of the car as he is doing an article on the sister car, the green one that won best of show at the Maserati Centennial in Turin. This prompted me to go into my archives and have the medium format color positives scanned. I must admit that engine compartment is a work of art. All done to exacting original standards. I literally have thousands of Maserati photos in my carefully indexed and cross referenced archives. Here are some additional photos of the car. Ciao, FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
If this is the first 4.2 litre engine, would it be 107.001? The one shown at Torino in 1964, in the chassis sitting next to the Quattroporte (107.002). Would be interesting to know. If it's 112.001, it's probably not the first 4.2 litre engine, but the first 4.2 litre attributed to a Mexico. What do you think? Greetings, Geri Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well now this of course is a very interesting question. The photo you show is of a chassis No. stamped on the rear of the engine and NOT an engine number. The number I am talking about is what I call the engine number, or in the Ferrari world they call it the "internal" number. The Frua Mexico has the chassis number stamped on the engine AM112.001 but in addition has an engine No. of simply 1 stamped up front near the water pump. I would very much like to see the actual "engine" No. of the engine you are showing in the photo. The jury is still out but from what I can gather engine No. 1 was the first 4.2 V8 built. Lets see what engine No. your 107.001 carries. Ciao, FGM PS is anyone else not seeing the photos in my post?
All the photos show Frank. I don't know why they're having issues? Mitchell is subscribed and the other guy is not so that's not it????
Francis stunning car ! Can you confirm that this one-off model is not the first Maserati Mexico despite its number. Do you think it's a Frua proposal for the new Mexico model ? This design seems to be posterior to the Vignale proposal. By the way, I'm always looking for a period picture of the 1966 Paris Motor Show with the production Mexico on the stand.
