Hi all, I've the opportunity to put my hands on a '69 Indy 4.2; it's painted in a color similar to Verde Gemma with tan interiors. Minimal rust, original plates, a good car. It lacks only of the intake mainfolds and carburetors: a gap which could be filled with few thousands dollars. The questions are: Should the engine have the same number of the chassis (like the Ghibli)? How many Indy 4.2 were produced? Thanks.
Ask the seller to give you the VIN number of the car. Then contact the Classic department at the Maserati factory, they'll be able to provide you with the original engine number. That is good way of checking that the car has the original engine. Sorry I don't know if the Indy has VIN and engine matching numbers. Maybe someone else knows?
Re Indy 4200: Yes the chassis number should match the engine number. Of the 1,100 or so Indy produced I believe about 440 were the 4200 series. Regards, Colin
Thanks for the answers, very useful. Yes, I like the color combo and that's why I'm evaluating to buy it: unfortunately no photos so far, I've only seen the car in person for few minutes in an enclosed garage. Of course, I'll take pictures as soon as I can.
Some photos. It looks like a solid car; however last time there was less light and I believed to have seen a green car but I was clearly wrong. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looks like a bare metal, nuts&bolts resto to me. Whatever you will pay for her, it's going to be 25 % or less of the total cost of her once you have completed the work. That is if you are thinking of taking her back to mint condition. If you are looking to restore her to a "driver" think that you most likely are destined for 75% of the cost of taking her the complete way to mint. Regardless, she is a car that needs to be saved imho, the remaining number of restorable Indys is not increasing.... Kind regards Kim My 2 cents worth.
Kim, I agree with you. What I have in mind is a total restoration: these cars must be done properly, no compromises here. The starting price is low of course and as I'm restoring the Ghibli, I perfectly understand what does it mean to put the hands on it. However, despite the dirt and the dust, the body is way better than the Ghibli (which, before the restoration, looked way better than this but it wasn't). This moreover, still has its original black plate: I'm a fetishist of black plates. Still thinking....
Stop thinking, just buy her! Place her somewhere safe and dry, and then decide if you are to do the restoration or if you then draw the conclusion to let somebody else have a shot at her. She is going to cost the same to restore as the Ghibli, it's more or less the same car mechanically. Interior is the same just add two cow hides more to do the rear seats. Constructionwize...well you know from your Ghibli that there will be rust and there is no way around dealing with it if you are to have a good car on the other side of the resto. There are just as many crooks and corners on the Indy as there are on the Ghibli. Looking at how the front of the hood is angling to one side I have a feeling I know the reason why there is something wrong with it as well as the hood hinge plate below, I might be wrong and it's rust free...but not likely. If you are doing this to save an Indy, you are (IMHO) doing the world a favor by restoring a gem of a car. If you are doing it to earn a few bucks/ investment, you are not going to make money unless you own her for some years. And then you could have made more money by restoring something else like another Ghibli, Mistral, Khamsin, Mexico etc. If you have a family with kids, I think, with the Ghibli & Indy in the garage, you will see that you will most likely share the car experience when driving in the Indy while the Ghibli you will more often be driving alone. The Indy is a social car, it was built to transport 4 people fast in style, the Indy motto was: Viaggiate comodi sicuri veloci! If you want to see more pictures of indy's check out Maserati Club Norway's Indy page. Its in Norwegian, but there are 4 pages of pictures, if you find the links(look for the word "fotoalbum") Indy BTW, the color of the Indy you are considering is called Celeste Chiaro 106 A20, the interior looks to be senape but the pictures could be lying and then it is most likely crema. Regardless they are both great color combinations and Indy's looks fantastic in Celeste Chiaro!! (http://norskmaseratiklubb.no/modeller/indy/indy-fotoalbum-side-2.html) Kind regards Kim
Francesco: The Indy we have started work onto restore is a 4.2 with 5 speed, originally blue sera turbillon with red leather. A '69 with the same dual cowl interior as yours. There's a video of the engine being brought back to life is posted separately. The Indy would be delighted to know that it has a sibling also being restored in their homeland. Kim, your advice and words of encouragement are appreciated. I will now go learn Norwegian.
