Just picked up the article on the Khamsin choptop, haven't had a chance to read it yet. Looking forward to next month's coverage on the Lamborghini Islero.
A Sunday treat: Found this on Ebay a page of Car & Driver or Motor Trend, 1978. 99% sure it is my former car as Maserati's west coast distributor kept it for about 8 or 9 months, the period coincides, there were only a small handful (perhaps only 2 or 3) US oro kelso Khamsins, this one is identical to mine down to the sticker a bit high, interior details...a cute shot! I also think it was the car featured in a sports car Graphic article of the time with a white Merak. Unfortunately that article was entiely in black and white. Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is something very rare that I was lucky to get earlier this year as a gift: I only saw it once before so very satisfying to get hold of it. Best regards, Marc www.maseratikhamsinregistry.com Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Joe here is is another shot of the Khamsin spyder that did not get used in the article, the best angle I think: now try to imagine it fully Euro spec AND with a smooth upsweep behind the doors, it would be very striking. Unfortunatley Lhomer has too many cars so nothing is going to happen any time soon but I will keep pushing for proper Euro bumper conversion (at the back that is not a proper Euro bumper, just made up bumperettes), getting rid of US sidelights, and sorting out the exhaust. Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is a mystery car that I photographed in Paris Bois de Boulogne in about 1981: looks tired and heavily laden in the rear. I have showed it to a few people but no one seems to recognize it: anyone familiar with it? Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Marc, thry to convince him to take away this horrible fog-lights under the nose section. When we had the car some years ago this addition looked s**t! It ruins the wonderful lines the Khamsin has. Ciao! Walter
Marc, not sure...but I think its #120.156. The car was later restored in the UK when owned by a person who lived in Bruxelles and London. He offered the car for sale much later and it was auctioned byBONHAMS at some time but remained unsold then. This photo came in the auction-catalogue. Ciao! Walter Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Marc I haven't be able to get a contact with him but here is email: [email protected] The chassis no of this black/burgundy automatic Khamsin is 550025 Philippe www.lamborghinimiura.com Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Walter: thank you yes it makes sense: same unusual mirrors! Philippe: thank you very much for the photos unfortunately that is not the chassis number which always starts with AM120 and in the case of US cars, which this is, AM120US followed by four numbers starting with a one but I will email him and get that: your help is much appreciated. Interesting to see a black 928 behind it as a K is very close in personality to a 928 just a lot more....Italiana!!!!!! Best regards, Marc
Hummm..if you look at the frontal photo in the article all he has is the orange lights under the bumper as is normal in a US car...maybe the car had more lights when it was owned by JCP but in any case that is the easy part that I aim to convince him to do in the next year...the hard part is the profile... Best regards, Marc
I saw this in a report on a recent show in Budapest: looks like a very nice car, does anyone know anything about it? It could well be the gold car mentioned in Austria here recently. Will be posting more tomorrow and appreicate any infor or photos anyone might come up with! Best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login
A viewer just posted this re the video of my ex Khamsin: "My father owned it in 1975-76, external blue and white leather inside. Sometimes I drove it (I was fiftheen!) and I still remember its sound. The only bad thing was the heat from the engine, air conditioning was not sufficient. It was a powerful and exclusive car, top of Maserati line, and it is a perfect example of italian car design of early seventies." Here is the link for those who might enjoy seeing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=302q4_CdnFU Best regards, Marc
This is the second K I ever drove, when it was at Motorcar Gallery before I worked there. Then a couple of years later, around 2002 it came back which is when I took these birds eye view photos (vista di uccello?) in one of MCG's warehouses. Then it went to Key Largo for 2 years with someone who never used it, in 2004 it came back and I sold it the same day to a Swiss man who keeps it in Fort Lauderdale. Then in November of 2006 while back in Fprt Lauderdale on holiday he asked me to help the bodyshop get the Euro bumper conversion done and I thought why not and ended up doing almost all of it, somehow keeping my 10 fingers. There was no time for photos after the conversion though so these predate it. Very nice colors though, even though this car used to be a lighter blue. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some photos I did while out on the road in it in 1999 or 2000 when I first drove it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This article covers the show and deservedly presents the K as the star attraction. Here it was just shown as a prototype on the Bertone stand however it was in almost definitve shape, the only differences with the production models which came out a full two years later were rubber bumpers, this one has chrome and at the back the half moon grooves in the lower body for the exhausts are not on this car. I added a photo of the car taken on another on a golf course in the well known photo shoot organized by Bertone's Gian Beppe Panico who was in charge of press and pr. You can see the missing grooves above the exhaust. The paragraph concerning the K is right at the end of the 2nd page. John Bolster was a very respected journalist, Autosport's key man for a long time, nice to read his very positive comments. Best regards, Marc www.maseratikhamsinregistry.com Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
But Mark ... You failed to mention that's the Boomerang in a portion of one picture. Also, isn't that the Varedo next to the Alfa? http://www.seriouswheels.com/ghi/Iso-Rivolta-Varedo-sa.htm I think that's the one which was a Le Bella Machinne a few years back. Bob S.
The "K" car as you have dubbed it, which is very poor monker IMHO Marc (too many Iaccoca connections), looks like a completed running example at that show so what took them so long to offer it up for sale? Also, I seem to remember a story about an Indy used as the Khamsin test mule for all the hydraulic and suspension development. Have you heard about that one? Bob S.
I know about the Citroen stuff on the late Indy cars but this was a specific test mule car that also had the Khamsin IRS. Bob S.
Iacco who? Pardon me for having forgotten all about those long ago apellations, it is simply the initial and when you refer to the same thing over and over it is simpler. I have not heard of an Indy test mule with IRS no, though it is very conceivable, it might have slipped through the cracks of my interviews. I will ask Cleto Grandi eventually. Both he and Malleret told me that Malleret had an Indy as a company car and that they played around with it a lot. Giulio Alfieri's small R & D department with Cleto Grandi as chief mechanic achieved wonders and could respond to an idea and realize it amazingly quickly. There was a Khamsin test mule which did not look like the finished design though I am saving those photos for the book. I am not sure the chrome bumpered car was a runner or that it was a standard car underneath. I asked about it at Bertone, I asked Gandini, I asked Panico and they said it was probably sold long ago. Regarding the 2 year delay the reasons were mainly under two headings: -Fuel crisis: this was like a tsunami with many pernicious effects on many levels, including slowing everything down to a crawl to reassess everything: remember the very survival of the company was at stake. -The complexity of the Khamsin which was the most elaborate of all Masers of that era. Best regards, Marc
I seem to remember reading a comment somewhere? that Bertocchi referred to it as the "Little Chicken"? most likely in Italian.
Yep not surprising, ugly prototypes often got nicknames like the anatra or anastsia for the GTO ugly duckling test mule. 22 years ago in England my first Formula Ford single seater, a Hawke DL11 from 1973, was nicknamed Harry the bastard by its owner when he sold it to me and when I sold it back to him a year later after a very eventful racing season! It had a lot of wrinkles LOL! Small world it was Gary Pearson who has vintage raced major Ferraris in recent years...
Marc, I must remove the dashbord cover on K US1268. Do you know where the fixing bolts are situated? Regards, Helmut
Hello Helmut: Here is the answer courtesy MIE Viale Ciro Menotti: Remove glove box to access mounting screw at right end. Remove complete gauge cluster to access mounting screw at left end. Remove the three top air vents and insulation to access each of the three screws along toe top. There are a total of five screws to remove. By the way although I have no commercial involvment with MIE they have a lot of experience with Khamsins and sell a technical tip booklet full of such useful advice. Hope this helps, best regards, Marc PS: As always I would suggest not taking anything apart until you have the new parts in your hands and are 1000% sure that you do have all the parts and tools you need: a lot of classic car owners triple the down time of their car unneccesarily by not being rational about this. Any classic car that sits unused is an unhappy classic car that slowly fossilizes: they need to be driven. Viel gluck und gutes fahren! Best regards, Marc
