Bob, I'm not quite there yet, if I can't come right with the O-rings locally I'll give them a shout. That said, the sets of these offered from various places are not prohibitively priced, so I may just order them from a known Maserati-supplier like MIE or McGraths, rather than trying to re-invent the wheel I need to order a head gasket anyway, MIE seems to be a good source, so let me not worry about it too much. Best, Jack.
Hi everyone! Sorry for spamming with questions but this seems to be the right place to find knowledgeable Khamsin owners. I still have a few issues to fix on my car and now I'm turning my attention to the rear suspension. It is stuck! Mostly on the left side. Not much movement at all. I've read that it is not uncommon to experience this when the car has been left unused for long periods of time. The question is how difficult it is to change the bushings? I assume that I need to change all four on each side. I've found them available at reasonable cost at several places. Are the old ones pressed into place or could they be removed with standard tools? Pictures from this weekend's exhibition in Stockholm. The car magazine Gran Turismo held a combine new car, classic car exhibition and the Swedish Maserati club displayed two cars, one sebring and my Khamsin. We got many interested people visiting us! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
As you can see the blue carpet in the trunk has been replaced with a black carpet. Is it possible to buy the correct blue one somewhere? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Fredric, You could try Carrozzeria Campana for the carpet. [email protected] I see you also have the brown mousehair inserts and probably dash-top as well. Your interior also looks fungi in color, like mine. Blue and brown, red and brown, what where they thinking? Ah yes, it was after all the seventies.... Best, Jack.
What I noticed is that it has Series 1 seats but has slats in the nose and the auto trans shift lever is from the Series 2 cars. The early automatics had the same shift lever as the Ghibli.
If I remember correctly '76 was the year of the factory fire which supposedly took out a few Khamsins and Boras.
Recently we've found another Biturbo. So there are 3 of them: Two 228s which are in white and Silver, and a black one.
Hi, A question for Marc about Maserati's in Iran. In the 2007 edition of QP Magazine, www.qpmagazine.com/.../Three_Pronged_Attack_Audemars_Piguet.pdf it states that the Shah of Iran was the first customer for the Audemars Piguet luxury sport watch in 1972 and was also the first customer for the Maserati Merak SS and the author uses this to tie in Maserati and Audemars Piguet collaboration on a new watch with the Maserati trident. 1. Given your research, was the Shah really the first Merak customer ? 2. If this is correct, then can we find out from the factory if the other Iranian Maserati's in particular the Khamsin was a delivery to the Shah of Iran ? 3. ‎I have a post in the Ghibli thread asking about the 1968 Ghibili for sale in Finland which Maserati Classiche states was delivered to the dealer Sport Auto in Italy as a delivery to prince Ali Patrick Pahlavi (Shah's nephew). This was the same dealer that delivered the Iranian Khamsin. Any way we can find out who the end customer was when the car was being delivered to Sport Auto. I.e either through Maserati or Sport Auto archives. Best Regards, Ramin PS kudos to Nima for his detective work.
For reference, the very first Merak SS cars: LHD Merak SS: AM122.A.1152 (located in Italy) RHD Merak SS: AM122.A.375 (location unknown) I believe the LHD car came first. The numbering difference is because LHD Meraks are EVEN numbered and RHD Meraks are ODD numbered. So less cars for RHD means lower chassis enumeration. Both cars produced in 1976.
Khamsinisti, Today we had a beautiful autumn day in our Dutch country: grey, a bit foggy, beautiful autumn colors on the trees and that nice crisp cold air. The weather forecast tells us that freezing temperatures may come quickly now, so, a good reason to go out and have a spin on the damp streets of our country side, may be the last chance before the roads will be covered with salt and the cars will be put in the garage for their wintersleep. There is a very nice Classic Car event coming up in Maastricht mid January in the MECC. Both the Khamsin and the Ghibli will be pulled out of the garage and put in a covered trailer to attend the 100 years of Maserati celebration. When my information is correct we will have quite a line up of classic Maserati's at our Maserati Club Holland booth there! The Khamsin was running like a Swiss watch and there was little traffic on the roads, accellerating in these nice long curves made the rear end brake out a bit. With the backbone pressed firmly in the backrest of it is a joy to play wit the accelerator and feel what the car does! Good fun! Let's hope winter is not going to be too long! Ciao, Bart Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Bart, The car looks gorgeous as usual, and I'm sure she enjoyed breathing the crisp autumn air On this side of the planet we're supposed to move towards summer, but didn't see much signs of that this weekend: Serious flooding, mudslides, a flooded hospital and numeral homes lost, due to unusually heavy rains and a fierce thunderstorm. Went to the garage to check this morning, no water entered, so I consider myself lucky. Best, Jack.
Hello Bart... Very good pictures.. Car looks great! Funny, yesterday I did almost the same thing with a few TMC:SE members.. The weather was cool, the streets slightly damp from rain the previous day, the sky was overcast, and there was a bit of fog.. My K loved it.. She ran great.. We visited a TN vineyard, and then went to have dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse.. A very good day indeed! Mike
While researching a Merak, I think I found a Khamsin in South Korea! Photos show a silver Khamsin, black seats with tan carpets and auto gearbox. AutoM
Hi, These are photos from a Japanese magazine or soft back booklet, taken many years ago, not South Korean. Thanks for posting though. Best regards, Marc
Hi Ramin, I have not specifically inquired about who the first Merak client was. We did ascertain with the factory that there is no information linking the shah to the Iranian Khamsin AM120130. The dealer who sold it was the same dealer the Shah used however no evidence of a link between him and the car came forth. I did a phone interview (for another book) of his younger son who later committed suicide in Massachusetts but he did not recall a Khamsin in the garage however as you know there were quite a few cars in there. I will put you in touch with Fabio Collina of the factory by email. Best regards, Marc
No problem at all it was logical to assume those were Korean number plates since the magazine was Korean! On another note I will suggest to a Khamsin owner, Laurent in Holland, who has 3 yes three automatic Khamsins to join the forum and he has lots of tech questions which are not really my domain Best regards, Marc
the rubber top, plug or whatever one can call it on top of the LHM reservoir, sort of disintegrated yesterday. luckily this happened at home right after i had taken the car for a little warm up drive. can anyone help me out by letting me know where to source this bit, it seems the Khamsin differs from the other LHM cars and also the SM. is it a Citroen part? any help much appreciated. Paul
Hi Paul, I seem to think there was an earlier post on this thread? could be wrong though... May be someone else can remember? Regards Rich
thanks Richard, i found and ordered one at MIE. not surprisingly it is called a LHM reservoir filler neck. mine must have been the original it was quite brittle and simply fell apart. i'm glad it happened before my drive back to London. P
Hi Marc, As always thank you for your feed back. Based on the choice of color and other issues, we are pretty sure that there is a royal link. We have been tracking down the people who arranged the government auctions when they sold off the Shah's cars, and the feed back is supporting a possible royal link. Most of these guys are retired, as three decades have passed since the revolution , so we are trying to back up their feed back with documenation, which, I am sure you will agree, is not an easy job in our neck of the woods. Any assiatnce from Mr. Collina is thus greatly appreciated. I don't mean to pry in any way, and if its not confidential (or being saved for a future book ?), I was wondering if in your interview with his son, there are any neat car tid bits that you can share with us ? As you are aware, we have been working to document many of the cars which are still here, and any information would be a great help. Best Wishes and as always thanks for all your help, Ramin
Hi Paul, The filler neck is available from several places, but be careful, not all are alike. I bought my replacement in Holland when I was there, and finally got around to fitting it the other day, only to find that the three small holes for the return tubes are slightly bigger than the original. Nothing that can't be helped, but it requires additional work. I'd expect the MIE-item to be correct. Best, Jack.
thanks Jack, do you happen to remember what car it was supposed to fit besides a khamsin of course? i just can't imagine it was made specifically for the Khamsin. apparently late meraks also have this. i looked in a wecked 3 litre yesterday but that had a different one. just curious. p
