Older Qports

I've started to get interested in the ugly-duckling early 80s Maseratis like this one on Ebay.

Is there any support for these older cars? Any suggestions on what to watch out for? I'm not likely to buy right at the moment, but perhaps near the end of the year.

thanks
-t

 

do you anticipate using it for a boat anchor? i really cant see a reason why you would buy one otherwise

 

There are some very nice examples still out there. Its hard to believe that a car that was nearly $60,000.00 back in 1980, can be had for what these are now selling for. With only 2100 built since 1979, there aren't that many left. A bunch have been destroyed by fire when the carbs weren't kept tuned properly and the the cat's would overheat under the floorboard carpets and start one whale of a "Car-B-Q". Others were left outside to rot.

There is still a bunch of support for the 4Porte, with MCI/MIE still the best place for parts, manuals, etc. http://www.maseratinet.com/

I've owned my 1980 4Porte since 1988, and still love it. Its only got 48,000 miles on it, and I still baby it.

In fact, I wrote about the entire history of my 4Porte in the latest issue of the Maserat Club magazine (VCM # 88).

As with Ferrari's and Lamborghini's, the key is to get one that has been properly maintained. Too many of these found there way into the hands of the "Oh hey Man, I can own myself one of them there Maz-ur-at-tee's" crowd, and quickly fell victim to poor maintenence when they discovered how much parts cost. Although in my experience the parts are cheaper than my Lamborghini Jalpa!

Anyhow, for a monster 4 door that weighs close to 2 tons and gets 8MPG downhill in a hurricane, they are a blast to have. Where else can you take 4 people at nearly 150MPH is utter comfort?

Mike
'80 Maserati 4Porte
'83 Lamborghini Jalpa
'91 Alfa Roemo 164L
'04 Aprilia Futura

 

"Where else can you take 4 people at nearly 150MPH is utter comfort?"

In my BMW 540i 6-speed.

 

Plus you get the nifty jumbo trident on the c-pillar

 

Yes, watch out for the one on ebay!!!

Seriously, you can do way better than that car for less than 4X the $$.
Concours condition cars hardly top $15K, and the ebay car will cost 10X to be the equal.

Saw 2 in Vancouver BC last weekend, both immaculate, one with about 6K km!

Do not plan to 'restore' one unless you have deep pockets, as parts are pricey (MIE), and trim must be sourced from existing cars. Buy only the best car you can find.

james

 

you are correct on all points. i had a 84 rifle grey car that i bought w/ 15k miles on it. it was essentially a brand new car and could only be described as a charriot!!

no car has ever been so opulent and sexy . i drove mine for 2 years as a daily driver and 24k plus miles. no real problems to speak of. a few relays to replace, front suspension bushings andsprings(they wear out pretty fast do to heft) and brake pads!

i paid 15k for the car in 1998 and loved every minute of it. you cannot restore a sub par car...you cannot justify the expense. a great one could be found i'm sure. the motor is tremendous and is a work horse...you cannot imagine how cool it is to start a qp w/o cats. the sound is unreal!!! what a roar!!!! people never expect such a gentlemans coach to sound so sinister.

i keep thinking about getting another to use as a nice event type car...black tie event that is. either that or an aston lagonda.

 

a 5 series bimmer seems like a honda accord compared to a qp.

there is no way to compare the two! bimmer is faster , quicker, and better handling...who cares unless it has to be your only car. the qp is a charriot!

 

My two cents... try Italy. www.autoscout24.it often has surprising cheap deals on old Masers. Given the age of the QP III it shouldn't be a problem to import it as a classic into the USA. And there's a bonus... almost all Italian QP's were MANUALS!! Only 3 manuals were ever sold in the USA. The 5-speed ZF manual is a delight to use, and the car acquires a totally new, much more "sporty" dimension compared to the slow automatic. To give you some idea, the 5-speed QP 4.9 could accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 7 seconds... I think the automatic struggles to do it in less than 9.5s.

I know an Italian collector who owns several of these forgotten beasts, he has been buying them for peanuts and has carefully restored them and drives them regularly. They beat an old Merc S-class for elegance and presence any day!

 

Here's one...

http://www.autoscout24.it/ita/detail.asp?ts=3850504&id=32683162

This is a silver '84 manual Quattroporte, with less than 50,000 miles on the clock! Yours for 8,500 Euros.