My Italian cars from the 70's were a little prone to rust ;-) Do the new Coupes and Spiders use a galvanized body like Ferrari, or should the never see the rain?
Great question. I would think so. As an aside, if Alfa is going to return to the US in 2007, they better have this problem licked as the Alfas will most likely be daily drivers as opposed to garage queens....
From around 1983 Ferrari started to introduce galvanized bodies, if you look at the cars from the Testarossa / 308 Qv / (late) Mondial Qv the instances of serious rust problems has dropped to almost negligible levels, almost on a par with Porsche
They share a version of the Ferrari engine, so I would imagine that they are galvanized also. Most every car made now has better rust protection. The worst Maserati's that I have seen were Meraks. Some of that may be due to owners keeping them outside/neglect.
Even the Alfas have galvanized bodies since the beginning of the nineties. Rust is no problem on Italian cars anymore!
Just visit maserati.com -> Company -> The factory -> Virtual factory tour -> Start your visit -> Assembly line. Here you can read as follows: ... Bodywork assembly is carried out by ITCA (Industria Torinese Carozzeria Auto), a specialised company of vast experience. This supplier was chosen as it produces high quality, prestigious vehicles. ITCA begins by assembling the body, meaning the soldering of the panels. All the bodyframes are of double zinc-coated sheet steel for the highest possible quality. They are then sent to Maranello for painting before then being moved to Modena for final assembly on the production line... The "Virtual factory tour" contains more very interesting details. Have a look.
Here are 3 pics, found at www.itca.it: Image Unavailable, Please Login QP Image Unavailable, Please Login Spyder Image Unavailable, Please Login This seems not to be a Maserati.
