Hey Walter, thanks for the mail. I don't have a spare million pounds to spend on a Zagato & definitely not on a Maserati Thanks Ivan. I had a F348 & Testarossa before & did engine out on both of them so I know the pain, it's just the scarcity of parts that worries me such as if a broken lamp, signal, windscreen or failed engine components as I don't have many mechanics here who are experienced with pre-70s cars. I might even pick up tools like you The only job I ever did was a 62 Lambretta back in my school days
Sounds like a plan. I met Rory at the Dawsonville home expo last week and we got to talking about cars and he said he was putting up a Super Garage for a Maserati guy and I wondered to myself . . .Who could that possibly be? :>) Doesn't take me long to examine a hot horseshoe. I'll give you a call next week and we can set up a shoot. Rick . . . .
I never mentioned anything of a Zagato etc.! Classic -and new- Italian exotics are never cheap in maintainance. Doesn`t matter if they were from the 50ies, 60ies or 70ies or from our days!! Ciao! Walter
I have run of things to remove from this car. The only two things that remain on the car, and will not be removed, are the wiring hardness and windshield. The dash is welded in place and is part of the car's structure. The wiring hardness was routed inside the right rocker panel and it would have required cutting the rocker in order to remove the wiring. The wiring does not look bad so why mess around with it. I really would have liked to remove the windshield but the way it was installed is a big mystery. It almost seems like the fenders were welded in after the glass was installed, although this does not seem too logical. Anyway, the risk of braking a very unique piece of glass is just too high to experiment with it. Luckily this car has chrome trim pieces that go all around the windshield and the rubber, and metal strip that holds it, will not show. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Alberto, I had a change in plans. My original plan was to detail the undercarriage, re-install the suspension, so that the car could roll, and then take it to a body shop. The person that is doing the painting suggested I put the chassis in a dolly and he would stream clean the bottom and media blast it. After I had pressured cleaned the undercarriage, the bottom of this car was still very dirty, therefore this idea was attractive to me. Just look at all the dirt on my garage floor! I built the dolly, strapped it to the chassis and the car left yesterday to the body shop. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Its a prototye. Maserati for unknown reasons gave a "C" to the VIN-number. I assume it was the 3rd version of this design by Vignale. Therefore the "C" comes to the number and finally this 3rd attempt was realised. Vignale at that time played around a little by trying various design-details etc around the nose section and some other minor details like the bulge in front of the screen of Ivan`s car. Ciao! Walter
504/C was the 7th Vignale spyder made, according to the production list found on this page: http://thecarnut.com/VignaleprototypesOther/vignalespyders.pdf Walter is correct that Michelotti had several design sketches for the Vignale spyder but I do not think the C means it was the third version. Car #505, which was the second built, was also based on one of Michelotti's sketches and that one is not 504/B. Perhaps the factory mistakenly made two chassis with the 504 number and stamped the C on the second one. The C could stand for "corto" as this chassis probably started its life as a regular 3500GT chassis and was later shortened, especially since it has an even number. As for the car itself, 504/C looks like a regular production Vignale spyder with a strange front end. Curious it is, but in my opinion, attractive it is not. It is up for sale at the RM auction in Monaco, May 1st. Photos comes from the RM website. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This car, chassis #504C, is to my knowledge the only Spyder-Vignale, that is confirmed its prototype-status by an old photo that shows the car under work in the Factory. No other photo of those prototypes is known so far like this. Ciao! Walter Image Unavailable, Please Login
Walter, This photo confirms that the front end of 504/C was done at the factory and not later. This is good documentation as the rest of the car looks like a production Vignale spyder. I do not think you need to have a photo of the car being built at the factory to confirm it is a prototype. There are period old photos of cars #505 and #623 after they were completed which show that they were prototypes. Those cars and mine have very much in common. I wish I could find a photo of my car while it was being built at the factory, but none have yet to be located. The photos are probably in some drawer gathering dust. Below is an old photo of #505, which was the second prototype completed. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ivan, I never doubt this cars as being prototypes! And yes, press photos of this cars (like #505) are existing - but no photo that shows assembling and other work on it in the Factory. It would be fantastic, if photos of Mr. Lubin together with your car would show up! Ciao! Walter
The car is now at the body shop. After studying the windshield a little more we decided to pull it out. The dash needs to be repainted and with the glass installed it was going to be extremely hard. Also, one of my fears was that the right fender was actually touching the windshield. Normal body flex could put too much pressure and crack the glass unless this is fixed. The only way of creating some gap between the fender and glass requires the windshield to come out. Taking the glass out was not difficult. I hope not to regret this decision when it comes time to put it back in. Sanding and painting the dash will now be much easier. Also I can replace the rubber seal between the dash and the windshield. As I mentioned on an earlier post, this windshield is held on three sides and rests in the bottom against the dash. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wonderful thread! Ivan, what are you doing with the original interior? Also, was the fuse box different from a regular production 3500 Vingale Spyder or a 3500 GT/Touring? Ciao and best!
I would like to keep as much of the original interior as possible. This will be a challenge since the seats will need much work. The door panels are good enough to keep as is, as well as the back cushions and most of the carpeting. The trunk area I am leaving all original. The soft top is well worn and will probably need to be be replaced. The fuse box looks the same as what I have seen on other Maserati of this era. The fuse box has a translucent cover which many times is missing. Ivan
I reworked and corrected that Monaco auction catalog text on 504C for RM, the intial version provided by the vendor was claiming it was the third spyder. I also wrote the text on the Birdcage in that auction which was entertaining, particularly when Lord Hesketh returned my call and shared some colorful stories! best regards, Marc
This 51 year old lady looks good bare naked .... The body has now been stripped of all paint and primers, and I do like what I see. Other than a few areas of minor rust the body is as good and straight as one can ever hope from an old car. There are no signs of prior accidents, not even minor ones. Up close one can see how the body was hand formed with a hammer and a metal file. Plenty of lead was used to fill in gaps and build up low areas, but the overall is very good considering no plastic filler was used. The Factory applied three coats of very hard primer and then the car was painted in white, including the dash. The dash was later painted in black. Perhaps they original intended the dash to be body color and then did not like how it looked. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'd guess they wanted the dash black so there wasn't so much glare? Having just looked at a Daytona coupe in a similar state of restoration it makes you makes you realize how much better the construction of Maserati's coackwork was at that point in time. Bob S.
It is interesting to see the mistakes done during the construction of the car that were patched. Here are photos of a few. The first shows where the windshield wiper hole was incorrectly drilled, the hole filled and a new holed drilled to the right. Second photo shows three large holes that were patched on the left side rear floor. The right side has the same panel without the holes or patch. I guess the guy that was working the left side of the car missed the morning meeting that discussed changes to the car. The third and fourth photos shows the two holes that were suppose to hold the grill. Problem is that they were drilled to close to the front. Solution; weld in a couple of screws and cover them with lead. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I have never taken a Ferrari of this era apart, therefore cannot compare. I must say that the workmanship I see on this car (even the patches) is absolutely beautiful. It is disappointing to see how little respect our cars sometimes get. When you think of it Ferrari just did a much better job at marketing their products and elevating their brand name. Maserati was too busy changing owners and getting out of bankruptcy. Ivan
I have been traveling for the last 3 weeks and did not have time for postings. One of my stops was to the Maserati factory, and in particular to visit the historian, Signor Ermanno Cozza. I had met Signor Cozza several years ago but I really wanted o talk to him "face to face" about this car. Signor Cozza had with him Signor Fabio Collina, who eventually will replace Cozza. Signor Collina is very energetic and has a true love for vintage Maserati. I was able to confirm that this was the first short wheel 3500GT convertible made. There were 3 Touring and 1 Frua "one-offs" built before my car. These were based on the standard 3500GT chassis and never made it into production. This particular car is therefore the first production Maserati convertible made. Asked as to why the factory did not put the Touring based spyders into production, Cozza's answered that the car looked dated and that Maserati wanted a more modern looking car. Michelotti's design sketches were innovative and Vignale was given the task to build this one car to see how it would look in real life. The rest is now history as the car was put into production. It is interesting that the factory kept no photos of this car. In fact, Signor Cozza was glad that I left with him my photos and a copy of Michelotti's design sketch. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
