Certification

[CatmanV2]

I think much of the derision amongst many here is that Maserati have finally woken up that their cars last more than 3 years and that we like to keep them in fine fettle.

Certification has to be a long term product and not just a whim of the Maserati marketing department.

Possibly related, possibly not. I see 'Maserati Cares' has suddenly started commenting on posts on the Leftpondian forums. Now rebranded as 'Stellantis Social Engagement Team'
I wonder if there's been some meetings....

C

 

[DLax69]

Possibly related, possibly not. I see 'Maserati Cares' has suddenly started commenting on posts on the Leftpondian forums. Now rebranded as 'Stellantis Social Engagement Team'
I wonder if there's been some meetings....

C

...or there's one rogue employee who actually gives a poo about brand integrity...?

To C's point: they are "commenting:" "Gee, we are sorry to hear this."

It would be nice to not spend my spare time cruising the darkest corners of the interwebs for car parts. I'd rather cruise the dark corners that @Felonious Crud hangs out in...

 

[CatmanV2]

To C's point: they are "commenting:" "Gee, we are sorry to hear this."

...please DM us your VIN and we'll talk to you privately. It's been their pattern over and over. I was going to tag them but it appears they don't have an account here.....

C

 

[midlifecrisis]

...please DM us your VIN and we'll talk to you privately. It's been their pattern over and over. I was going to tag them but it appears they don't have an account here.....

C

Thank the mods....

 

[DLax69]

Thank the mods....

Perhaps they will sneak in like this...

 

[Felonious Crud]

...or there's one rogue employee who actually gives a poo about brand integrity...?

To C's point: they are "commenting:" "Gee, we are sorry to hear this."

It would be nice to not spend my spare time cruising the darkest corners of the interwebs for car parts. I'd rather cruise the dark corners that @Felonious Crud hangs out in...

Not so much hangs out in as gets trussed up in.

 

[CatmanV2]

Not so much hangs out in as gets trussed up in.

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to

C

 

[sionie1]

Not so much hangs out in as gets trussed up in.

This sort of Trussed?

 

[CatmanV2]

This sort of Trussed?

Challenging.....

C

 

[Corranga]

It’s interesting that they are choosing to do this. Parts availability and degrees of originality are a bit of an impasse, it’d be more interesting for most owners of 20+ years old cars if they looked at the value of the car and tried to do something to somewhat align part costs with that. I’m not saying, your average 4200 is £10k so parts costs should be in line with a £10k car, more than things like clutches or brakes should be obtainable and not 15%+ the value of the car!

Whether the cert adds value to car surely has to depend on how well the certification process is judged. If it’s too easy to get, it’s pointless and adds no value. If it’s too hard, perhaps it’ll add value to the best of the best, but it won’t raise the desirability of the make / model so you end up with a very expensive niche within a niche, and of course thats if it even passes.

The concept is good, but it needs the full infrastructure, local dealers to help guide you, parts availability, perhaps including used, via main dealers, owners to pony up a wad of cash for it. Imagine going all the way to Italy with your car only to be told that it’s failed as that rivnut you used to repair an inner wheel arch liner isnt factory spec..

 

[midlifecrisis]

It’s interesting that they are choosing to do this. Parts availability and degrees of originality are a bit of an impasse, it’d be more interesting for most owners of 20+ years old cars if they looked at the value of the car and tried to do something to somewhat align part costs with that. I’m not saying, your average 4200 is £10k so parts costs should be in line with a £10k car, more than things like clutches or brakes should be obtainable and not 15%+ the value of the car!

Whether the cert adds value to car surely has to depend on how well the certification process is judged. If it’s too easy to get, it’s pointless and adds no value. If it’s too hard, perhaps it’ll add value to the best of the best, but it won’t raise the desirability of the make / model so you end up with a very expensive niche within a niche, and of course thats if it even passes.

The concept is good, but it needs the full infrastructure, local dealers to help guide you, parts availability, perhaps including used, via main dealers, owners to pony up a wad of cash for it. Imagine going all the way to Italy with your car only to be told that it’s failed as that rivnut you used to repair an inner wheel arch liner isnt factory spec..

I quite agree on the parts logistics. Certification has to be a scored system, it cannot be an Absolute Yes or No.

If your rivnut or front wishbone is NLA then alternative parts can only be used.

Then we get into the whole world of Certification of Compliance. Maserati may allow a Wishbone from Company A who have built the wishbone according to Maserati's original Spec or better but not from Company B, whom have built it using the cheapest material with a haphazard casting/machining technique. Here's What Eb posted earlier.

Maserati Classiche - Classic cars | Maserati UK

Maserati promotes the authenticity of its Maserati Classiche through certification and restoration. Discover all the services for Maserati classic cars.

www.maserati.com

Parts​

For the first time developed and supplied by Maserati. One of the purposes of the Maserati Classiche department is to start providing spare parts that are no longer available on the market. We start with key selected components, made accordingly to the original designs, using the best technologies of today improving the reliability and functionality of the spare parts without alternating its aesthetic appearance.

Eb

This will have to come into play.

 

[general_piffle]

Just to add. In terms of a commitment to remanufacturing parts, this is the email I wrote to Maserati Classiche, about 14 months ago:

Dear Sir and/or Madam

Could I please make a recommendation for a spare part to be remanufactured that is no longer available?

This part is in great demand, and easily lost or accidentally damaged, so replacements (even after a customer has bought a set) would probably be quite common.

In fact, I've spoken with Maserati workshops/specialists here in the UK who have mentioned trying to recreate their own as there's a need for them. However, a genuine Maserati part would be the ideal option.

I've attached a picture for reference of the part, which is the central wheel caps for Ghibli wheels from the 1990s.

Could you please let me know if you intend to remanufacture these as part of the Maserati Classiche program? Many thanks.

Kind regards

Because I didn't hear anything back, I decided to go ahead and develop my own. While there's a written promise of new parts being remade for older cars, are we aware of any specific parts at all having been confirmed to be made or actually made?

I mean for the Ghibli II alone it would be easy to start with the most commonly/easily broken and completely unavailable. Such as, headlights, rear light clusters, front grille. Just these three items would help enormously.

 

[Maser73]

I have been in contact with the Classiche department several times but absolutely nothing moves there. The goal is to keep older Maserati’s ‘on the street’ so logically you would start with 1st tier being MOT related parts as headlights, windscreens, brakes etc to at least have cars pass yearly these MOT tests which are pretty similiar across Europe. Second tier would be technical key parts to keep cars running ie engine parts followed by 3rd tier ‘nice to have parts’ like interior and exterior parts. How difficult can it be??

Probably not too commercial viable but still it could work. To be honest, I have more trust in some Maserati specialists teaming up and start production of parts then the factory. I had some hope with Classiche Masters but also comes across as lots of talk, nice advertising book but for the rest not too much.

In the meantime prices for parts, when even able to find, are getting ridiculous over the top and feels really wrong like what some of the known Ebay traders are asking. Problem with some of these i@iots asking these prices, even if they don’t sell for that price, is that it becomes a reference for other, sometime private, sellers to also start asking these prices.

Really hope the right party picks it up. Ideally factory but lost a bit of trust here….

 

[Enz0]

I think there is a side of market research for remanufacturing parts.

If Maserati plans to remanufacture parts, they want to make sure they will sell. The owners who bring their cars to the certification will be considered to be passionate and rich enough to buy remanufactured parts.

If many Ghibli I owners bring their cars, Maserati will remanufacture the parts for them. If Biturbo owners avoid bringing their cars, Maserati won't remanufacture the parts.

 

[DLax69]

TtI think there is a side of market research for remanufacturing parts.

If Maserati plans to remanufacture parts, they want to make sure they will sell. The owners who bring their cars to the certification will be considered to be passionate and rich enough to buy remanufactured parts.

If many Ghibli I owners bring their cars, Maserati will remanufacture the parts for them. If Biturbo owners avoid bringing their cars, Maserati won't remanufacture the parts.

There's definitely a data-gathering aspect to this, as I noted above...question(s) are what and to what end? I think you've identified part of it...

 

[general_piffle]

I think there is a side of market research for remanufacturing parts.

If Maserati plans to remanufacture parts, they want to make sure they will sell. The owners who bring their cars to the certification will be considered to be passionate and rich enough to buy remanufactured parts.

If many Ghibli I owners bring their cars, Maserati will remanufacture the parts for them. If Biturbo owners avoid bringing their cars, Maserati won't remanufacture the parts.

Good points. However, if this is the approach Maserati is taking then they need to be transparent about it to keep owners informed.

I’d hazard there are many more biturbo owners (from early 80s, plus Ghibli II and 3200) than Ghibli I owners.

So, a potentially more lucrative market for Maserati simply in terms of numbers. If owners knew what rules the Classiche department is considering to play by.

 

[Maser73]

I think there is a side of market research for remanufacturing parts.

If Maserati plans to remanufacture parts, they want to make sure they will sell. The owners who bring their cars to the certification will be considered to be passionate and rich enough to buy remanufactured parts.

If many Ghibli I owners bring their cars, Maserati will remanufacture the parts for them. If Biturbo owners avoid bringing their cars, Maserati won't remanufacture the parts.

I personally think certification and spare parts are somewhat isolated topics. Yes at the end they connect but the main goal of MAserati Classiche is to keep cars on the street where the belong and maintain its heritage. You simply need parts for this. Certification comes later and nice to have to put certain cars in a different league. This will remain niche.

Yes agree on research but let’s also don’t overengineer this. Talk to the likes of McGrath, Candini and some active Maserati owner clubs and you have a source to start with.

Ofcourse some not so easy topics. Take Ghibli II headlights. They can’t make a mould with Carello as this brand doesn’t exist anymore after take-over. So they have to put MAserati in the glass which doesn’t make it ‘pure’ anymore for the die hards. On the otherhand dozen of people are happy to pay big money for plastic replica’s from Holland supplier.

Another example on Cup. There is only one left side end piece exhaust availible at the factory. Why not create also a right one and atleast have a set or commision to a dedicated company to make them on request being ‘approved’ by factory. Sure it will cost but also sure a Cup owner would be willing to pay as now they also have to have one created against a high cost.

Anyway I hope with having multiple people on the pay roll under Classiche with the aim to figure out parts as key element they find a way although being some 2 years now. Still a bit sceptic but really hope I am wrong.

 

[DLax69]

Out of sheer curiosity, I went through the web portal and got this response; seems the same as Marco's. I asked about both cars, not just the Spyder:


Many thanks for your request, we are pleased about your interest related to our activities. We would be more than happy to certificate your Maserati Spyder.


A certificate of authenticity will be implemented for Maserati road cars over 20 years of age, as well as to limited-series cars irrespective of their age.

The Certification is guaranteed by a Certification Committee made up of internal classic Maserati experts.

All the certification activities must be provided by us, in Maserati Modena, by Maserati Classiche personnel. For our clients in other continents, we are planning to organize a certification event at some local Maserati dealer, collecting 5-6 cars, fly over and check the cars. Would this be acceptable for you?



Many aspects will be verified during the certification process:

· 300 technical checks.

· Oil analysis check.

· Engine compression test.

· Exhaust gas analysis.

· Combustion chamber endoscope check.

· Chassis dimensional check (upon req.).

Through our official supplier, the car can be shipped to Maserati, back home for the certification tasks.



At the end of the procedure, we'll release a specific documentation composed by a series of items that are supporting the authenticity of the car:

· Certification of Authenticity.

· Certificate of technical and aesthetic characteristics.

· A true copy of the original Tridente drawing.

· Report-book of all the verifications made on the car.

· Specific Badge Maserati Classiche with the certification number.

· Specific certification badge to be applied on the car.

The Certification pricing for your Maserati Spyder is 2.000€ VAT not included. A contribution will be added for the costs of the trip.



Don't hesitate to ask if something is unclear.

I am looking forward to your reply.



Best of my regards



Maserati Classiche

 

[Marco07]

Booked in for this in July. Will report back.

 

[Marco07]

Heading to Modena on Friday, booked in for Monday morning with another factory tour and Panini museum afterwards. Then off to Florence whilst they are prodding and probing. Photos and feedback to follow.