Fresh buy - 1998 Ghibli form Japan

Swistak

Junior Member
Messages
39
I've just received some additional photo of my recently bought Ghibli taken at Kobe harbor.
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Can you tell if the wheels on this particular car are Mille Miglia 17" or 16". I always thought that after 1996 all Ghiblis were equipped with 17" rims - am I correct?
Apart from the drivers' seat everything looks fresh to me. I also spotted that the front lamps are different than in the EU spec cars - have to admit that the EU look much better to me :(.
I've also received a copy of shaken that says the car drove 5000km last year - since it wasn't standing in the garage all the time I hope to get it in good condition.
But still I have to wait for around 3 months to get the car -it is going to be a long. long time!
Untill that time it would be niece to hear any comments from you on this vehicle!
 

Swistak

Junior Member
Messages
39
I don't know about specific import tax in France (if there is any) but as far as I'm concerned its a common law among the EU countries. You need to pay 10% customs and VAT (if you import through Germany it will be 19%). I'm importing this car to Poland.
 

Contigo

Sponsor
Messages
18,376
Looks Bang Tidy mate, god that engine bay looks so much like the 3200! Classy

I reckon you are onto a winner here. The Japanese sure know how to look after cars and this is an unusual car for them to own so it must have been a proper enthusiast. Lived there for a year in 2001 and loved every minute of it.
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,756
I don't recall that particular wheel design being available in 17 inch, and certainly those on my first Ghibli were 16 inch. The 17 inch wheels came in with the later GT Ghibli, but were a different design.
 

Swistak

Junior Member
Messages
39
I'm a bit confused now. The car I bought was made in 1998 and has a 6 speed box, therefore I assumed that it was a GT Ghibli. Can you tell by the photos if the car is a GT or not? Maybe there was some different specification for Japanese/Asian market?
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,746
The factory used up parts from anywhere and many cars are a hybrid of upgrades and old stock parts.
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,756
In the UK the GT had an areal on the roof, not the rear wing. And the wheels were a more simple spoke design, rather than the ones on this car. From the pictures, yours does not look like a GT, but as stated above, the spec in Japan may well have been different from the UK.

If you contact the Maserati factory with the chassis number, they will confirm what the spec is.

I've attached a picture of my first Ghibli, which was a 2.0 lt LHD car from Italy, built in 1995 (so the ABS model, not a GT). This had the 6 speed gearbox and the 16 inch wheels.Maserati.jpg
 

Swistak

Junior Member
Messages
39
The Italian market 2.0 Ghiblis were all equipped with the 6 speed gearbox (or 4 speed auto) from the beggining of the production. However 2.8 Ghiblis were given the 5 speed manual transmissions until 1995 or 1996 and after that getrag 6 speed manual. I've already wrote an e-mail to Maserati Italy but they require registration documents which I do not possess at the time (I sent them the invoice and hope it will do). In the worse case scenario i will know everything about this vehicle after it is transported to me in the end of december.
 

StuartW

Member
Messages
9,306
Is that David Askew's yard Ewan? The cat gives it away but it does look extremely tidy, the car looks very nice too
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,756
Well spotted! I bought that car from David. He'd bought it in Italy a week or two earlier while visiting his daughter out there. It was a lovely one, but I did big mileages in those days (daily commute between Poole and London) so sold it after only 2 years but with about 120,000 km on the clock. Think I lost about £2k in depreciation, so amazing value really.

That's was my first Maser, so David is partially to blame for what's been happening in my garages ever since.
 

StuartW

Member
Messages
9,306
It served you well Ewan

My first Maserati was from David so is my future going to be the same as yours I wonder? If I end up having had a couple of Cups and a Shamal, I won't be too upset!
 

dickyb

Member
Messages
432
Can you tell if the wheels on this particular car are Mille Miglia 17" or 16". I always thought that after 1996 all Ghiblis were equipped with 17" rims - am I correct?
Apart from the drivers' seat everything looks fresh to me. I also spotted that the front lamps are different than in the EU spec cars - have to admit that the EU look much better to me :(.
I've also received a copy of shaken that says the car drove 5000km last year - since it wasn't standing in the garage all the time I hope to get it in good condition.
But still I have to wait for around 3 months to get the car -it is going to be a long. long time!
Untill that time it would be niece to hear any comments from you on this vehicle!

The wheels on the car you're getting are the 16" Mille Miglia wheels. You are correct in thinking that GTs usually had the 17" 7 spoke wheels but Japanese cars had a different spec to European market cars. For some reason the Japanese cars didn't have the 17" wheels even on GTs (although some were retrofitted), most of them also have the electric folding mirrors which were only generally featured on MY94 European cars. Many Japanese cars were specified without the electronically adjustable suspension (a no cost option) but I see yours does have it fitted. I'm not sure why but the headlamps on Japanese versions were different to European spec cars, they don't look as good but in some ways they are a good thing as it is easy to find replacements should you break one (they are the same as the Ferrari 348/355/Mondial T/F40 and were also fitted to the Ghibli Open Cup Evoluzione). They can also be changed to dip either to the left or the right with a switch on the back of the light unit.


I'm a bit confused now. The car I bought was made in 1998 and has a 6 speed box, therefore I assumed that it was a GT Ghibli. Can you tell by the photos if the car is a GT or not? Maybe there was some different specification for Japanese/Asian market?

Your car does look like a GT and the fact that it is a 2.8 with a 6 speed gearbox is a good indication although a few earlier cars were fitted with 6 speed gearboxes. From the photos you can see that there is no dummy fuel filler on the left side, these were deleted on the later GTs but still present on earlier GTs so another indication that yours is a late GT. Another clue is the fuel pipe running across the back of the engine bay, looking from the front, the GT has the pipe entering from the left (passenger side on your car), an earlier pre-GT would have this pipe on the right side as you look from the front. A further clue that your car is a late production car is that the fuel pipe is braided, earlier GTs had a rubber pipe.

In the UK the GT had an areal on the roof, not the rear wing. And the wheels were a more simple spoke design, rather than the ones on this car. From the pictures, yours does not look like a GT, but as stated above, the spec in Japan may well have been different from the UK.

Roof aerials were often fitted by the supplying dealer so its location is not always a clue as to which version the car is, I've seen roof aerials on early cars and GTs, and have also seen UK GTs with aerials on either the left or the right rear quarter panel.

The Italian market 2.0 Ghiblis were all equipped with the 6 speed gearbox (or 4 speed auto) from the beggining of the production. However 2.8 Ghiblis were given the 5 speed manual transmissions until 1995 or 1996 and after that getrag 6 speed manual. I've already wrote an e-mail to Maserati Italy but they require registration documents which I do not possess at the time (I sent them the invoice and hope it will do). In the worse case scenario i will know everything about this vehicle after it is transported to me in the end of december.

Correct, all Italian market 2.0 Ghiblis were fitted with a 6 speed gearbox but there was no auto available on the 2.0, only the 2.8 was available with an automatic transmission.
 

Swistak

Junior Member
Messages
39
Wow dickyb! I'm impressed, thanks a lot for clarifying all the details.
So I guess I need to look for 17" wheels - could help me fill few days of waiting for the car :)
Do you have any experience with slight tuning of Maserati 2.8 biturbo engine, i.e. Modena Performance 355 BHP. What I need to know is if that king of power with around 500nm torque will kill a healthy engine/gearbox instantly or the engines/gearboxes are strong and it is nothing to worry about?
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,756
Given that you'd only be using all of the potential 350 bhp in short bursts, I think you'll be fine. I ran one of my Porsche 951's at 320 bhp for years, even though the factory figure for the standard car was 220 bhp. It coped with the extra 100 horses with no issues at all.

And remember, the road Ghibli Cup runs 330 bhp as standard, with some Open Cups tweaked for more. I can't see that running the car at maybe 50 bhp above standard, for occasional bursts, is going to be a big deal.
 

dickyb

Member
Messages
432
:) thanks guys i'm flattered!

Swistak - finding some 17" GT wheels might be difficult, Modena do have some new ones in stock but they're quite expensive and i'm not sure if they have a full set. Might also be worth trying Candini Modena who do sometimes have used Ghibli parts in stock, Eurospares may also be able to help, I think they have a set of the OZ Futuras as fitted to the Kit Spotivo Ghiblis, they look quite nice. Otherwise try www.subito.it, or www.leboncoin.fr as Ghibli wheels occasionally come up there.

As Ewan says, 350bhp should be ok, the engines are very strong on these cars and the 6 speed gearbox is made by Getrag and was also used on the V8 Quattroporte iv and BMW M3 with similar power and torque. Florian at Modena has been tuning Ghiblis for years so knows what he's doing so you shouldn't have any problems. As a matter of interest there are 3 Modena tuned cars for sale at the moment, one automatic car in France and 2 manual cars in Germany.