West Wales newbie

Hurricane52

Member
Messages
1,211
Hello. I'm a long term Maserati Club member having had my Ghibli SS for 20 years now, but I'm relatively new to SM. If anyone is out West, do get in touch. We're a good stop off en route to Ireland too - Fishguard ferry is 30mins down the coast from Cardigan.

I've always thought the QP is the best looking production four door made. Now I know the GTS is the best sounding too. Not had a chance to do any serious mileage yet, but a Pyrenees road trip is booked for late summer.

Chris Wright
 

Attachments

  • 2D0D0D41-EC76-47EB-B249-F87CFCD05824.jpg
    2D0D0D41-EC76-47EB-B249-F87CFCD05824.jpg
    17.3 KB · Views: 131
  • CE87E202-9ED6-4209-94A9-0AF9B94C41E4.jpg
    CE87E202-9ED6-4209-94A9-0AF9B94C41E4.jpg
    20.1 KB · Views: 131

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
A big warm welcome to the forum. That's two very special Maserati you have there. Always thought that the QP GTS was Maserati's best kept secret and there best car of the modern era.
 

Razz

Junior Member
Messages
123
Welcome and what a great set of wheels.
I am a huge fan of the QP4.7GTS.
I have the 4.7s, I really do wish I had gone for the GTS!

Enjoy the symphony!
Best
Razz
 

Team GCR

Member
Messages
1,152
Welcome to SM.

I've just moved to Wales a little bit north of you, just outside Llanbrynmair.

My cars haven't joined me yet but will do in due course!
 

dickygrace

www.richardgracecars.co.uk
Messages
7,309
Welcome to the fold Chris, two lovely cars. And welcome to Wales Robin, some great roads round there.
 

Hurricane52

Member
Messages
1,211
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. We are indeed blessed with decent roadage in Wales - especially deserted when Wales are playing rugby.

Up early tomorrow to take the family to RaceRetro.

Chris
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,757
Hi Chris,

Lovely cars you have there. But even more importantly, I see in your past history that you had a Venturi Atlantique. Was it, by chance, the one I have now?! Mine is the dark blue twin turbo from 1998. Or was yours one of the single turbo versions?

I'm trying to amass the history of Venturi in the U.K., so any info on your car would be gratefully received.

Ewan.
 

Navcorr

Member
Messages
3,839
Two outstanding cars and roads nearly as good as what we have in Scotland. Welcome.

We are indeed blessed with decent roadage in Wales - especially deserted when Wales are playing rugby.
Chris

Now that was uncalled for - mentioning the rugby like that. Really!
For a fleeting moment I thought we had you the other week - right up until the ref. blew to start the match :D
Welcome and lovely cars.
 

Team GCR

Member
Messages
1,152
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. We are indeed blessed with decent roadage in Wales - especially deserted when Wales are playing rugby.

Up early tomorrow to take the family to RaceRetro.

Chris

I've had Silverstone Auctions on my case trying to persuade me to turn up to RaceRetro this year but have resisted! Found it a bit disappointing the last couple of years.

You have some lovely cars there! I would like a Hurricane at some point to see what they are like. My father was lucky enough to be allowed to buy one of the first Hurricanes when they started making them after the war, long before my time (he was driving an E-Type by the time I came along).
 

Hurricane52

Member
Messages
1,211
I've had Silverstone Auctions on my case trying to persuade me to turn up to RaceRetro this year but have resisted! Found it a bit disappointing the last couple of years.

You have some lovely cars there! I would like a Hurricane at some point to see what they are like. My father was lucky enough to be allowed to buy one of the first Hurricanes when they started making them after the war, long before my time (he was driving an E-Type by the time I came along).

RaceRetro was indeed disappointing, especially as there was no live action today. Still, the drive here was fun and the boys got some model Trofeo cars to play with. Hoping Warwick Castle is more impressive tomorrow.

Only one other Maserati in the car park - a nice silver early 3200GT (sorry I forgot to take a photo). We did, however, bump into Ken Painter, ex chairman of the Maserati Club, whose son, Adam, now campaigns his gorgeous 4CS.

Team GCR - come and try my Hurricane sometime. We’ve got lots of Siddeley stories to share.

Chris

Chris
 

Hurricane52

Member
Messages
1,211
Hi Chris,

Lovely cars you gave there. But even more importantly, I see in your past history that you had a Venturi Atlantique. Was it, by chance, the one I have now?! Mine is the dark blue twin turbo from 1998. Or was yours one of the single turbo versions?

I'm trying to amass the history of Venturi in the U.K., so any info on your car would be gratefully received.

Ewan.

Ewan - not yours I'm afraid, but an Oyster Grey one from Nick Mee. Single turbo hugely fast for its time, but hugely temperamental. It's gone back to France now. When I'm back home I'll be in touch - perhaps I can help fill in some UK history.

Best wishes

Chris
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,114
Welcome to SM Chris from a Pom in New Zealand loving your car history along with the other Guy's.
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,757
Of the 4 surviving single-turbo Atlantiques, one is Oyster Grey (with light tan / beige interior). Owned by a chap in Gloucester. It's one of the 12 Atlantiques originally imported and sold by Nicholas Mee.

They are still under-valued here in the U.K. A nice LHD example sold in France recently for €100K, while the RHD equivalent over here is half that. Makes no sense.
 

Hurricane52

Member
Messages
1,211
Hi Chris,

Lovely cars you have there. But even more importantly, I see in your past history that you had a Venturi Atlantique. Was it, by chance, the one I have now?! Mine is the dark blue twin turbo from 1998. Or was yours one of the single turbo versions?

I'm trying to amass the history of Venturi in the U.K., so any info on your car would be gratefully received.

Ewan.

Venturi Atlantique R300VEN

Dear Ewan,

In the nineties, I used to get my daily Renault GTA Turbo serviced at a place called Eurotec near Durdle Door in deepest Dorset. It was run by a bloke called Alan Matthews. I think he also did some work for my brother on his R5T2. On one such visit, he had what I believe to be the only black RHD 400GT in and I was smitten - but put off by the £100k asking price and the carbon brakes (first on a production car I believe). Not long after, I spotted the Atlantique with Nick Mee amongst all the Astons at his Brackenbury Road workshop in West London. It had first been registered as VGN 1 and was used for some of his publicity material. It had another R plate which I can't recall, but I changed it to R300VEN. I think it was two years old, so probably about the year 2000. The specification was a Rolls Royce colour called Oyster Grey (which had a copper tinge in the metallic paint). My girlfriend now wife always refers to it as the brown car. It had a “mushroom†leather interior with carbon trim. I remember the cabin as a really nice place to be and the seats as superb.

I used it as my daily - lucky to have a parking space in Marylebone and a garage for my Elan - commuting to Shepherd's Bush and then at weekends leaving very early in the morning to get to West Wales for breakfast. It was amazingly quick with no traffic about and Zoe asleep, once averaging over three figures over the 250 mile journey.

That was about as good as it got though because it developed this intermittent habit of only revving to about 2750rpm and cutting out - like a limp mode. It usually happened when hot. Nick Mee's chaps couldn't sort it out and they sent it to Oselli in Oxfordshire. It always came back worse from them.

After leaving London to live in Wales, it lead a more sheltered life, but the electrical gremlins remained. Other issues were shockers which were easily replaced and the gear cable which was a rubbish design which got clogged up easily. I think Speedy Cables made me a slightly better version. The gear change itself was pretty good I recall, helped by the perfect (for me) driving position. A local auto-electrician just about took the whole wiring loom apart in my garage and it sat for two years while he narrowed it down to the alarm and immobiliser system. Apparently in a very French way, the cars were built then sent to Paris to have the system fitted by a devious contortionist/alarm fitter. The West Walian autoelectrician who was actually of Italian descent and lectured in thermal dynamics at Swansea Uni in his spare time, decided that the French alarm guy was a genius, as he had hidden stuff all over the place. I had other names in mind for him.

Anyway, in 2007 children started appearing alongside a Ferrari 456 itch to scratch. This meant either the Elan or the Venturi had to go. The Elan won. I had one last blast around the Preselis and Martin Gutowski took R300VEN off to his Renault/Delorean emporium somewhere on the south coast.

The 456 was a worthy replacement and both our kids came home from hospital in it. We had a great trip to Tuscany over the Alps.

As far as I know, Martin kept the Venturi for a couple of years before selling it to someone in France where I believe it still resides.

As with most quirky cars, the people you meet are often the highlights. Despite all the electrical aggro, I used to enjoy sitting in Nick Mee's Office while his chaps scratched their heads. If you are able to speak with him for your history, it could be interesting. I still have his his mobile number - he rang me by mistake a few years back and we had a good chinwag.

Time might be playing tricks on my memory, but as far as I recall, Nick spent £250k marketing the Atlantique in the UK with a great write up in CAR magazine (vs 911 I think) and an appearance at whatever was the UK's biggest motorshow. Despite his best efforts, sales were tiny and he quite rightly chose to concentrate on his Astons. I think he had been Victor Gauntlett's sales manager.

Another helpful chap was Phillippe Bachelet who lived in Edinburgh and had an earlier very yellow MVS Venturi 260 I think. He was a link between the elusive factory and the few UK owners I seem to recall.

We became friends with Martin Guard from Bewdley in Worcestershire, who like me had an Atlantique and a GTA. His is silver and I believe it lives with his gorgeous A110 which he calls “lil' bastard†I think. Martin had the very good sense to track down the ex Venturi mechanics who went on to set up Extreme Limite. He used to get his car serviced by them in France. I think his car looked gorgeous in silver and rejoiced in the registration E113VA.

That's about all I can remember tonight. Apologies to all the SM members who might not be French car fans.

I enclosed a couple of snaps.

Chris
 

Attachments

  • D454A045-F9EE-40D4-9846-73B507B09FB8.jpg
    D454A045-F9EE-40D4-9846-73B507B09FB8.jpg
    19.5 KB · Views: 44
  • DEE95659-2EB7-4204-BC7F-0C04A850004D.jpg
    DEE95659-2EB7-4204-BC7F-0C04A850004D.jpg
    16.8 KB · Views: 36
  • C692200D-D25E-4E56-91B1-CC852E9FD1BE.jpg
    C692200D-D25E-4E56-91B1-CC852E9FD1BE.jpg
    19.9 KB · Views: 35
  • 5E2F8E5D-3759-4274-B159-CC5F64021A62.jpg
    5E2F8E5D-3759-4274-B159-CC5F64021A62.jpg
    12.7 KB · Views: 36

philw696

Member
Messages
25,114
Great memories and thoroughly enjoyed reading it over my coffee waking up here in NZ.
My first Ferrari was a 456 GTA 98 on a R.
Thoroughly enjoyed that car and proved more reliable than my 360 Modena after which to be fair was a Good car.
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
What a stunning Venturi you have....A great looking car back in the day and still is. I test drove a yellow early car that was for sale at a dealer in Bristol many years ago and loved it. Bought an E46 M3 from a chap in Gloucester and he was selling to fund the rebuild of a red Venturi he had purchased.

I clean forgot Nicholus Mee sold the Venturis in the UK.

The one I drove was this model.....
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    20.4 KB · Views: 37