Modern Classics magazine needs you – well, a Ghibli II Cup

cheshiremaserati said:

Yes, on paper a lot of qualities that appeal. But low number of sales says it all. I know of a few guys who run a 996/997 and have a track slag 924 or 944 they picked up for under £10k and stripped it out and turned into a track slag.

For reasons I have yet to fathom out, I don't know why the older Maserati cars such as the 3200, 4200 Coupe and the Gransport don't follow the Porsche trajectory despite Porsche being a high volume car compared to Masers and of course the Maser's Italian pedigree. Its an enigma. Values of 996/997 Turbo's have 'softened' in the last few months (that's dealer euphemism for "prices have dropped and they don't sell for as much as they used to") but nonetheless prices for these Turbo cars are so much more than any of the models in the Maser range I've cited.

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It's the old stigma of Italian unreliability. (unless it's a Ferrari).

German stuff is rock-solid well-thought out engineering. But Porsche (Turbo) is a high maintenance car IF it is to be kept in absolute tip-top shape. Of the Turbo cars out there, there are absolutely loads of dogs. knackered pile of cr&p hiding big bills of around £5k-£8k and perhaps why they are being off-loaded. The 996/997 Gen 1 water cooled cars have brittle engines - scored bores, bits of the barrels breaking off (D-chunking) and risks of a sudden catastrophic IMS bearing failure and added to their age (earliest ones are 1997 and latest 2008) they are high mileage cars with knackered suspension, steering and other bits and bobs. Finding one with 100k miles where it has had suspension refreshed, steering refreshed new discs, pads and a new clutch in the last 30k miles is a very rare car - who would sell one after sinking all that money into it?

BUT people STILL buy these cars and face horrendous £12k engine rebuild costs in the early part of ownership sinking silly money into a car that probably worth £15k - £30k tops with a good engine. So there is something of a "Lemming Philosophy" where people flock to buy the Porsche despite all these issues.

I had heard of reliability issues with Italian cars, but after talking to forum members and owners on this site decided to take the plunge. Only time will tell if my car turns out as reliable as the Porsche Turbo at similar maintenance costs.

Ferrari have become silly money and I honestly don't think paying £70k - £90k for a 360 is a worthwhile spend for such old technology. Clearly, Ferrari have done some marketing magic that perhaps Maserati lack.

I've just read the piece about the Ghibli II Cup vs the Club Sport.

Anyone know where I can get a Ghibli Cup for £28k, as I think they have their maths wrong on the value now of the Cup.

My last one recently resold for somewhere in the high thirties, I believe. And a grey one sold for mid forties back in the summer. A really good low mileage one could be maybe £50k.

The very high mileage (100k miles) French Blue car sold for mid twenties about a year ago, so maybe that's where that figure comes from.

Oh, love the French blue one.

Andyk said:

Oh, love the French blue one.

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Yep, I'm with you Andy