When I chatted to him he was very pleasant. Just doesn’t appreciate the costs of the work involved to bring the car back to standard. A second hand bonnet in good condition (if you can find one) is £1k. Then it’s got to be painted and fitted, at which time the rest of the car paint defects could be sorted. Realistically it would be maybe a £4k blow-over repaint. With a few other jobs, let’s call it £5k on cosmetics.
Then you‘ve got to catch up on all the mechanical jobs that have been ignored over the last decade. That could be anything from a few grand to ten.
And after that you’d have a car with a massive history gap, worth maybe what you’d just spent in the recommissioning.
So his asking price is way too high. Only someone with no knowledge, and blinded by the Maserati name and good looks of the car will pay that. And then come unstuck - exactly like he has. He’s simply trying to pass on the problem car he bought a few months ago.
But it’s all do-able, and could be nice once again given the time and effort.