Biturbos/number cars/Ghibli IIs for sale

[dickyb]

Some valid points there but this particular Ghibli doesn’t fit those scenarios. It is fitted with parts from much later cars so it won’t have been done at the factory as a parts bin special, for example the centre console is from a QPiv which started production 2 years after that Ghibli was built. It is fitted with GT wheels which would have been made 3 years after that car was built. The point dt95aac is making is that this particular Ghibli has been somewhat butchered and modified over the years and is no longer original. This may have ended up like this due to damage later in the car’s life and not being able to find year specific replacements

I have never seen a twinspark Selespeed 147 Ducati Corse in the UK but they were sold in Japan. A number of Alfa Romeos bound for Malaysia were stranded on a ship when the importer went bust and many of these found their way to the U.K, including a number of facelift 156 2.5 V6s.

You are correct in that various Biturbo era Maseratis were registered in the UK some time after manufacture. It’s fairly common to see a 1990 Biturbo Spyder with the early shallow bumpers despite the later deeper design being introduced in 1989. I know of 2 N-registered Ghibli GTs but there are at least a couple of P-registered MY94s. Legend has it that Maserati didn’t sell a single car in the UK in 1995!

 

[Cyclone1]

This is what car forums are all about. Great info from knowledgable members, delivered in a non biased and educational way (for me anyway).

Great stuff and keep it coming……

 

[gemini]

Strange car indeed, it looks like the child of a ghibli 92 and a QP4.
The engine is probably not the one who came with the car in 92, it should have a distributor (like the engine pictured below), the direct ignition came after that.

Anyway, 36000€ is quite expensive for a non ABS ghibli (same car with a price here : https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/maserati/ghibli/1992/859506)

 

[general_piffle]

The black Ghibli with the beige interior, manual LHD *** import has 3 days left to run at auction and is only (currently) at 2k. When you read the description it does sound like it could easily swallow 3k to 4k on tidying up jobs. Several niggly things, plus a slight whine at low speed from the diff.

 

[TimR]

The black Ghibli with the beige interior, manual LHD *** import has 3 days left to run at auction and is only (currently) at 2k. When you read the description it does sound like it could easily swallow 3k to 4k on tidying up jobs. Several niggly things, plus a slight whine at low speed from the diff.

None of that seems unreasonable honestly....!
The underlying car is the key thing , surely...
2.8 & manual, non- Skyhook.... Nice

 

[Nayf]

The black Ghibli with the beige interior, manual LHD *** import has 3 days left to run at auction and is only (currently) at 2k. When you read the description it does sound like it could easily swallow 3k to 4k on tidying up jobs. Several niggly things, plus a slight whine at low speed from the diff.

If it stays that low I may well upset my wife (ahem)

 

[Nayf]

If it stays that low I may well upset my wife (ahem)

Cloudy left headlight looks like £2k by itself


(Kidding. Well, probably not)

 

[general_piffle]

Cloudy left headlight looks like £2k by itself


(Kidding. Well, probably not)

The repro headlights that Eric at Maserati Spares in the Netherlands does are very good. Right down to the correct Carello logo and other markings in the polycarbonate, which can be polished and shouldn't crack like the glass originals, which are pretty much unobtainable anyway. I know about this because unknown to my wife I might have stashed a set in the shed as emergency backup spares...

 

[Nayf]

The repro headlights that Eric at Maserati Spares in the Netherlands does are very good. Right down to the correct Carello logo and other markings in the polycarbonate, which can be polished and shouldn't crack like the glass originals, which are pretty much unobtainable anyway. I know about this because unknown to my wife I might have stashed a set in the shed as emergency backup spares...

I think my main problem with this example is that it’d be a compromise purchase - buying it because it’s The Ghibli II I Can Afford Right Now rather than The Ghibli II I Actually Want.

On that note, went to Garage Ponzio to ogle the Primatist and the price has been knocked up six grand…

 

[TimR]

It'd be hard to live with a left hooker in the right wired UK, for me. The thought of being stuck behind everything else on the road, all following the slowest common denominator, would soon end in me slashing my wrists...!

 

[general_piffle]

It'd be hard to live with a left hooker in the right wired UK, for me. The thought of being stuck behind everything else on the road, all following the slowest common denominator, would soon end in me slashing my wrists...!

Honestly, my experience isn’t like that at all. I thought it might be a real challenge but you soon get used to it. Then when you go to France or anywhere else in Europe for some ‘grand touring’ on decent roads they really come into their own. Plus if you have massive plates like me (size 11) you have more room in the left footwell for pedals and feet, because they were originally designed as LHD.*


*Something I read somewhere once about footwell room. Might have been on Enrico’s Maserati pages.

 

[Nayf]

Honestly, my experience isn’t like that at all. I thought it might be a real challenge but you soon get used to it. Then when you go to France or anywhere else in Europe for some ‘grand touring’ on decent roads they really come into their own. Plus if you have massive plates like me (size 11) you have more room in the left footwell for pedals and feet, because they were originally designed as LHD.*


*Something I read somewhere once about footwell room. Might have been on Enrico’s Maserati pages.

You’re correct, there’s no space for your clutch foot to rest in RHD cars. Would have meant re-engineering the transmission tunnel.

 

[Ewan]

If it stays that low I may well upset my wife (ahem)

Do it! It would so be worth a day of the silent treatment for years of Ghibli II fun!

 

[Ewan]

You’re correct, there’s no space for your clutch foot to rest in RHD cars. Would have meant re-engineering the transmission tunnel.

They got this right with the QP IV though. There is a clutch-foot rest pedal in my RHD QP IV Ottocilindri.

 

[Ebenezer]

Do it! It would so be worth a day of the silent treatment for years of Ghibli II fun!

When's the last time yours spoke to you?
Eb

 

[Ewan]

When's the last time yours spoke to you?
Eb

She has asked for a convertible Bentley for Mother’s Day!
So fingers crossed she’s not too disappointed with the box of chocolates!

 

[dickyb]

Cloudy left headlight looks like £2k by itself


(Kidding. Well, probably not)

Nope, that’s a Japanese spec car and has different headlights to European spec cars. The Japanese spec headlights are the same as those fitted to the Ferrari 348/355/Mondial T and F40 and replacements are readily available at a fairly reasonable £340 or so. The European spec headlights are indeed very expensive and hard to find but not an issue with this particular car.
As well as being cheap and easy to replace, the Japanese spec headlamps have the advantage that they can be easily adjusted to dip to the right for continental driving by simply undoing some screws on the back and rotating the light unit.

(...and it’s the right side headlamp that’s cloudy, not the left! )

 

[dickyb]

The repro headlights that Eric at Maserati Spares in the Netherlands does are very good. Right down to the correct Carello logo and other markings in the polycarbonate, which can be polished and shouldn't crack like the glass originals, which are pretty much unobtainable anyway. I know about this because unknown to my wife I might have stashed a set in the shed as emergency backup spares...

Are you sure you’ve bought the correct parts? Maseratispares only list replacement headlamp covers for European spec cars due to original replacement headlamps being so expensive and difficult to get hold of. Your car is Japanese spec and has Ferrari lights, complete replacement headlights for your car are readily available for quite cheaply.

 

[general_piffle]

Are you sure you’ve bought the correct parts? Maseratispares only list replacement headlamp covers for European spec cars due to original replacement headlamps being so expensive and difficult to get hold of. Your car is a Japanese import so as mentioned above, replacement Ferrari headlights are readily and relatively cheaply available.

Yes, I simply like the look of the European headlights. I specified to Eric that they were for a LHD car being driven primarily on UK roads. I think aesthetically they suit the overall look of the car, especially the front end. So I bought a set that I might swap over one day if I fancy a change. I’ll keep the original Japanese spec Ferrari headlights of course.

 

[dickyb]

Yes, I simply like the look of the European headlights. I specified to Eric that they were for a LHD car being driven primarily on UK roads. I think aesthetically they suit the overall look of the car, especially the front end. So I bought a set that I might swap over one day if I fancy a change. I’ll keep the original Japanese spec Ferrari headlights of course.

Have you bought some complete European lights or just the lenses?