21st Century Spyders

[ian-ross_1]

An introduction: I have a soft spot for Maseratis confirmed in the 1990’s when I was lent an OSCA (1600cc) by a friend. Stupidly I did not buy it for what was even then a ridiculously low price as I had a young family which could not fit in an extremely noisy performance car, though a young lady pulled up beside me at the lights and said it was the most beautiful car she had ever seen. Finally in 2010 I bought a distress sale 3200GT – reduced from £30k to 15 which had only 15K on the clock. It had probably the worst road handling of any car I have owned and proved expensive to run mainly due to the mish mask of Bosch and Marelli electrical sensors. But once sorted it it was a lovely car to drive on my weekly commute to Paris where I then worked. I kept it for 5 years before selling it to a neighbour who changed cars like shirts. Occasionally seen again in the small ads the reducing sales price indicated a car that none of its subsequent owners could afford to maintain. I assume BU51 FXE must be close to being scrapped.

Next whim/project was a 1965 Mistral which was a genuine UK RHD import but had no history. The previous owner had spent £49000 (excluding labour costs) in rebuilding it. Structurally and mechanically it was very sound but stripping it down revealed more filler than aluminium, and lots of invisible bodges. Correspondence with Maserati confirmed its heritage and, to my surprise, told me that its original colour was a non-metallic Cambridge Blue (I have forgotten the Italian for this) and is the only car Maserati produced in this colour – thought there is a Ferrari GTO which can be seen on the DK Engineering website in the same livery. It also had the wrong wheels (15″ rather than 16″ in magnesium ally) now about to be replaced by Borrani copy replacements. So I’ve now spent more than the previous owner which I suspect is not unusual.

The point of all this is that I can no longer see any reason for keeping the Mistral, if you are interested let me know. I own cars to drive them and this is going to get little road use. What I do not have is a convertible and I want to keep the Maserati connection. Classics are out of my price range but 4200s and Gransport Spyders are not. If you know of one with a full service history with specialists please let me know. Sale of the Mistral is not a precondition for purchase.

Ian Ross

[Tony Jaskeran]

Hi Ian,

Have a look at this https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202202072253446. Nareman at Nuvola is one of the two indie dealers well trusted.

Also give Richard a call as he may be able to source a car for you, I purchased my Gransport from him. https://www.richardgracecars.co.uk

[ian-ross_1]

Thanks Tony. Don’t mean to be picky but all black is not my colour scheme of choice. I’ll give Richard a call.
Best
Ian

[Tony Jaskeran]

No problem Ian, I’m in the camp that it must be blue all my Maseratis have one shade or another. Good luck on finding the right car.

[Nigel Mattinson]

Hi Ian,  Are you still considering a 4200 Spyder? I have a blue 2002 with full service history and approx  35,000 miles which I’m selling due to house move and loss of garage. If you would like a chat let me know and we and we can work out how to connect directly. All the best N

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