Used car lot shenanigans and my quest for a Maserati!
 

Inspired by an episode of "Wheeler Dealers" on cable TV in which they found a bargain Maserati 4200GT with a couple niggling problems (hydraulic shifting servo leaks) that wound up being a beautiful car, I set out to find one for myself. The motor is a 4.2L sourced from Ferrari along with the dual disc paddle-shifted automatic trans (called a Cambiocorsa). The cars sold for $100K new but are pretty much unloved due to lack of reliability and replacement parts cost. I set out on a similar quest for an American Spec Maserati CambioCorsa GT as an occasional-use around town car. My logic may be flawed but I was thinking "if the miles are low and you don't drive it a lot, it shouldn't break down a lot, right?" I checked the usual sources for parts like alternator and starter and they are available and not outrageously priced so I decided to get serious.

I found a 2004 with 46K miles listed on CarGuru's locally for cheap. The pics showed a beautiful silver-gray car that looked incredibly nice for the price so I called the dealer. I even searched the internet for the source of the pics which came right back to the dealer's ad so I assumed they were legit.

Moe (short for Moses I assume) at the dealership tells me "Great car, bought it at auction a while back and can't seem to find a buyer for it. They have a reputation for being expensive to maintain but for a weekend cruiser it is a great car. Everything works, yada, yada." I question fluid leaks and am assured everything is high and dry. Clutch slippage? "Nope we had it dealer scanned and it had 76% clutch life left." CarFax says no accidents but notes frame damage? Moe says "Yeah, it's a Florida car and has some surface rust underneath and the auction is required to note that. Nothing structural, looks like a normal 2004 car underneath."

So I take the 1-1/2 drive into the bowels of Cal-City near the Indiana border with a buddy. We arrive at the lot and walk around looking for the car. Based on the pics it's a Silver-gray coupe. I finally spy the front end and staring back at me is a sandy beige metallic Maserati with headlight covers so sun-faded they are almost brown. I had to laugh to myself that the pics were not even this car. A quick look at the interior confirmed this as the center console bezel in the pics was silver and this one was wood-grain. My buddy who saw the pics says to me "Is this the right car?" I just laughed and said "The pics were somebody's car but not this one."

The paint is sun faded and rough as a corncob with a couple spot painted rust repairs on the roof. I walk around to the passenger side and the wheel arch lip is so badly bubbled from rust underneath you could push your finger through.

Moe, undeterred, says "You want to hear it?" He fires it up and I hear the metallic clanging of the cam chain slapping from a sluggish tensioner building up oil pressure. It's loud like a car with a rusted out exhaust which came as no surprise. I'm listening as the idle is jumping up and down as the A/C condensor keeps kicking in and out like it's out of freon. Moe pokes his head out and says "I know I said everything worked but now the A/C fan isn't blowing. It's crazy, it worked last time it was started." I replied "You sure it doesn't just need a recharge? (the famous line every used car salesman tells a customer when the A/C is fubar)" Moe says "No the A/C is working, you can hear the compressor running, just the fan doesn't blow" I looked at my buddy and said "The fan doesn't blow but the car certainly does. Let's get out of here."

I laughed about it (mostly at myself for running a fool's errand) all the way home.

Pics of "the car", not necessarily the one I saw. I see the dealer took the pics down.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...924/4aabPa.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...923/piZx7v.jpg

If you do find one I hope you get lucky and find a good one and get to enjoy it for a long time, trouble free and all. :car:

For me I think I would like an air cooled bug, a nice cheap side project. I doubt I will be in a position to think of Italian super cars for a very long time.

When you get a Maserati post some burn out pics. :D

Hey thanks! I think reality is quickly setting setting in that a "good one" is going to set me back double the asking price of this one I looked at and that they are all high maintenance regardless of mileage.

Good job on taking off.
Money pit vehicles that are never correct in anyway.

gosh, you made a good choice to walk away....jinkies

Dodged a bullet no matter bait and switch or not.

Buy another Pontiac. ;)

I wonder how many previous owners there were. That's the kind of car that once it passes down from the original owner and it's depreciated in value, it tends to end up in the hands of someone who can afford to buy it but can't afford to maintain it.

Sounds like a real circus!!! Clown and all.....

I probably would have asked 'Moe' if Larry and Curly were working today.

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

Nothing more expensive than a cheap Maserati (mercedes, jaguar, fill in the blank).

Yeah, that was in the back of mind when I said "Are you Moe?" I decided to take the high road just knowing he was probably a good Christian (lol) who like his biblical namesake was going to lead me through the desert to the "Maserati promised land"! lol

My brother bought a Maserati bi turbo in the late 80s that POS was in the shop more than it drove . I thought the new ones must be better so when a friend was selling one I asked some of my car dealer buddies they all said the same thing.

Forget it, It’ll be in the shop more than you drive it, I guess the song remains the same �� But a nice BMW m3 convertible or something . They are very reliable I’ve owned a bunch of them . The 8 series or maybe 6 series BMW convertible BMW had engine bearing issues though.
If you can swing it buy a Tesla roadster
Our Tesla is the best car I’ve ever owned and I had a lot of different
cars through the years and Tesla has lowered prices now that a lot of tooling and R&D is paid for …
Wish I could tell. You to go buy a nice almost new firebird convertible but sadly there’s no such thing anymore

That really sucks.

"Used car salesmen" really give used car salesmen a bad name LOL.

The Biturbo was a whole other level of poor quality, but they don't have much to do with Maserati's current lineup other than the nameplate. My cousin had one, mainly just for grins and giggles since he was able to pick it up for basically nothing. It was a horrible car, although it was pretty quick when it worked.

Sorry to hear this didn’t work out. If you have ever heard one of these or a quadraporte (spelling?) on a track they sound amazing. There must be a popular aftermarket exhaust because they all sound the same.

Now you have me curious. Would be a really fun weekend car- I personally love the looks of these and the new jag F type.

I like something like this

https://www.bmwwest.com/used/Maserat...gurus_listings

Well at least you've got a sense of humor about it.

Yeah, Moe was just a hustler trying to make money the old fashioned way. It was kind of reassuring to see the more things change (CarGurus) the more things stay the same (dealers still running the old bait and switch).

I was telling my buddy "We're doing this the hard way. We're supposed to be sitting at home looking at our phones and ordering a used car to be delivered. What could possibly go wrong?"

I nearly bought one of those Ferrari-engine Maseratis for myself before I settled on my 911. I was scared away by the crazy price of the recommended yearly maintenance. They are really cool though.

ya the CarVana vending machine....the BNL had a Ferrari once, nobody in the city could maintain the thing - pretty cool tho

The little coupe has a 385-hp version of Ferrari's 360 Modena DOHC 32-valve V-8 (bored, stroked, and crank-configured/no flat plane). When new, 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, quarter mile in 13.2-seconds @110mph, 177 mph top speed. The motor makes all the Ferrari noises too. They are very cool cars.