Refurbishment of my Maserati Mexico

[The Surveyor]

Cheers guys.

The Mexico is such a beautiful thing to work on, everything is beautifully hand made, full of flaws, full of detail, and full of history. Every section of chrome trim that i've taken off is stamped with the build number (224 for mine), the door cards were signed by the original trimmer and such like.

Add to that the huge quad-cam V8 with it's quartet of twin-choke Webers, 5 speed ZF 'box, factory air-con, electric windows and lovey old leather all clothed in a taught Vignale body which does actually look better in the flesh... what's not to love

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Just a few more pictures guys.

I've had the huge radiator repaired and re-cored by Advanced Radiators in Newcastle who have done a fantastic job. I've given the whole thing a clean and a few coats of satin black




Paul

[The Surveyor]

The original FIAMM Road-master air horns have also been cleaned and the brackets re-plated in bright silver zinc along with the bonnet catches:-





Paul

[The Surveyor]

I've been looking for replacement side-marker indicators as the originals which had a polished alloy bezel had deteriorated after 40 years of Italian sunshine (on the right).

The replacement ones which have been re-made have a galv-steel bezel (the one in the middle) look fine from a distance but loose a little on the bling front compared to the originals. I have been lucky to pick us some new-old-stock Carrello ones which have the alloy bezels and they will look fantastic even though the lens profile is very slightly different to the originals (on the left).



Oh and do you like the replacement 'Mexico' script which was custom made by the factory via Chris McNabb of Bill McGrath Ltd

Paul

[The Surveyor]

That's a nice looking car Roger but those exhaust extensions look a little... extended!

Those are the standard location for the exhausts but they should have a nice round plain end. The rear exhaust section on mine isn't standard so i'll be looking to get a new custom stainless unit made up



Mine are swept to the left of the rear but would still skin your shins...

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Nice to see it outside Charles, and i must say i love your garage, beautiful.

Just looking at the pictures of your car, it has the later type of external door handles unlike the earlier car which shares the Jensen handle.

Thanks for the tips on the brakes and exhaust parts. I'll be doing a full re-furb of the brakes including getting the master cylinder seals replaced, both the brake and clutch units look a little damp behind the pedals!

Cheers

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Oh that makes sense Charles, all part of the cars history

Paul

[The Surveyor]

denis23 said:

Hi,

I am Jensen Interceptor MK1 owner, and newbie on this forum. Like to add my comments about Mexico and Interceptor parts availability.

Actually, there is quite lot of shared parts between early Mk1 Interceptor and Mexico.

Some remarkable stuff:

Bumpers and overriders.
Door furniture (ashtrays, handles, armrest, vent window handles, lock knob bezels, round covers for manual window etc, etc, etc). General layout of door card is also identical.
B-post brightwork.
Front turning light assemblies (same Alfa GT)
Bonnet locks
Recaro front seats (same some Lancia, and some other cars)
Door outer handles (and same for Tatra 613!!!)
Instruments (Speedo, tachometer, clocks etc)
Lucas toggle switches (quite rare, found only on Interceptor MK1 and Mexico, and little bit different on Alfa GT)
Dashboard air vents
Handbrake lever

Round fender turning lights is same like Lada 1200-1300 and GAZ-24 Volga, still easily find NOS for cheap in former USSR.
Check here:
http://www.osta.ee/volga-voi-lada-suunatuled-17450...

Door red lights is also Lada.
http://www.osta.ee/en/lada-2103-uksetuled-20042877...

Your observations are generally spot-on Denis

There are loads of the internal details which are shared including the door furniture as you say. The Mexico instruments have the Maserati Trident on the face so whilst they may be the same mechanism, they wouldn't be a straight swap. Those Lucas toggle switches are the same though.

Yes, same air vent and seat frames too, but the Mexico seats are trimmed differently, I'm not sure on the bonnet locks but do know the bumpers are not interchangeable. The overriders do look the same though but the blades profile is different on the ones I've seen. Same rear numberplate light as I've indicated before and yes, you're spot-on with the front side repeater, that Lada one is perfect and I wish I'd known that before buying some in the uk for a small fortune.....

That Lada door light is different to the Mexico one. Maserati used a Lucas unit which is shared with some Ferrari's and again seam to cost a bloody fortune. has a nice projecting chrome bezel.

It's good to know that there are alternatives for these beautiful cars and given the common Vignale design and production, the shared stuff shouldn't be a surprise. Both great cars

cheers Paul

Edited by The Surveyor on Monday 23 July 21:14

[The Surveyor]

denis23 said:

Are door lights is this:

http://www.400gt.com/photos/misc/11lucas.jpg

Then its Interceptor too.

Yes, those are the ones Denis.

A few sets have cropped up on eBay but rise to silly money but if you know where they can be bought new economically, I'd be delighted to know. Mine are serviceable but new would be better.....

Thanks

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Just the lenses, the chrome and rubber holders are perfect but the red lenses seam to get very brittle with age!

Paul

[The Surveyor]

James

I've been looking at some older photos of the Mexico including some motor-show pictures and they had the extended wheelbarrow handle type exhaust extensions so I'm thinking that they must have been original and for no other purpose than styling....

Once mine is runining I'll see if there is any small coming into the cabin on the move, hopefully it'll just be fresh air and the soft tones of Matt Monro?

Cheers

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Yes, they are the same as used on those lovely early short-door Vixen TVR's. They do crop up on eBay and don't seam to be too expensive if you spread the net outside the UK ( for example :- http://www.ebay.it/itm/INTERRUTTORE-PULSANTE-LEVA-...

The stickers for those toggle switches have also been remade so if you need to freshen up your existing switches, speak to the very helpful Chris McNabb from Bill Magrath Maserati as they can supply the full set of labels.

Paul

[The Surveyor]

The progress on the Mexico refurbishment is still slow, but thankfully still moving forward. the stripping of paint has identified some more historic accident damage, specifically to the rear offside wing and the front panel along with some minor rust along the lower edges of the rear wings. I've also decided to put the exhaust back to standard, taking off the side-exit twin pipes and going back to the twin shin basher exhausts. The cut-outs had been welded over and these have now been opened up.

To help things along i've bought a new polished stainless exhaust system from Maserati Source Inc of California via ebay, won for a grand price of $199. That arrived today and it's lovely


Cleaned rear wing.


Front valance, pulled straight and with the first skim of filler to remove the ripples.


Rear valance with the old exhaust cut-outs opened up.


Lovely shiny new bargain stainless steel exhaust....

Paul

[The Surveyor]

The registry is great Charles-Henry, I'll dig out my original Italian registration documents with the date of first registration and first owner etc if that's of interest. Glad to see that the exhaust will fit too, I've been quoted £700 to have a pair of matching stainless manifolds fabricated locally by a specialist so may go for those as well.

It's all good

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Chad speed said:

$199 for that exhaust system from Maseratisource is a bargain, Jacques prices have been creeping up over the last 3 years or so to the point where they are almost double what they were, perhaps he decided he wanted to become a millionaire. The Mexico is looking great Paul and I envy you being at the stage where you can start refurbishing and fitting shiny bits, its always more satisfying than beating metal.
Have you sorted out the bumpers?

Still no news on the bumpers but I'm currently blocked from my email by those lovely helpful people at Microsoft.... Yes, very pleased with the price of the exhaust, they still have them with a buy-now price over £1,000 so didn't hold much hope when he put it into an eBay auction and yes, was very pleased to win it as the only bidder. Very pleased indeed

[The Surveyor]

Morning Pete, mine's not the red one old bean or are you viewing in black and white.... Lol.

On the topic of right hand drive Mexico's, the original August 1968 'Car' magazine review has one registered DCB 1 in black, or very dark green / blue with a tan interior. apparently owned by David Blackburn of the dealer Chipstead and loaned to the magazine as the Ghibli they intended to test broke down



Thé blue one reg TRP 61F as restored by Mark Donovan is featured in the March 2007 Classic Car Magazine and looks amazing in the photo's.

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Getting more than a little brassed off with the lack of progress on the bodywork, yes the car still isn't painted but I've had a very nice delivery today. The new shiny polished stainless bumpers have arrived and they look stunning......







Included bumpers, over riders and rubber inserts all from Harrington Group. They look and feel fantastic quality and they were great to deal with too. Best thing is they are now able to supply new bumpers for the Mexico

Paul

[The Surveyor]

denis23 said:

What a surprise, they stock Mk 1 Jensen Interceptor overriders?

Yes indeed Denis, i've pointed this out to the guys at Harrington on the basis that we 'think' they are compatible. They've always done the later Jensen bumpers

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Here's a little update of the progress with the bodywork. One side complete with just a small area to weld on the other side. Hopefully be ready for final paint the end of next week......... Hopefully!!!!

Paul

[The Surveyor]

McClure said:

Are you having it sprayed the original blue?

Yes, the original pale metallic blue. Don't be confused by the cream as it's just the primer. I did qute like it though lol

Paul