Refurbishment of my Maserati Mexico

[The Surveyor]

imuir said:

Hi Paul, looks very nice cant wait to see it back on the road

Cheers Ian and great to hear from you. I hope all's going well for you over there.

[The Surveyor]

The Surveyor said:

Trommel said:

Interested to see how that has turned out - has it just been refinished in the same colour?

Yes, it'll be the original, non-sun bleached 'tan' colour which is close to the 'Ferrari Beige'. They mixed the new colour off a sample taken from the underside of the rear centre consol and is lovely warm rich colour, not unlike a 'Caramac' bar....

Paul

Here is a picture of the seat bases which have been refurbished by The Furniture Clinic, near Gateshead. Very pleased with the results.


If you're wondering about the speaker holes, I've not replaced the rear panels despite there being very little cost difference as it would mean replacing the hardboard, and as the originals are signed by the person who made them back in 1968, I thought they should stay as part of the cars history! Yes despite the speaker holes looking crap....

Paul

[Loose_Cannon]

That caramac interior gives me goosebumps, just gorgeous. I'm going for a similar colour in the resto of my Lotus Elite

[d.wilde]

Any update on this thread ? I'm trying to get mine back on the road after 20 years off.

[blondini]

Glad this thread has been bumped. I'm in love

[Carsie]

d.wilde said:

Any update on this thread ? I'm trying to get mine back on the road after 20 years off.

This is exactly what I like about PH. You have a car sat in your garage/mind/WHY and for reasons beyond your control (read divorce/money-Elan )and someone, somewhere else, nudges you along and reminds you about why you skulk here

Really nice, Charles and Paul, very classy.

[The Surveyor]

Yours looks fantastically original Charles, a nice early 4.2. I may be asking for some pictures of some details to help put mine back together....

Mine should be home after some bodywork for Easter, I've had new sills, new door bottoms and some patch repairs in the lower wings fabricated and welded in and the car will also have a full repaint. The car is very solid with no rust to the floor-pan or chassis tubes at all which was great news and I just can't wait to see it with it's fresh paint. Photo's will follow... :-)

Then the wheels will be sent off for refurbishment and there are some small mechanical jobs to be done including putting the re-cored radiator back in.

The target is still the Le Mans Classic....

Charles, does your car have seat-belts, if so could you get me a couple of photographs?

[d.wilde]

Yes mine has seat-belts but I don't know if it's original. The car looks to be untouched. The engine was rebuild in Modena in 1976 and the color was changed from burgundy to silver. That's all. It's off the road since 1990.







It needs some bodywork, but we've seen worse especially on Vignale body.

[The Surveyor]

Thanks for the pictures Charles. Those little rust bubbles look very familiar, but otherwise it looks great considering it's been off the road for the last 12 years.

Mine has the same seat-belt mounts at the top of the rear rear 1/4 panel, only mine still has plastic blanking plugs. I'll need to look at getting some 'belts fitted as I just don't fancy driving without.....

Paul

[The Surveyor]

Here is a little update on the Mexico, progress has been slow, painfully slow at times to the point where it's not going to be heading out to the Le Mans Classic as planned 6 months ago.

I do keep telling myself that it'll be worth it once it's running and looking stunning....



Replacement panels and patches have been done and it's had it's first thin skim of filler, but there are plenty of detail areas to address before i'm happy for the painting to start.

Paul

[d.wilde]

Nice to see that your project is on the way.

Here is a small video of the restart of my car : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ChUrW6dRw

Another cool video with Vittorio Gassmann and his Mexico ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrhCezBgk4

[The Surveyor]

Bodywork progress continues to be slow whilst the bodyshop guys are away on holiday but i'm pleased with the results so far.

Just been lucky with a purchase of a full set of new tyres to replace the 235/70 Goodyear Grand Prix S tyres which are currently on. These are the wrong size and good old ebay has come to the rescue with a full set of the correct spec Pirelli Cinturato HS CN72 tyres in the right 205VR15 size. Brand new, never been fitted and only a year or so old:-







The seller had bought them for his Mk1 Jensen Interceptor but they didn't fit properly, nice guy with a nice car too. Interestingly the Mk1 Interceptor shares loads of parts with the Mexico including; Numberplate lights (Ferrari 330 as well!), door handles, door locks, quarterlight knobs, dash-top air vents, toggle switches, Ashtrays, arm rests, rear window catches.. All worth knowing when i'm looking for spares.

Job for the weekend is to polish up the side grilles

Paul

[Flying Phil]

Very nice and different (- Though I must confess I thought I was going to read about one of Dagenham's finest with a transplanted Big Rover V8!)

[Parabola]

Wonderful stuff. Majestic car. Really enjoying your updates.

[ClaesB]

Christ!!One of the coolest cars ever made,so much style!One of my absolute
favourite cars ever,along with the Iso Rivolta 300.
Really envy you!!!

[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

[A9XXC]

Loving this thread.....

[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

[nicanary]

The Surveyor said:

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

This is my first visit to this thead, so forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but I love your reference to the build quality.

It's always been my belief that Masers were constructed to a higher quality than Ferraris. I've been led to understand that elements of the running gear, like steering arms and suspension members, are machined from billets of steel, rather than "made up" like "the other lot". Not cast, not welded, but MACHINED. Enzo of course always thought the engine to be far more important than the chassis.

Real craftsmanship from engineers who cared. Lovely. Good luck, looking forward to the finished article. Forza the Trident!