1969 Maserati Ghibli - The Resurection

1969 Maserati Ghibli - The Resurection

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LordBretSinclair

4,285 posts

176 months

Saturday 21st April 2012
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Danny trying to keep up in that Italian thing of his rofl

Chad speed

Original Poster:

438 posts

196 months

Saturday 21st April 2012
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Wow, a bit overwhelmed by the response.
A little bit more info on the car then; Maserati Ghibli No. AM115.992 was manufactured in March 1969 for a Mr Michael S Binns who ordered it through Maserati Concessionaires London. Interior colour was white connolly leather, exterior paint Verdi Bosco (wood green). There is a massive gap in its history from when Mr Binns sold it to 1980 which I understand is when DVLA computerised their records, details I have are:
Mr Keith Alan of Birmingham Jan 1980 - still Green!
Mr John Britton of Sparkhill, January 1980 to July 1986
Olton Business Services of Alton March 1983 - Now Red
Mr Andreas Ove Ugland of Egham, July 1986 to October 1994
Mr John Bernard Ugland of Egham, October 1994 to April 2003
Chadspeed April 2003
I bought the car from Runnymede Motor Company who had taken it in as Px on a second-hand Aston Martin, which seems to be there usual marque, and they seemed to be a bit embarrassed to have a tatty project on there hands.




In the years I've had the car, its colour, past and present has been commented on a lot, here's the interior which although re-trimmed at some time is very close to original (except the red piping)



M'lud Sinclair, that DBS of yours looks magnificent, the other car that would have tempted me at the time I bought the Ghibli was a DBS V8. The vents in the front wings are indeed similar though as you will see in good time mine had rather more ventilation in that area than required.
The white wall tyres turned out to be American re-moulds and were sold to a guy for use on his wedding hire Beauford kit car, a fitting home for them I thought.
Any insight into the cars missing history would of course be most welcome.





Edited by Chad speed on Saturday 21st April 15:49


Edited by Chad speed on Saturday 16th June 11:12

bosscerbera

8,188 posts

242 months

Saturday 21st April 2012
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Love it, and the white stripes!

Another bookmark here.


rigga

8,727 posts

200 months

Saturday 21st April 2012
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Blimey, 80-86 I could well have seen this,car motoring around as it lived very local to where I lived ...... certainly as a petrol headed youth I would have stood and stared

benjj

6,787 posts

162 months

Saturday 21st April 2012
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I would love to see a Ghibli, DBS and a Fiat Dino 2400 side by side. So many comparisons between them (apart from under the bonnet, d'accord).

LordBretSinclair

4,285 posts

176 months

Saturday 21st April 2012
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Interesting that you got the car from Runnymede Roger.

Being an Aston man the firm is well known to me and the "boss" Martin is a good friend - small world smile

Chad speed

Original Poster:

438 posts

196 months

Sunday 22nd April 2012
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LordBretSinclair said:
Interesting that you got the car from Runnymede Roger.

Being an Aston man the firm is well known to me and the "boss" Martin is a good friend - small world smile
I wonder if your friend Martin recalls the car, I think the guy I dealt with at Runnymede was called Malcolm though, not Martin? Its nine years ago I know but its not every day you come across a Ghibli so any history or anecdotes, good or bad would be welcome.
Another picture taken on the day the car arrived


Edited by Chad speed on Sunday 22 April 09:36

Oelholm

321 posts

184 months

Sunday 22nd April 2012
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Those white-walls are atrocious! Looking forward to reading about the restoration, even though I'm a bit annoyed that you'll only post weekly biggrin

What did you decide re: the colour? Any pics of the original green?

EDIT: Googled and found this - is it similar?


LordBretSinclair

4,285 posts

176 months

Sunday 22nd April 2012
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Oelholm said:
EDIT: Googled and found this - is it similar?
Ingen dets ikke. Ser på Roger's fotografier,

Hensyn, LBS

madbadger

11,555 posts

243 months

Sunday 22nd April 2012
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Marvelous. Super cool car.

smile

Chad speed

Original Poster:

438 posts

196 months

Thursday 26th April 2012
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Oelholm said:
Those white-walls are atrocious! Looking forward to reading about the restoration, even though I'm a bit annoyed that you'll only post weekly biggrin

What did you decide re: the colour? Any pics of the original green?

EDIT: Googled and found this - is it similar?

The car isn't painted yet but this is a Ghibli in Verde Bosco:



With the white interior the car would certainly have looked striking cruising through late 60’s London traffic. I think the colour is great and I’m certainly keen on period colours on classics (I’ve had a yellow SE5a Scimitar and pistachio green Lotus Elite 501), the issue I have is metallic vs solid paint. I fully intend to use the car on a regular basis so inevitably it will take a few knocks and repairing a solid paint is, for me at least, much easier than a metallic. Unlike modern cars there are no panel joints or rubbing strips to disguise the join of new and old paint. I also have enough experience in automotive spraying to be happy spraying it myself in a solid colour, only done a bit of metallic and It wasn’t a great effort.
At this rate I can see my self imposed once a week picture post slipping.

Decky_Q

1,500 posts

176 months

Thursday 26th April 2012
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Good stuff, dont think I could keep checking back to get all the story!

Fantastic looking car even in teh delivery shots, cant wait to see it when 'restored'

Chad speed

Original Poster:

438 posts

196 months

Friday 27th April 2012
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This picture was taken a few days after I took ownership of the car and is the only one I have showing the damage to the nearside front wing. The car was delivered by the vendor on a car transporter and driven into the garage, unfortunately they forgot the brakes didn't work and crunched the front against a heavy steel work bench. After a somewhat heated phone call we came to an amicable agreement regarding compensation value.

Just a bit of general info on Ghibli’s for those interested, there were a number of detail changes as the car was developed through its 6 year production life, when manufacture ceased a total of 1149 coupes and 125 spyders had been made (precise production figures vary).
Here’s a link to Ruiz and Straub’s excellent guide courtesy of Ivan at The Car Nut
http://www.thecarnut.com/Manuals/Ghibli_features_a...
’Our’ Ghibli is a mid series production European 4.7, so on the outside; square headlight pods, no indicator repeaters on the wings, discrete indicators in the front grill, no bumper overiders at the front and slim or no overiders at the back. Inside we have toggle switches, metal not plastic air vents and ignition key in the dashboard. All Ghibli had air conditioning and electric windows but power steering was only an option, not taken up in our case.

bosscerbera

8,188 posts

242 months

Friday 27th April 2012
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Kidstons are restoring - more like remanufacturing! - a yellow Ghibli Spyder at the moment.

Some excellent photo reference in the build up photos; I've been following it on their Facebook group.

Chad speed

Original Poster:

438 posts

196 months

Friday 27th April 2012
quotequote all
bosscerbera said:
Kidstons are restoring - more like remanufacturing! - a yellow Ghibli Spyder at the moment.

Some excellent photo reference in the build up photos; I've been following it on their Facebook group.
Thanks for the heads up on that one, googled it but without success - got a link?

P.S Loving your Espada, and the rest of your garage for that matter. Like my humble fleet, minimum 3 litre and not a FWD car in sight biggrin

bosscerbera

8,188 posts

242 months

Friday 27th April 2012
quotequote all
Chad speed said:
bosscerbera said:
Kidstons are restoring - more like remanufacturing! - a yellow Ghibli Spyder at the moment.

Some excellent photo reference in the build up photos; I've been following it on their Facebook group.
Thanks for the heads up on that one, googled it but without success - got a link?

P.S Loving your Espada, and the rest of your garage for that matter. Like my humble fleet, minimum 3 litre and not a FWD car in sight biggrin
Kidston Facebook Link

Following your project with interest - the Ghibli is my favourite Maserati. I actually like the white stripe tyres. smile

Thanks re garage - the 3 Litre actually has a blown 5 Litre making its way into it... tongue out

Chad speed

Original Poster:

438 posts

196 months

Friday 27th April 2012
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4.7 litres of Maserati V8 with Quad camshafts, four twin choke 42 DCNF Webbers and dry sump lubrication.

I knew the engine was likely to need at least a top end rebuild, the car had been stored for a number of years, smoked badly and had low compression on three cylinders. Observing the exhaust at various throttle positions and oiling the bores before and after doing a compression test indicated worn bores/pistons on the three low compression cylinders and probably poorly seating valves on all cylinders. The distance from the front of the bonnet to the centre of gravity of the engine/box unit is huge and an estimate of the combined weight plus a bit for safety indicated that l would need an engine crane with a capacity well in excess of the usual one I borrow. The solution was to hire a commercial plant lifting crane, which was an absolute monster and able to lift 2500kg at 2 metres, sadly can’t find any pictures of it. As with most cars, extracting the engine takes most of the day to remove as many obstacles as possible, and then 15 minutes to lift the engine, roll the car back, and lower it onto a dolly. All went smoothly with the exception of removing the prop shaft as the bolts on the Hooke’s type UJ’s had previously been rounded. I was able to overcome this by sliding the female splined shaft out from the gearbox output shaft. A word of caution, this should only be attempted if you are prepared to do further work on the box or replace the now obsolete output shaft bearing. The rollers in the bearing are retained in a cage that, if even slightly worn, allows them to drop out when the prop shaft is removed. Guess what happened when I did it?

Engine out and two days worth of scraping to remove the ¼” thick underseal in the engine bay and the bulkhead sound proofing. Note holes in engine bay through to nearside inner wing along bonnet edge, and remains of original green paint.

Chad speed

Original Poster:

438 posts

196 months

Saturday 28th April 2012
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Elderly said:
I have VERY fond memories of a passenger ride in a Ghibli.

Late 1960's, early hours of the morning in the West End.

I pulled up next to one at traffic lights in Orchard Street,
wound down the window of my Alfa and said in my best Italian - 'What a beautiful car'.
Much to my surprise it was driven by somebody whom I had been at school with.

The Alfa was rapidly parked, and I got into, what to me at the time was like the
interior of a space ship.

I will never forget watching the speedo as we accelerated along the road between Chalk Farm
and Swiss Cottage - and reached an indicated 137 'Leptons' thumbup.
Green with envy, I've never driven one or been a passenger. When I do eventually drive mine I'm under no illusions that it will be anything other than a 43 year old car but then I guess that's the point of a classic, foibles and short comings add to the character.
Can you remember what colour the Ghibli you blagged a ride in was?

Oelholm

321 posts

184 months

Saturday 28th April 2012
quotequote all
LordBretSinclair said:
Ingen dets ikke. Ser på Roger's fotografier,

Hensyn, LBS
Good effort beer

Jw Vw

4,826 posts

162 months

Saturday 28th April 2012
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Watching this thread with interest. That interior is gorgeous cloud9