Any Merak experts on here?

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

I ahve always had a fondness for a merak after driving one about 15 years ago. I ahve been offred one as a PX for my race car and was wondering if anyone here knows much about them?

thanks

[marc.l]

Sold my low milage merak last year, great cars. drop me a line if you need any advice
marc

Edited by marc.l on Monday 27th October 16:45

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

Thanks Marc

Its maonly to do with pricing as the guy isnt selling his but has offered to swap it for my racing car which I have advertised for 14k. His merak is a left hooker as well.

I drove one a few years back and really enjoyed it, so im not averse to the idea, just dont want to get the financial side of it wrong or end up with a lemon through naivety.

They have always been on my list of cars to own , so maybe this is fate.

[marc.l]

My only complaint was the price of parts, compaired to the ferraris I`ve owned they are 2-3 times the price. The bill for a new clutch came to just short of £4k if I remember correctly........ but it was one of my wife fave cars. At the time I also had a dino, a 930 turbo and few other bits and bobs.

[atomicpunk]

Slightly off topic, but that's a beautiful silver shadow you have there!

[plasticpig]

I know a bit about them. What year is the Merak? There are a few diffrences between the Citroen era cars and the De Tomaso era. You should seriously consider getting the car inspected by a Maserati specialist. I cant remeber the name of the garage off the top of my head but there is a very good specialist in Hertfordshire. I am sure current Maser owners will know the one I mean.

Edited by plasticpig on Monday 27th October 18:01

[3200gt]

Bill McGrath

[Maximo550]

Nobody has yet mentioned the rust element.

[plasticpig]

Maximo550 said:

Nobody has yet mentioned the rust element.

They rust..... a lot. Its piece of 70's Italian exotica its to be expected IIRC around the fuel tanks the boot floor and the front suspension mounts are places to look for it. Unless its a very poor example I would have thought all of the rust traps to have been sorted.

[marc.l]

Mine was a very late year car with a ZF gearbox, early ones had citron gear boxs. It also had the full citron hydrolics for the brakes and the clutch which i think is unusual. Mine had a nasty habbit of going through cluch slave cylinders and also 3 cluches in 18k miles, 2 of them due to a leaking crank case oil seal. parts for the starter motor are no longer available but McGraphs sell some second hand parts still. Cam chains are also quite hard to adjust as they are in the midle of the engine rather than on the end and the water pump is tight up against the bulk head and a hard job to maintain. I also had to have all the exhaust heat sheilds replaced as the are made from aspestos.....

Edited by marc.l on Monday 27th October 22:19

[Beckham]

A friend of mine was at a garage having his car MOTd, when he spied a very shiny Maserati Khamsin in the workshop.
He said the car looked pristine. The engineer laughed then showed him the failure sheet.
The car was as rotten as a pear and conservatively needed several thousands spent on it, just in the rust department.
Gorgeous car nevertheless.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

Thanks for the info guys. I havent heard anything sonce earlier this week so not sure if its going to happen now. appreciate the comments nonetheless