1996 Ghibli GT (also fresh from Japan)

[general_piffle]

Hello forum folk, this is my first post (although I've been lurking and reading for a while) about my first Maserati. Shipped over from Japan a couple of weeks ago the car is currently with Emblem in Poole where I saw it today (for just the second time) after its inspection. I also had the pleasure of bumping into Ewan and family.

Thankfully the verdict on the Ghibli is good. No rust, sweet sounding engine, all original, early GT (with the fake filler cap but the uprated Ferrari rear diff), just a few little bits to sort such as:

Rear bumper grill and central grill (whole strip plus small panel that covers the tow bar point)
N/S and O/S door wiring gaiters
Boot carpet panel (in grey) that covers battery in the rear wheel arch
Battery cover and door closing kit
Small black plastic trim that sits behind the 'Maserati' sill cover in the bottom rear corner of the driver's door frame

If anyone has any of the above please PM me.

She's only done the equivalent of 22,000 miles and is remarkably clean. Colour combination is (I think) Verde Tundra, very, very dark green that looks dark blue or black in some light with the beige / sand interior.

Special thanks to dickyb who's been an absolute legend answering my many questions and offering some great advice. Here are a couple of not very good pictures, when I get a chance to take some decent ones I'll update:

 

[2b1ask1]

Now that is tidy indeed; good enough to show maybe...

Welcome to the madness!

 

[Contigo]

Agreed, welcome to the family of SportsMaserati and congrats on the car, you are now in the trident club. Glad you met Ewan too who is a very passionate owner. Good choice on Garage too, Emblem are top notch and Myles knows these cars like the back of his hand.

 

[Swistak]

Welcome to the forum. Very nice colour combo you've got there and the car looks really fresh, congratulations on your purchase!

 

[StuartW]

Welcome along and congratulations, that really does look very nice - enjoy

 

[Richard]

Hi Your Japanese import does look spot on. Did you buy it from an auction dealer in Japan. If so which one did you use and how did you know you could trust them

 

[JDB]

Lovely car, and welcome to the Ghibli II club!

(Richard - I'm sure I spied it being advertised on eBay by thecarwarehouse.co.uk )

 

[zagatoes30]

Welcome that is a lovely car and Emblem is the right place to have it checked over you won't go far wrong with them

 

[general_piffle]

Hi Your Japanese import does look spot on. Did you buy it from an auction dealer in Japan. If so which one did you use and how did you know you could trust them

Richard, JDB is correct, I bought it through thecarwarehouse.co.uk it took a leap of faith on my part in that I had to put a non-refundable (but transferable to another car if needed) deposit down to secure it but I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions! For example I asked to see pictures taken from underneath the car and there was no rust, so I was hopeful there'd be no rust elsewhere. Fortunately this played out.

I have some experience of Japanese people / culture and know that such a car would be a status symbol and treated extremely well. The car's condition and low mileage seemed to support this so I decided to go for it. Yes there was some luck involved but isn't there in buying any car from anywhere? Best of fortune with your purchase if you choose to take this route.

 

[ZAM400209]

hey-

thats a peach- I love those original wheels. quite difficult to find now, I think

well done for having a positive pressure effect on the Ghibli family in the UK. We don't have many 'new' cars appearing!

have you owned anything Italian before..?

 

[chad5k1]

I'm always surprised by how changeable the spec is on these cars.
GT with abs wheels and I presume ATE (non-Brembo) brakes, but the ferrari 456 diff.
Looks nice- enjoy.

 

[general_piffle]

Thanks very much ZAM! I also have a Ducati (so an idea of Italian 'character') but this is my first Italian car

hey-

thats a peach- I love those original wheels. quite difficult to find now, I think

well done for having a positive pressure effect on the Ghibli family in the UK. We don't have many 'new' cars appearing!

have you owned anything Italian before..?

 

[general_piffle]

Just been detailed by our very own detailing supremo Bruce on the forum who runs www.spiderve.com and really did a superb job. Also many thanks to dickyb for answering my millions of questions! Here she is, 1996 Maserati Ghibli GT in Verde Tundra. Some pics as promised:

 

[Jkulin]

I really like that, beautiful

 

[philw696]

Bellisimo nothing else needed to comment on her.
Well done and enjoy

 

[CatmanV2]

My word!

C

 

[StuartW]

Excellent work, that looks stunning

 

[Ebenezer]

very vey nice - boxy but in a really good way!
Eb

 

[zagatoes30]

Looks stunning, threw a bucket of water over my QP IV this weekend which has similar lines and I thought how good this will look when I get round to sorting it out. Fingers crossed next year

 

[general_piffle]

Thanks very much for the kind words gentlemen! I still have a few tiny paint bits to do, things like a bit of crazing around one of the headlight surrounds and 5 or 6 other small niggles and then she's done. Hopefully all ready for Festival Italia at Brands on Aug 14th

Is anyone else planning on going?