The good morning thread

[CatmanV2]

Would love a job that gets quiet the closer to Christmas you get....and gives you a week off.....ITs just getiing more manic the closer we get...PLus I am off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...working Boxing day....Ah well it pays the bills.

Well, it's not *quite* that simple. The customers get more stressed so every little thing gets blwon out of all proportion, plus I have to spend most of my summer on fruitless phone calls explaining why it's not going to go wrong. Then we get ignorant (in a technical sense) Americans who are *supposed* to deal with one part of *their* support process demanding to know how we'll cope with the 'peak' on the 26th.... *sigh*.
Still, out again tonight, and then I reckon 10 more days in the office
C

 

[Mr.Cambio]

Morning everyone. Wow..what a day yesterday...700kms business trip, then back to Athens, for basketball training and to watch the hobbit in cinema. Got very tired, but i liked it all.

Going to the office today a bit late, but i needed some relax.. The Fiat seems to need a new battery...let's see if it ignits.
I'll be expecting the result of yesterday's trip as well..

Have a nice one.

 

[CatmanV2]

Hope the trip was worthwhile, Nikos.

C

 

[Parisien]

Ditto Cman...hoping it turns out a good result for you Nikos

P

 

[Mr.Cambio]

thank you guys..a few hours away from the result..

 

[zagatoes30]

Morning rabble.

Woke up about an hour ago so today is going to be a struggle.

Still no Maserati on the horizon, who was it who said "good things come to those who wait?"

You shouldn't have sold the one you had....

No that is silly as I wouldn't have one.

Keep searching one will turn up eventually

 

[Parisien]

Morning Andy.

The GS thing is all a bit weird at the moment.

There are a few out there but prices are all over the place.

There are a few dealers that keep putting on GS's for silly money. Ok they are low mileage examples but still, this has a knock on effect do anyone looking to sell, look at the ones for sale and again over inflate their prices.

All this does is stagnate the market as they don't sell.

I might have to wait until the current batch clear and the market settles.

Great news for anyone with a GS though.

Certainly muddies the water for those considering a GT at similar money, who would have thought!

P

 

[conaero]

Tough call that one Frank.

The 4.2 GranTurismo and the GS are very different cars. Out of the two, I would always take the GS, but the GT is a lot of car for the money and it more advanced by a long way.....and it looks better, well, more modern.

 

[Parisien]

Its a pleasant conundrum to find yourself in, but if searching for an LE Matt, just narrows the field down to one/two a year really


P

 

[MAF260]

Stupid money Matt.....25/26k max for a GS....30K plus just doesn't make an sense as these ycars still have money to loose I believe as they have not hit that 'classic' status yet and big engine cars are hard to sell and will contine to be going forward.....ou are right these high price cars are just sitting around.....The only GS worth 30k plus is th MC Victory or GS Spyder....When ou see a 66k mile car up for 17k you can see the difference in price......that gap is far too big and will close over the next year or two.

I disagree (and not just because I'm a GS owner!). The price of GranSports has remained steady over the past 3 years to the point of starting to increase in some cases. The best thing that ever happened to the value of these cars was the 4.2 GranTurismo being released. Although very pretty and a much more modern design, it's slower, heavier, bigger and only available in automatic. This helps the value of the later 4.7 cars and contributes to the buoyant value of GranSports IMO. I bought my GS a year ago this week (and have loved every minute!) - I reckon I could get more than I paid now, even with 7k more miles under her belt.
A similar comparison would be the Porsche 911 range - 964 and 993 values dropped as the cars aged and new 'bigger, fatter, modern' variants were produced. Now look at the prices of the later 996s, literally on the floor aside from turbo, C4S or GT3 variants. I predict the 997 will go the same way. The 993 is seen as special and the last of the true 911 concept so values have followed accordingly. I think the GS is in this territory.

 

[Parisien]

Fair comment Mark...and more or less spot on!

P

 

[BennyD]

Fair point Mark, but the big difference is the numbers of cars and models Porsche made. Also, the 993 was the last of what purists call the real (air cooled) 911. Prices were always going to hold firm whereas there was a lot of opposition to water cooled 911s and, as a result, 996 prices are getting quite low. However, I do agree that the GT 4.2s perceived 'deficiencies' will keep GS prices firm, ish.

 

[drewf]

Morning all! Very nearly, anyway...

2500 pages!! Excellent

About to leave the office at Heathrow, do a couple of hours of meetings at the Gatwick project, then that's it - officially off to the Eurotunnel ('cos it's too windy for Susie to get on a ferry), and we will be living near Geneva from tomorrow

 

[Felonious Crud]

Best of luck, Drew!

 

[zagatoes30]

Over the last 12 months I believe that sports car prices have been firming up. This seems to be driven by rises in the classic market, the barometer of this market always seems to be Jags. They made enough for rarity not to have a significant impact on demand therefore they tend to follow the market up and down. Mk2 & E types have been rising steadily over this time.

This has had a knock on effect with those who can no longer afford the Classic they desire are looking for alternatives and the 10 - 20 year old sports car is starting to gain appeal. Merc SL, 911s, Italian Coupes are all on the increase (especially good ones). Maserati 80s cars are a real enthusiasts choice, not that many were made, they were a bit individual shall we say and are still considered fragile but the later models seem to be considered safer.

The 3200 is on the edge is it the last of the older Maserati or is it the first of the rejuvenated one and hence the price reflects this. 4200, GS are securely the latter and prices are steadying if not actually firming up. I considered hard when buying mine as it was a bit more than I was hoping to pay but looking around I found all the better cars Coupe & Spyder were about the same price.

If you think about it a 4200 for less than £20k is a lot of car for the money, the GS is that bit later and the prices reflect this. Given the current trend I think they will continue to firm up with good ones starting to move to the upper end of the £20k bracket with £30k ones not being that unusual.

 

[ratirati]

Went to the garage today to put a new battery in the Vespa and warm it up. I like to start all my motorbikes once a week in the winter for about 10 minutes to keep them charged and lubricated. Wishing it was warm enough to ride.

If anybody else has scooters or motorcycles, I highly recommend Shorai Lithium-Iron-Phosphate batteries. They weigh 80% lighter than lead-acid types and they only lose about 10% of a full charge over a year. And, they last twice as long. They should make car size batteries. They only make batteries for power sports. see: http://shoraipower.com/batteries-c41

I can always drive the Maserati now and then. It's not may daily driver. It's only for joy rides.

Some pics of the 2008 Vespa GT200L Granturismo.

 

[midlifecrisis]

Lithium Ion batteries are the future, they're used in laptops, mobile phones and now Tesla cars and Boeing 787's as they're energy dense. The issue that they do suffer from is thermal runaway. We've all heard of the above bursting into flames, so if you are going down that route, get a quality battery with good electrical regulation and ensure that you have fire protection!

 

[ratirati]

Lithium Ion batteries are the future, they're used in laptops, mobile phones and now Tesla cars and Boeing 787's as they're energy dense. The issue that they do suffer from is thermal runaway. We've all heard of the above bursting into flames, so if you are going down that route, get a quality battery with good electrical regulation and ensure that you have fire protection!

Thanks. Good to know.

 

[tess]

finished work til saturday, i sooo need a break, been a **** 2 wks, xmas do in the Celtic Manor Resort tomorrow, very posh, cant wait, hope this cold has gone away by then

 

[hodroyd]

Hello Chaps & Tess,
Had a lunch out today which went on longer than I thought. Finished cleaning and wax coat of kitchen terracotta floor, nice and shiny but dog is sliding about a bit until it settles down.
Ratirati,
It's ages since I have been to Philly, nice place to live, but too many bridges if you don't know where you are going..!!
Nikos,
Hope everything pans out as you want it, you work hard enough for things to go right..!!
Have a good one, what's left of it. The weather here is starting to turn at the moment, windy and rain expected..!!
Cheers
R