StuartW
Member
- Messages
- 9,321
Good evening everyone
As some of you will know, I have been on here for a while trying to gain as much knowledge as possible and thank you for all of your help.
After considering a number of different models, I decided in the end that I wanted to go for a 3200GT manual in black and ideally an Assetto Corsa. Not the easiest car I realise nor the most reliable but there's something about the aggressive styling and incredible driving sensation of those twin turbos that did it for me!
I have now taken the plunge and bought David Askew's AC # 33/75 which fit the bill being a black manual. Anyone who knows that car will know that there are issues with it, not least that it is on the register for a rear end accident in 2010 when David bought the vehicle from the insurance company before it entered into the salvage auctions. David was very surprised that it was a Cat C as he could drive the car, and the damage was to the osr quarter panel mainly plus the bumper, lights and boot. There was no damage to the rear suspension or chassis, it was just panel damage. I have all of the pictures of before, during and after the work that David undertook to get the car back on the road and it has been completed to a high standard. The added advantage here was that the notorious areas for rust around the rear arches and lights were attended to at this time.
While the bodywork was being done, David had the engine removed and fully rebuilt replacing any parts that showed signs of wear including the clutch, cam belt and shells, and then rebuilt the engine using phosphorous bronze washers which should cure any future end float issues that may arise. He also fitted a refurbished contactless throttle body. This was all done at around 31k miles and the car has now covered 36k. The car also has a good service history from Maranello up to around 2009 and speaking to Maserati UK, the sub frame recall was attended to on this car which is good news.
The other issue the car has is that there is just one key and it is not red sadly! I am hoping to get over this with David on the hunt for a full set of keys/ECU etc suitable for my car which has the secondary air system shared by the late 3200s and hopefully something will come up soon. Until then, I will be wearing the only key on a lanyard around my neck morning, noon & night just in case! If anyone has any solutions for possible key copies from a single black key, please do let me know. The best solution I could find from a search on the forum was from a company called Car Radio Decoding but I understand their proprietor Jeff Bayliss passed away so they are no longer trading sadly.
The car is also somewhat tatty, it needs a good machine polish, a few small shopping trolley dings attended to and lots of scrubbing in the interior but underneath all of this, I think it is essentially in good shape. David had already attended to much of the common interior faults such as the dashboard top creasing, the bubbling A pillars & steering wheel, the heater vents and the roof lining.
So all in all, I am still grinning, 3 days after picking the car up and it is booked into Shilltech for a service & cam belt change in 2 weeks time. Further fettling will follow and hopefully it will soon be looking very nice but what an incredible car to drive!
I will apologise in advance for the constant questions that I might post on here but thank you in advance, the forum is a great resource and I am working my way through the various fixes which are already proving a great help.
Here are a couple of pictures taken at David's before I brought it home.
Thanks everyone
As some of you will know, I have been on here for a while trying to gain as much knowledge as possible and thank you for all of your help.
After considering a number of different models, I decided in the end that I wanted to go for a 3200GT manual in black and ideally an Assetto Corsa. Not the easiest car I realise nor the most reliable but there's something about the aggressive styling and incredible driving sensation of those twin turbos that did it for me!
I have now taken the plunge and bought David Askew's AC # 33/75 which fit the bill being a black manual. Anyone who knows that car will know that there are issues with it, not least that it is on the register for a rear end accident in 2010 when David bought the vehicle from the insurance company before it entered into the salvage auctions. David was very surprised that it was a Cat C as he could drive the car, and the damage was to the osr quarter panel mainly plus the bumper, lights and boot. There was no damage to the rear suspension or chassis, it was just panel damage. I have all of the pictures of before, during and after the work that David undertook to get the car back on the road and it has been completed to a high standard. The added advantage here was that the notorious areas for rust around the rear arches and lights were attended to at this time.
While the bodywork was being done, David had the engine removed and fully rebuilt replacing any parts that showed signs of wear including the clutch, cam belt and shells, and then rebuilt the engine using phosphorous bronze washers which should cure any future end float issues that may arise. He also fitted a refurbished contactless throttle body. This was all done at around 31k miles and the car has now covered 36k. The car also has a good service history from Maranello up to around 2009 and speaking to Maserati UK, the sub frame recall was attended to on this car which is good news.
The other issue the car has is that there is just one key and it is not red sadly! I am hoping to get over this with David on the hunt for a full set of keys/ECU etc suitable for my car which has the secondary air system shared by the late 3200s and hopefully something will come up soon. Until then, I will be wearing the only key on a lanyard around my neck morning, noon & night just in case! If anyone has any solutions for possible key copies from a single black key, please do let me know. The best solution I could find from a search on the forum was from a company called Car Radio Decoding but I understand their proprietor Jeff Bayliss passed away so they are no longer trading sadly.
The car is also somewhat tatty, it needs a good machine polish, a few small shopping trolley dings attended to and lots of scrubbing in the interior but underneath all of this, I think it is essentially in good shape. David had already attended to much of the common interior faults such as the dashboard top creasing, the bubbling A pillars & steering wheel, the heater vents and the roof lining.
So all in all, I am still grinning, 3 days after picking the car up and it is booked into Shilltech for a service & cam belt change in 2 weeks time. Further fettling will follow and hopefully it will soon be looking very nice but what an incredible car to drive!
I will apologise in advance for the constant questions that I might post on here but thank you in advance, the forum is a great resource and I am working my way through the various fixes which are already proving a great help.
Here are a couple of pictures taken at David's before I brought it home.
Thanks everyone
