By this point I think we all know that I have some kind of (ir)rational lust thing going on with Maserati’s supposed savior in the 1980s (and 1990s), the Biturbo. I believe our correspondent in Tokyo thinks I’m nuts but he only sees showroom-perfect examples and then critiques the styling as if they were all children of a lesser god. Harrumph! I get to see the ones that need a little work and elbow grease and might just fit the family budget. Well, as far as the acquisition cost goes anyway. Our Jaguar is still running so that makes me hopeful. But my lust doesn’t stop with the basic Biturbo, it continues on to all of its variants and that’s the reason why Alessandro DeTomaso is on my Christmas card list. He is my pope.
Those aforementioned variants of the Biturbo are seemingly as or more plentiful than the different versions of the Cavalier. Which offered not just a 4-door, and a 2-door, and a convertible (and wagon and a hatchback which has no Maserati analogue but never mind that), but there were also Buick versions, some from Oldsmobile, more from Pontiac under multiple names and even a freaking Cadillac! And don’t get me started about the J-car variants abroad. But did anyone ever actually want a J-car? “Daddy, daddy, please buy me a J-car, it’s all I ever wanted” said no 16-year old ever. But enough people said it about Maserati’s B-car to keep them going for quite some time, more or less.
I mean there was the 4-door, the 2-door, a shortened chassis convertible (all of the previous with multiple names, suffixes, two restyles, and multiple engines), then a coupe built on the short chassis (the Kafir), a QuattroPorte (IV), the Shamal, a Ghibli (II), and I’m sure I’m forgetting at least one, but these were produced between 1981 and 1998 as variants of the same basic car and each of the litter was offered or metamorphosized into various submodels. Not like Honda with only a DX, LX, EX or nothing at all. Frankly it’s staggering, although there might (perhaps) be more branches on the Chrysler K-car family tree now that I think of it…And weirdly, one of those branches is a “by Maserati”! Hmm.
Personally I pretty much love them all (the Maseratis, not the K-cars or Cavaliers…), and while Maserati is probably at the peak of its commercial success right now under the tutelage of Stellantis, the current crop mostly leaves me cold. Give me almost anything from their first three eras of commercial not-so-overwhelming-success, and since I came of age in the 1980s I’m really all about the rectilinearity of the Biturbo era, it’s so practical!
It’s just icing on the cake that it somehow lasted a glorious eighteen (adulthood!) years with the last of them produced in 1998 (Ghibli GT 2.8), all while the first cars were probably being scrapped within two years of leaving their transporter…Here’s a fantastic chart/timeline of what models were produced and when but even it doesn’t break down all the submodel variants. You’ll note that even with the extreme model and submodel proliferation, Maserati only managed to produce less than 38,000 cars in total over that timeframe. While that makes the Biturbo chassis the most successful in Maserati’s history, it’s basically akin to a couple of afternoon shifts at Lordstown. With a long cigarette break.
Then of course after the first few years of stellar for Maserati sales (after various submodels and different versions of the original 2- and 4-doors were introduced) it became time to expand the range a little more, so bang down the road they went to Zagato and said “Yo, Z, can you chop about 4.5 inches out of the wheelbase, make the rear seats even smaller, stick your badge on the fender, and put a few of these together for us? We might even pay the bill…if the cars eventually sell.”
And Zagato said yes and did so, supposedly a total of around 3,300 convertibles in total were built over about a decade starting in 1984; from what I could find only a few hundred found their way stateside of which this is one of the second generation ones, i.e. post-facelift, not that you would ever know anything changed without having it pointed out, so subtle was it.
This example was built in October of 1988, making it an early 1989 model that confusingly is officially referred to as the “Spyder i 1990 2800”.
One of the easy hallmarks of the revised version is the new wheels, now with five lugs instead of four. This is the one name-brand tire on this car, a Dunlop of such age that I couldn’t find a date code. Tire size is 205/50ZR15.
This one is missing most of its badging, someone rudely availed themselves of all of the tridents and Maserati badging before I turned up. The only badge left on the car was the Zagato badge on the driver’s fender from a few pictures prior. Of which I of course rudely availed myself, it sits on the table next to me as I type, perhaps I shall caress it for divine inspiration should I need some further down this page.
Maserati was the first manufacturer to produce a twin-turbocharged engine in a production vehicle. Now, some might say it doesn’t really count when they tend to not work, but they looked great in the showroom, sounded good on the test drive after the jump-start, and probably went pretty well on the drive home from the dealership. So that got the Biturbo launched.
Biturbos are all twin-turbo’d V6’s, some of the later variants with different badges sported more cilindri, but the first ones for export markets were 2.5liter while the domestic ones were 2.0s (still V6) for tax reasons, and in the beginning all were carbureted which is what apparently caused much of the initial troubles.
The intake charge wasn’t intercooled either which led to various systems being improvised (and apparently approved) by the mother ship with some cars sporting bonnet vents and others not, with various intercooler placements and configurations being more or less beta tested in the real world by owners.
Later the cars finally received fuel injection as well as factory intercooling which settled things down a bit, and in this case the intercoolers are even placed right behind the front grillework. Of course engine displacement rose over the years as well with this one now being a 2800i, so an injected 2.8, producing about 225 horsepower, not a bad figure at all for the time.
Supposedly there are (were?) only a couple of hundred cars with this engine in the U.S. since Maserati pulled the plug in 1990 before trying again some years later but of course we never got some of the even more exotic stuff that everywhere else did. At least we are past the 25year cutoff now so can get any of them that we want (or can afford to repair).
Interestingly most of the early Spyders in the U.S. were automatics due to a weird decision by Kjell Qvale, the importer at the time. By the time the feedback from dealers and customers came that the car was much more enjoyable with a manual transmission, apparently it was too late to change much of the mix. However by the time of the facelifted 1989 models apparently all of those (or the vast majority anyway) were equipped with a manual transmission, so that checks that box for me.
There were no 1988 models sold in the US, perhaps due to the target market being bankers looking to spend what was left of their bonus checks once the mountain of blow and a few hookers were paid for in full, what better to see the rest of it off than a bauble from the Maserati dealer down the street, ah, but wait: let’s not forget about Black Monday, the stock market crash of October 19, 1987 that saw many fortunes dwindle right as the 1988 model year was to launch. A year later I suppose things were heading back up again so Maserati starting sending more supply. Colombia too, probably.
And that’s where our car comes in. It appears to be a Massachusetts car that somehow made its way to the wilds of Northern Colorado and then looks to have been left in a field for at least a decade before someone got tired of looking at it and provided it for us to ogle. Majestic Cars Ltd was founded in 2005 as a premium used (excuse me, pre-owned) car dealership which is presumably where this car ended up after at least its first owner got tired of it or their heirs couldn’t drive a manual transmission.
Or maybe it was just there being sold and had left the roads of Massachusetts some years earlier. We’ll likely never know.
Or perhaps it just summered on the Cape? Those sorts of rust bubbles don’t usually form in Colorado unless the car is driven a lot in poor conditions which this car was not as we shall see.
I shouldn’t dwell on the negatives, some of our readers think I don’t celebrate all cars enough so let’s get back on the happy train! It looks quite good from here. Mostly. But how rude of me! I just realized you’re all thinking: This is a convertible, does the top drop?
Hell yes it does! Two latches, a large screwdriver for persuasion, two fistfuls of hantavirus dust, and some German farmboy muscle got the top mostly sort of down. Now we are summerin’!
Just imagine it all the way down, it’s hung up on a side window I think. Can you see the shorter body due to the wheelbase? I know, it’d be easier if there were more of the regular ones in the yard to do a side-by-side. Easy with Altimas, not so much with Maseratis. I didn’t want to risk any damage so I put the top back up. We all know how fine the interiors are on these things and how I’m a mile closer to the sun than Italy is.
Can you feel it, baby? Let’s step inside. Acres of fine leather and woodwork on the door. Once upon a time anyway. Still, you can’t deny that’s a stylish doorpanel, not just a slab of vinyl with a grab handle and some gaudy chrome switches. This is an event.
Well goddamn it, Alessandro, what is with the dog’s breakfast in here? What happened? It looks like that formerly fine seat somehow got more botox than all the Kardashians put together!
For reference, here’s what it looked like one glorious fall day in 1988 after rolling off the assembly line when the clouds parted, the sun shone, and the workers bowed their heads in silent reverence before going on strike again. Did you know the Italian word for “strike” literally means “long weekend”? I mean it might, I don’t speak it either.
I learned about profiles last week, this one is better. I’m guessing this represents at least a decade or so spent behind a barn, with rain, shine, snow, ice, mice, and whatever other indignity one might bestow on a fine thing such as this.
Flashes of brilliance such as this inlaid veneer typography still make it through though.
Tomorrow I’m going to see if these pedal covers fit on the old Outback. It could use a little Biturbo motivation.
Of course it’s not just a five-speed, it’s a dog-leg five-speed so you have to think about it every time with first at the lower left with reverse just above it and second in the upper middle position. Because once you get past the turbo-lag, it’s all smiles banging between second and third, then up and over to fourth and then pull it back down to the right for interstellar speeds on I-25 towards Wyoming…
The wood-rimmed wheel is long gone, but what do you figure this, to be charitable, “needing some TLC” car has posted on its odometer? Think of a number.
We’ll get to that. For now look at those blue-backed gauges. The turbo boost gauge front and center with the trident right above it. Somehow the RPM needle got bent, probably all that arcing toward the redline and then bouncing off the limiter, yeah! Two main dials, four other supplemental dials on top of the boost gauge. GM, look at this, no Dashboard Of Sadness here! And vents placed perfectly for clammy banker hands holding on for the next boost, uh, hit of boost, uh, hit of turbo boost! And a leather wrapped binnacle. Actually, a little leather cleaner and five minutes with a rag and this might be the most presentable angle yet. Alright, enough of that, you have your number in mind?
Yeah, that’s not the number I was thinking either. Maserati kindly provides a six digit odometer so that there is no question that this hasn’t spun around at least once. Does anyone know of any Maserati anywhere that has needed a six digit mileage counter? That is disappointing, I have to wonder what happened. With that mileage it’s a Sunday car, I’d want to put that amount of miles on it in one year, not over 35 of them. Let’s step outside for a minute to regroup.
Seriously, I don’t get it either. This thing cost about $45,000 when new. Do you know how many Cavaliers that is? All of them, probably… Barely driven, yet in very rough shape and just left to rot without accident damage. Quad tipped exhaust, big taillights to mimic the mid-late 1980s shoulder pad look, and a cell phone antenna on the trunk lid. And someone probably just rode the riding mower around it for a decade or more.
The trunk is actually decently sized and well shaped for stuff. And a toolkit up top, just like with a BMW that certainly will come in handy. And just like with a BMW there is not a slot for the most useful and necessary tool of all, that being the credit card for someone else to use those tools. Maybe that’s because you’ll never need to put it away? But I do see something on the floor, what could it be?
Ah, a message from the past. Achtung Baby, indeed. Was this the last tape in the JVC deck installed in the dash? Likely so. The boys from Dublin were quite prophetic. But where’s the spare tire that takes up space in most other cars except the ones that decided you won’t ever need a spare?
Underneath, pickup truck style! Dollars to donuts that the worn Pirelli P700 on that fifth alloy in there was an original equipment tire on this car at one point.
The fuel filler location on the rear deck like this is a curious location, but even more curious is that it seems to just call for regular unleaded fuel, could that have something to do with its malady? Engine management had come a long way by the late 1980s but I wouldn’t figure using regular with a twin-turbo performance car to be a good call, certainly not up here where our base fuel is 85 octane.
But seriously, I suppose any number of things could have laid this up for the count, here’s an example – look at the orange/red doohickey above in the middle of the engine. That’s a throttle position sensor and potentiometer. It’s a Weber PF10. It supposedly moves clockwise whereas according to the forums where “lucky” owners are trying to figure out what to do every other Weber potentiometer moves counterclockwise.
Apparently the only other thing that uses this PF10 (which has been out of production for quite some time now) is a Moto Guzzi Quota motorcycle which if anything is even rarer than this engine with sources believing maybe 1,000 of those motorcycles were produced. Other Moto Guzzis use counterclockwise potentiometers. There is one (albeit new) Weber PF10 currently on ebay for $1,100. I have no idea if mine works as I play with it re-reading this.
Another time…Another place. Arrivederci!
Related Reading:
1997 Maserati Ghibli GT – The Last Vulgarati by Tatra87 hiding his innate fondness for the car
1986 Maserati Biturbo Spyder – Do You Feel Lucky? by Tom Klockau wondering if the TC by Maserati was short for Town Car
1995 Maserati Ghibli – Rare For A Reason by Tatra87 starting to come around, okay, not really
1990-1996 Maserati Shamal – The Wildest Biturbo by William Stopford, my good man Down Under!
1992 Maserati 430 4V – The Better Biturbo by Tatra87 finally seeing the light, sort of, maybe
1997 Maserati Quattroporte IV – Still Wedgy After All These Years by Tatra87 writing about another one, he’s playing hard to get, deep down he obviously loves them all.
I think Jeff Sun failed us – here this car sat, right in his New England back yard, just waiting for him to take it home and inspire the most awe-inspiring post about the joy (and perhaps just a touch of sadness) of owning a Maserati Biturbo. Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. What are we to do with ye? And we can be sure that Jeff would have gotten more than 28k miles out of it.
But Jeff’s missed opportunity leaves an opening for you, Jim – you took this home, right? I can’t wait to read your 60-part series on getting this Italian stallion back on the road. Okay, maybe it will be closer to a 90 part series, but you are a persistent fellow and I have no doubt that you can do it! I might suggest that part one be about renting one of those exterminator’s tents, so that the car can be bathed in a fog of fungicides and insecticides for a few days. Or was that green trim on the door panel supposed to be there?
I suspect that even the esteemed and persistent Mr Klein could do no more than a 90-part series wherein the car’s irremovable belligerence at being fixed went in a full circle of fund-draining until returning to whence it began.
I took two parts home. I suppose I can go back for all of the others at my leisure if I want to continue the frame-off restoration and polish and replate every nut and bolt as this clearly deserves. Be sure to subscribe for the next 89 parts of the series!
My own belief is that this owner subscribed to DougD’s theory of Jim Klein vehicle ownership – i.e. when the wiper blades need replacing it may be time to divest oneself of the vehicle. Or just park it as everything else is surely soon to follow.
Ah, you almost had me there for a moment as I wondered “Whattttt????” How could I have missed something like this in a New England junk yard…the remaining handful of which I try to regularly scour in hope of finding something like this Biturbo’s lowly Fiat ancestors. Those too have all returned to the elements long ago.
It doesn’t surprise me that this car originated in Cohasset and then made its way to Colorado. Cohasset is a sleepy little place on the southern reaches of Boston Harbor. Somehow, it has managed to preserve its 18th/19th century New England charm even as the sprawl from Boston has overtaken some of its neighbors. In the 1980s/1990s it was even more pristine and I could easily see old money interests owning something like this and then on a lark driving it to Colorado for a ski vacation. That of course – given Italian vehicle, 1980s – would have been their last (automotive) mistake.
The Witches of Eastwick (the best Jack Nicholson, Cher, Goldie Hawn, Michelle Pheiffer movie…or come to think of it the ONLY Jack Nicholson, Cher, Goldie Hawn, Michelle Pheiffer movie) was filmed in Cohasset in 1986.
Great find Jim!
Thank you, I like to think that the mighty roar of the 2800i twin turbo engine delivered through the quad exhaust tips woke up the sleepy little hamlet of Cohasset on more than one occasion. That is, it woke it up and then it fell right back into slumber as the sound seemed to cough and splutter before suddenly cutting out mid-sonata as the car coasted silently toward the curb, bar the gentle swish of the O.E. Pirelli P700 rubber and the light squeal of brake pad biting disc.
Your writing style always leaves me grinning like an idiot while riding public transportation. Excellent piece. I had to actually start reading to see where you were going with the J-car comparison, but as you’ve laid it out, it fits. I’ll leave it at that.
What a shame about this example, though. I know you like these, Jim, but I never considered it a sexy beast, thought pleasant enough and with that Maserari heritage. “Maserari Biturbo” is a combination of make and model that always sounds infinitely more promising than the actual car.
I’ve noticed over the years that you are truly diplomatic, Mr. Dennis, perhaps you have missed your true calling… If I can make you grin like an idiot on the El, then I feel have done my job. Thank you.
Besides, how else to get middle America to read about an Italian sophisticate besides sprinkling in a reference to America’s favorite pile of crap…? (my true calling may evidently not be the same as yours, I recognize that.)
What a find, Jim!
You know, this might be the one Biturbo variant that I haven’t yet seen in the (rusty) metal, along with the 228. It has forced me to learn a lot about these cars. And about that Alejandro de Tomaso guy… *shudder*
Still not a convert, in case you were wondering, but if you find more of them on the verge of being turned into scrap metal, the more the merrier!
Ah, you can’t fool me! You love these things and once you get over the fact that perhaps your bias stems only from the fact that these were made in such stupendous huge numbers over the years compared to your usual finds, just know that there are less and less of them every year. Actually, there were less and less of them extremely soon after their first engine start but nobody has done a proper accounting of how few are really left. This is one of the few cars that unlike some others that people put on a pedestal there aren’t more in existence than were originally built….
Well written sir! Very entertaining. I too came of age in the 80’s, and remember seeing a red Bit sedan daily on my high school bus route. I always admired the angled, converging body lines and the mystery of not one but TWO turbos. I also lived in an Italian-American neighborhood, so it was like a local rock star from the old country.
Too bad they starting dying as soon as they were born. As the owner of a 79 Mustang turbo as a first car, I am well versed in the poor reliability of the carb-turbo marriage. So I can forgive the Maserati..a little.
You are an enlightened man! And surely the carb/turbo wonders of the Mustang taught you a thing or two. Just imagine if it had TWO turbos! Twice the trouble, twice the fun, twice the bills…
I had forgotten that these were the first twin-turbo’s. I guess they picked the name to highlight that. Now with a bazillion Ford EcoBoosts running around, including our own van, it doesn’t seem so special. But “Biturbo” sounds a lot cooler than “EcoBoost”.
You need to source a new-old-stock Biturbo badge in order to jazz up the van. Ford Transit Biturbo does have much more of a ring to it. It’s 4WD too, so maybe get a Quattro badge as well…
Hmmm … BiTurbo 4Matic badges are $15 for a pair on EBay.
I had a white Z/24 automatic 2.8L V6 followed by a black Z/24 stick 3.1L V6. I’m not sure there was a finer combination of sound/quickness/handling/fun for the price back then.
Came close to buying a BiTurbo a couple times over the years but relieved I bailed each time 🙂
I know it doesn’t always overtly come across but I do actually like the Cavalier Z24, it does sound good, it was a very good value, and I could imagine driving one back in my college days, preferably a convertible. You are quite brave through to actually come close to Biturbo purchase not once, but a couple of times!
The Cavalier might have been a typical GM crapcar from that era, but the ones that were converted into convertibles by Detroit contractor ASC were actually good (if only limited to the parts related to the convertible conversion).
I’m not too conceited to admit that the Cavalier served a purpose and many people got very good use of them over their ownership period for a generally low-ish outlay of cash. Some even seemed to last far longer than many other cars, enough for me to write about one that reached close to 400k miles before an outside influence cut its life short:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/junkyard/curbside-recycling-1992-chevrolet-cavalier-rs-cut-short-in-its-prime/
The general feeling I think is that the Cavalier could have been so much more for so little additional investment, that’s the galling part that led to its general reputation. Why is every Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic a sage buy and the Cavalier is the “cockroach of the road” (full credit to Geozinger)? There’s a lesson there.
I’m not so sure that the Maserati could have been “so much more”, it already was and maybe that was the problem….
I have a similar affinity for Biturbos, probably since I also came of age in the 1980s, and these were so much more exciting than BMWs, etc. So what if they had a few flaws?
I knew of two people who owned Biturbos, and one was… a banker. Your mention of the 1987 stock market crash rekindled this memory because at the time I was in high school and worked an after-school job at an office building in town. The banker guy worked in the same building – I remember the Black Monday stock market crash because Peter (the Biturbo owner) and his fellow bankers were frenzied. As a 14-year-old I was amazed that ordinarily professional, composed men could appear that freaked out.
Incidentally, Majestic Cars was founded in 1987, and was actually an authorized Maserati dealership, so I suspect this car was sold there new. I like how the ad below mentions “24-Hour on Call Technicians.” I bet those technicians didn’t get much sleep. Also, I suspect the “6 year, 60,000 mile limited warranty” was probably very limited.
Exactly, you understand, “a few flaws”, pssshhh, mere bagatelles, nothing to be concerned about. This one racked up 28,000 miles, that’s over 45,000 kilometers in Ye Olde World which is a much larger and thus more respectable number. The owner probably saved a lot of money not having to shell out for the 30,000 mile service, so there’s always a silver lining.
Thank you though for finding that old ad, you are surely correct, perhaps one of the old employees recycled the name for a used car place a few years later after Maserati pulled out. I do like the “ask for Luigi” in service. There doesn’t even have to actually be a Luigi, but you can ask for him. Instant credibility conveyed through a short line of type. Nobody ever considers that Luigi and his ilk are the ones that created the problem child in the first place…
The name Luigi adds some credibility to the claim of “Factory Trained Technicians.” In theory, at least.
I bet quite a few original owners surrendered their keys just short of the 30,000 mi. service when they realized what that would cost. Actually, leasing one of these cars was probably a better way to go. At least until the leasing companies realized what the resale value of a 28,000-mi. Maserati would be.
Yeah, exactly. I spent some time on the forums regarding these and while the 2800i engine only lasted for a very short time in the US before Maserati packed up and left, it was around for a lot longer in Europe. The general consensus is that the Biturbo, once the carburetors were gone and FI was introduced, are considered to not be terrible at all in terms of maintenance. Note, however, that one of the yardsticks was usually a comparison to a Ferrari, which nobody every confused with a Honda either. But in general there are a number with much higher mileages and consistently driven cars so maybe things did improve over time. The ones we see running around Tokyo certainly aren’t being scrapped anytime soon, of course we have no idea of the actual running costs involved.
Biturbos may well look sort of like a 3-series and were priced to be within reach of the average fairly well-off person, yet are definitely of the mostly hand-built exotic variety and the resulting parts availability concerns and knowledge base is real. I’ll bet the internet has done wonders to keep many more on the road than would be the case otherwise.
Apparently the cars styl ing was rejected by BMW for a 3 series model.
Build was subcontracted to Innocenti ,not known for prestige car build quality who naively thought fitting Fiat Uno main fuse boxes would be man enough to take all the power accessories .
I have this day learnt a new thing, Mr Klein, which is that the wheelbase was shrunken on the convertibles. A newly-informed look at the pics makes it obvious, and I’m glad to have a personal quirk explained.
You see, I too rather like the BiTurbo, and most of the periodic table of variations under it, but have never much liked the soft-top. I always thought the roofless one was also bumless: it just looked too short. The vaguely grand beginning of the car ends too abruptly, like the Philharmonic arriving grandly to play, and then just as grandly exiting half way through the overture. Now I know there is reason in my madness (which is a nice change, as it’s normally just madness). It turns out, in short, that I was, in spite of my own doubts, right all along – it IS short, and too short for me.
My theory of How the Maser Was Lost is prosaic. I reckon somebody bought it headily secondhand, for not much (they really aren’t worth a dog’s piddle, even now), drove it exuberantly for not long before the engine went bang – they all did – and they simply never had the necessaries to get it going, those necessaries almost certainly being a multiple of the price paid for the car itself, so it sat in the land of the lawn, where hope triumphs over enthusiasm, till hope, or a landlord, declared that hope has gone and so must it.
When I can cause a learning for the esteemed Mr. Baum, then my day ends on a high note and it’s not even lunchtime where I sit.
I don’t really disagree, the shortness seems to accentuate the width, which makes it appear a little more bulldog-ish than it might have been best to. I guess it is what it is, otherwise it may have looked more like a BMW E30 convertible, but it is endlessly fascinating just how many variants they created over how few (well, many for Maserati, but few on any other scale) total vehicles were created over all versions and years.
Amazingly there were still what they passed off as seating in the back. Reality is they were basically two seat cushions on the floor, and gone in this example. It makes a King Cab Datsun pickup look like a lounge space in comparison. The attached picture of it includes the shifter scrotum for scale…
There’s also the Maserati Kafir which is basically this short chassis with a solid fixed roof…
I’ll bet your theory is right. I was tempted to go down this road around ’90. I was driving an ALFA Milano and the dealer had a couple on his lot for not a lot of money. I mentioned my thoughts to the service writer when I had my car in for service and he grew silent and said, “you’re a friend, I can’t let you do that”. Then proceeded to tell me what a nightmare – for both the mechanic and the pocketbook – these were. I figured I’d be a real idiot if I didn’t heed his warning.
Yet, there’s something about them that is very appealing.
Now if only Chevy had made a swb twin-turbo Cavalier convertible. Then we’d have had a real showdown on reliability and longevity.
Never mind; even GM couldn’t have topped the Maser’s rep. Nothing could.
GM did try Maserati’s old trick of going bankrupt, but it didn’t last… GM did though make several very valiant and fairly successful attempts are ruining its own reputation as well over the years. Let’s give credit where it’s due and not shortchange anyone in that regard.
A magnificent find. There was a Quattroportte camped out at a mechanic’s facility in the nearby town of Russellville for years, which always seemed to provide insight into the Maserati mystique.
While I know nothing about these Biturbos, reading the comments has led me to two possibilities about the odometer reading. One, the odometer, like everything else on the car it seems, decided to take partake of the periodic “pisolino”; why not the odometer? The other theory is given the general overall reputation of these, 28,280 miles may have exceeded its life expectancy. It’s hard to say.
These do seem to be about the size of a Cavalier, but I could be wrong.
They are similarly sized to a Cavalier, or maybe more accurately to a BMW 3-series of the 1980s when in regular two or four door form.
You have a keen intellect and draw good conclusions from your sightings in Russellville, those traits will serve you in good stead I feel. But aren’t you just a little intrigued by the name of the Quattroporte alone? Imagine if the Cavalier was named the Chevrolet Quattroporte and Duoporte, it’s infinitely more desirable already. The name Chevrolet isn’t exactly all baseball and apple pie like Smith or Jones either so why not…
Such an attractive car (especially the convertible) and, at the same time, such a steaming pile. I guess it falls into that old adage about women (particularly Italian): the beautiful ones are also quite high maintenance.
I’m wise enough to (mostly) realize that I can’t afford to properly maintain either Italian prospect.
I worked across the street from Majestic in the 90s at South Shore Chevrolet. I’m surprised that the frame for the sign is still standing. There was a BMW dealership just down the street also serving the European desires of this Tony area . No dealerships remain in the area today.
And like your high maitence/drama loving Italian mistress, you dump them off unceremoniously when they become too much of a money suck/PITA. I try not to be that guy as I dont have the paitence or bank account for exotic Italians. Or just relationships with shitty/trashy people where you can make horrible jokes like that with a straight face.
What an incredible find.
I always thought of these as an Italian 3-series, which they sort of look like.
Would I have bought one? No way. Apart from not being my type of car (in any of its multiplicity of body types), and being way pricey, and having a theoretical-at-best dealer network (who handled these, Justy? Don?), when I go somewhere, I want to know I can get there and back. I remember reading about a car advertised in the Vintage era with the slogan “It Gets You There And Brings You Back”. Not something that could necessarily be said of these.
Part of me says “It’s a Maserati, save it!”, while another part says “Nah, it’s only a Biturbo, not a real Maserati, it’s not worth it.”. Which raises the question of “What IS a real Maserati?”, but we won’t go there. Suffice to say the brand name alone doesn’t make it worth it.
I know these had a bad rep for reliability, but it’s shocking to see just how little use the owner/s got out of it before they gave up. I’d have taken the seats out before they got so bad, and sat them on the veranda though.
Jim, if i were you the one thing worth grabbing out of that POS (yes, I have worked on them and would rather never again) is the ZF S5 18/3 gearbox. Those were used in a number of other European cars such as BMWs and a used, unknown quality one goes for €1500 here. New/fully reconditioned are offered for €5000-7000. You may not have any use for it but someone building a BMW 2002ti or an early 70s Capri would. It’s compact and can withstand up to 300 ft. lbs., so would even work behind a small inch US engine and certainly behind any of the usual suspects V6s in an installation where space is at a premium. The dog leg 1st is thought of here as desirable for fast driving on winding roads where most of your shifting is done between 2nd-3rd. Given the place it’s in, it is possible the seller does not have a clue about its worth, so…
My neighbour has a GM Biturbo, sort of. His work van is a Vauxhall Vivaro with a Biturbo badge. No Cavalier connection apart from being made in the UK Luton GM plant, although they might have put together some J cars there. No Masser connection either being a rebadged Renault Trafic.